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The description is a bit vague, but it's hard to describe the exact problem. I hope I'm posting the correct sub forum.
I'll start with giving all relevant system information I can think of:
root@linux ~ % uname -a
Linux linux 2.6.35-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Sep 29 08:45:18 CEST 2010 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
root@linux ~ % free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2008 1993 15 0 45 1401
-/+ buffers/cache: 546 1462
Swap: 2859 0 2859
root@linux ~ % cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [raid1]
md0 : active raid1 sda1[0] sdc1[2] sdb1[1]
248896 blocks [3/3] [UUU]
md1 : active raid5 sda2[0] sdc2[2] sdb2[1]
976269824 blocks level 5, 64k chunk, algorithm 2 [3/3] [UUU]
root@linux ~ % uptime
14:03:42 up 3:09, 1 user, load average: 2.62, 1.69, 1.50
root@linux ~ % df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev 10M 164K 9.9M 2% /dev
/dev/lvm/root 19G 8.4G 9.1G 48% /
shm 1005M 0 1005M 0% /dev/shm
/dev/md0 236M 19M 205M 9% /boot
/dev/mapper/lvm-home 896G 796G 55G 94% /home
root@linux ~ % pvdisplay
--- Physical volume ---
PV Name /dev/md1
VG Name lvm
PV Size 931.04 GiB / not usable 512.00 KiB
Allocatable yes (but full)
PE Size 4.00 MiB
Total PE 238347
Free PE 0
Allocated PE 238347
PV UUID ife6Aj-C0ea-JAAP-GcZL-KG3Q-qb5l-rFxkXk
root@linux ~ % vgdisplay
--- Volume group ---
VG Name lvm
System ID
Format lvm2
Metadata Areas 1
Metadata Sequence No 4
VG Access read/write
VG Status resizable
MAX LV 0
Cur LV 3
Open LV 3
Max PV 0
Cur PV 1
Act PV 1
VG Size 931.04 GiB
PE Size 4.00 MiB
Total PE 238347
Alloc PE / Size 238347 / 931.04 GiB
Free PE / Size 0 / 0
VG UUID 5U3AA7-smC5-Fp0T-e0KL-dW3d-D3i7-oesgsz
root@linux ~ % lvdisplay
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/lvm/root
VG Name lvm
LV UUID gRT6LU-1mdJ-PtK2-dNvX-jnfm-w2St-hv100J
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 18.62 GiB
Current LE 4768
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 512
Block device 254:0
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/lvm/swap
VG Name lvm
LV UUID ITWVuo-vLZz-dq2C-zXQ5-1058-lisO-sto2Z7
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 2.79 GiB
Current LE 715
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 512
Block device 254:1
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name /dev/lvm/home
VG Name lvm
LV UUID rwSEga-FcS3-jrpV-DzWX-ETpO-03Yh-4X828X
LV Write Access read/write
LV Status available
# open 1
LV Size 909.62 GiB
Current LE 232864
Segments 1
Allocation inherit
Read ahead sectors auto
- currently set to 512
Block device 254:2
+
# OS: Arch Linux x86_64
### Hostname: linux
##### Kernel: 2.6.35-ARCH
###### Uptime: 3:11
; #####; Window Manager: DWM
+##.##### Desktop Environment: None found
+########## Packages: 558
#############; RAM: 548 MB / 2008 MB
###############+ CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz
####### ####### Shell: Zsh
.######; ;###;`". Root FS: 8.4G / 19G (ext4)
.#######; ;#####.
#########. .########`
######' '######
;#### ####;
##' '##
#' `#
If there is any other system information needed, please don't hesitate to ask.
Now the problem: well it's just general 'latency' and slowness of the computer, affecting nearly all applications. On a fresh boot when I try to login on the TTY I'm able to type half of the password before it gives me the prompt for it. Same when doing a 'su' in a urxvt.
Also, firefox is being very slow and unresponsive. Changing tabs goes slow, even typing text here right now lags from time to time (me typing faster then firefox showing the text). Running applications like SABnzbd makes all things go from bad to worse.
As you probably can understand, working on a computer which is feeling very laggy isn't very amusing. I hope there would be some pointers on how to get it working fast(er).
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The indication of 19mb of free memory suggests that you have saturated the available memory.
Perhaps you can determine what is causing the excessive use of memory and take steps to correct the high level of memory use which causes use of swap(slowdown).
Prediction...This year will be a very odd year!
Hard work does not kill people but why risk it: Charlie Mccarthy
A man is not complete until he is married..then..he is finished.
When ALL is lost, what can be found? Even bytes get lonely for a little bit! X-ray confirms Iam spineless!
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The important line on there is the +/- buffers/cache...evert_ still has ~1.5 GB of ram available, so this is not the problem. Neither is swap (which shows a value of 0 under used). It sounds like something is hitting the processor hard, perhaps something going on in the background. What does the output of top/htop look like after a while?
Last edited by machoo02 (2010-10-07 17:00:21)
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Perhaps it's related to this:
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consider this question: are you comfortable with 64bit system on 2GB of RAM? Once I've tried 64bit ArchLinux on my 1GB RAM: it worked, but running more than one program made the system slow. However it might be not your case. Investigate what Zom and machoo02 suggested.
"I hate computers, why didn't I become a street musician?" - phrakture
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root@linux ~ % uptime
14:03:42 up 3:09, 1 user, load average: 2.62, 1.69, 1.50
Your pc is running under heavy load... Check "top" or "htop" to see if there is anything using all the cpu resources. If not, it's the kernel 2.6.35 bug.... and make sure your pc isn't overheating
Last edited by TigTex (2010-10-07 17:42:41)
.::. TigTex @ Portugal .::.
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Thanks for the suggestions so far .
I'm having indeed more then a 1gb free ram and no swap is used, so that's not causing the problem. At the moment that I checked the load to post it over here SABnzbd was actively downloading, so that caused some extra load. But even now, my computer semi-idle (read: only some terminals/firefox) active it still gives me:
20:03:18 up 9:09, 1 user, load average: 0.67, 0.63, 0.72
When I look into (h)top there is no process using excessive amounts of cpu. It seems relative idle, except for firefox popping up from time to time using 10% cpu for half a second. Nothing what should or could cause such a load, so it seems I'm 'affected' by the 2.6.35 bug?
I'm only posting this now because I started to get really annoyed by it (and it might have gotten worse with the .35 bug), but the system is feeling slow for some time now.
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Perhaps the problem is related to the cpu cache...is it a shared cache?
Prediction...This year will be a very odd year!
Hard work does not kill people but why risk it: Charlie Mccarthy
A man is not complete until he is married..then..he is finished.
When ALL is lost, what can be found? Even bytes get lonely for a little bit! X-ray confirms Iam spineless!
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Are you having high hard disk activity? (use iotop to see that).
The load average is a little high at idle, but that doesn't seem to be cause of that slowness...
There are some workarounds here https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=103346 for the kernel 2.6.35 "bug".
.::. TigTex @ Portugal .::.
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There is no high hdd activity.
It seems I'm not affected by the .35 'bug', after login on the tty my load drops to 0.0x after a few minutes, so that's good I guess.
I really don't understand what makes my pc feel so laggy and unresponsive. At this very moment I'm running firefox (few tabs open), sabnzbd (limited to 500kb/s), mpd and irssi.
Still the load is way over 1 again, which just shouldn't be with only so few applications running. And it shouldn't make typing in firefox a hell because of the latency showing up every few words.
I know some people who run about the same programs with as much cpu power and they don't have any problems with it. So there definitely is something wrong, but only what?
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Perhaps your system slowness is related to the slowness introduced by raid5 which slows writes.
Many googles on the subject. It seems that performance is not enhanced with raid of any type according to some of the googles.
Just another possibility...................
Prediction...This year will be a very odd year!
Hard work does not kill people but why risk it: Charlie Mccarthy
A man is not complete until he is married..then..he is finished.
When ALL is lost, what can be found? Even bytes get lonely for a little bit! X-ray confirms Iam spineless!
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My laptop also felt "slow" although nothing was in top / iotop / ps. I tried using kernel26-pf with BFS and BFQ enabled, and somehow this resolved the issue completely.
720p h264 on kernel26 feels sluggish...720p on kernel26-pf runs perfectly smooth
Wouldn't hurt to try, I guess:
[pfkernel]
Server = http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11734958/i686
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I'm not wanting or willing to replace my raid5 with something else. I do like the 'safety' against a broken harddisk. I know raid5 is not a backup (i've got the most import in a good backup, not at home). If i do the random write tests it indeed scores very very bad. My filesystem is relative full (only few gb's empty), this might cause the write speed to slow down even more.
I've never tried any 'special' kernel, but I'll give it a shot. I'd rather not download kernel files from your dropbox (url broken btw), but from a more reliable source. Let's hope some other sheduler will fix the problems .
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I... My filesystem is relative full (only few gb's empty), this might cause the write speed to slow down even more...
Almost certainly.
I've had similar problems in the past when free disk space (<1% of total) has been running low. Even if that 1% is several GBs.
Never did work out the problem. No apparent background tasks, no low RAM, no excessive swap usage.
One thing that might be worth doing is to run memtest to check your RAM is not playing up.
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I would also check your hardware for problems...
Check your temperatures, power supply voltages, memtest your rams, check your hdd smart status, test your system stability and try to free some space on your root filesystem. And possibly update your bios and see if everything is at stock speed and voltage (cpu, ram, ...)
hdparm -tT /dev/sdX is a good and fast way to see if your hdd's are performing well.
If the problem is not hardware, well, at least it's not the hardware! kernel 2.6.36 is almost here also, maybe it solves some problems
.::. TigTex @ Portugal .::.
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... kernel 2.6.36 is almost here also, maybe it solves some problems
Disk speed probably won't be one of them!:
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