Arch Linux

aquova

Member

Registered: 2021-04-12

Posts: 5

System will start lagging at exactly one minute intervals

Hello everyone, for the past few weeks I've been experiencing an annoying issue and I'm at a loss of how to fix it or diagnose it further. Basically, seemingly at random my system will begin to have lag spikes lasting a few seconds. It doesn't always do this, I can use it for hours without experiencing it, but once it begins these lag spikes occur exactly one minute apart. Rebooting has no effect. Usually I'll get frustrated using it, power off, and when I return in a few hours it doesn't exhibit it.

CPU: Ryzen 5 2400G
GPU: Nvidia 1660 Super, nvidia drivers
DE: GNOME on Xorg

During the lag spikes, it is the Xorg process that displays a spike in CPU usage during that period, much higher than what is typically seen. Disabling all GNOME extensions has had no affect, so I've ruled any of them out, however I did start experiencing this issue shortly after upgrading to gnome 40.  The Xorg logs do spit out the following message:

Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0): DFP-0: disconnected
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0): DFP-0: Internal TMDS
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0): DFP-0: 330.0 MHz maximum pixel clock
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0):
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0): HPN HP N246v (DFP-1): connected
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0): HPN HP N246v (DFP-1): Internal TMDS
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0): HPN HP N246v (DFP-1): 600.0 MHz maximum pixel clock
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0):
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0): DFP-2: disconnected
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0): DFP-2: Internal DisplayPort
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0): DFP-2: 2660.0 MHz maximum pixel clock
Apr 18 19:20:57 mars /usr/lib/gdm-x-session[1173]: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-0):

This message is repeated probably 50 or so times during the lag spike, and is not seen at any other times. I have attempted to see if there is any common log message given right as the spikes begin, but haven't noticed any pattern in either the Xorg logs or in journalctl. journalctl often won't have any other messages for many minutes prior to the Nvidia ones. I tried looking up this particular Nvidia log message, but all users who reported it seemed to have completely different issues, and nothing they mentioned helped. My assumption is that there is some process that runs exactly once per minute which is causing the lag, but I have no idea how to identify it or how to stop it. There were only a handful of systemctl timers running, and they all have periods much longer than this. Any advice would be welcome.

jonno2002

Member

Registered: 2016-11-21

Posts: 684

Re: System will start lagging at exactly one minute intervals

try using the nouveau driver instead of nvidia to rule out the driver being at fault

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,620

Re: System will start lagging at exactly one minute intervals

Reads like something doing an xrandr command/changing display settings. Do you use redshift or something similar that would try to set "display warmth" every minute or so? conky scripts? a panel script with a one minute intervall? did you check the surrounding context of the journal message? Can you post the journal message?

aquova

Member

Registered: 2021-04-12

Posts: 5

Re: System will start lagging at exactly one minute intervals

Reads like something doing an xrandr command/changing display settings. Do you use redshift or something similar that would try to set "display warmth" every minute or so? conky scripts? a panel script with a one minute intervall? did you check the surrounding context of the journal message? Can you post the journal message?

I think you successfully solved my problem. I use pretty much stock GNOME without any 3rd party scripts, but I do use their built-in "Night Light" feature that changes the screen warmth after sundown. Manually triggering it is causing very similar symptoms to what I was experiencing. Thanks.