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dwhitney67 09-14-2007 12:04 AM
Need help troubleshooting slow running Linux system
 
Can someone please provide me with some advice as to what look for in troubleshooting a possible problem with my Linux system?

My system has dual CPUs, of type Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz. The system also has 1 GB of RAM, although from the output from dmesg, I am not so sure of that. Here's the output:

PHP Code:
> dmesg | grep -i mem
119MB HIGHMEM available.
896MB LOWMEM available.
  HighMem    229376 ->   259887
  DMA zone: 32 pages used for memmap
  Normal zone: 1760 pages used for memmap
  HighMem zone: 238 pages used for memmap
  HighMem zone: 30273 pages, LIFO batch:7
Memory: 1022048k/1039548k available (2111k kernel code, 16868k reserved, 1117k data, 260k init, 122044k highmem)
virtual kernel memory layout:
    lowmem  : 0xc0000000 - 0xf8000000   ( 896 MB)
pnp: 00:0c: iomem range 0xffc00000-0xfff7ffff has been reserved
pnp: 00:0d: iomem range 0xeec00000-0xeec03fff could not be reserved
pnp: 00:0d: iomem range 0xfec00000-0xfec00fff has been reserved
pnp: 00:0d: iomem range 0xfee00000-0xfee00fff has been reserved
pnp: 00:0d: iomem range 0xe0000000-0xefffffff could not be reserved
pnp: 00:0e: iomem range 0x0-0x9ffff could not be reserved
pnp: 00:0e: iomem range 0xc0000-0xdffff could not be reserved
pnp: 00:0e: iomem range 0xe0000-0xfffff could not be reserved
pnp: 00:0e: iomem range 0x100000-0x3f7fffff could not be reserved
  MEM window: ff200000-ff2fffff
  MEM window: ff600000-ff6fffff
  MEM window: ff500000-ff5fffff
  MEM window: ff400000-ff4fffff
  MEM window: ff300000-ff3fffff
  MEM window: ff700000-ff7fffff
Freeing initrd memory: 3501k freed
highmem bounce pool size: 64 pages
Total HugeTLB memory allocated, 0
Non-volatile memory driver v1.2
agpgart: Detected 7932K stolen memory.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 260k freed
ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: irq 20, io mem 0xffa3bc00 
My system runs awfully slow, whether I'm booting, unpacking a Gzipped tar-file, or compiling a source package (e.g. glibc).

I am not sure if the system has a problem with the RAM or if it is the HDD.

My system is running Fedora 7 with all of the latest updates. I had the same latency issues when I was previously running RHEL4 and Ubuntu 7.04. Thus I do not believe it is an OS issue, but one dealing with hardware.

Btw, when I boot the system, it takes approximately 5 minutes for the system to boot, with a lot of time being expended with "udev" doing its thing.

Does anyone have suggestions where I can look to assess if there is indeed an issue with my system of which I can correct?

Thank you.

Spinlock 09-14-2007 08:27 AM
Hmm... are you running an SMP kernel? 'uname -a'

Try running "top" in a terminal when the computer is running slow... see which processes are using the most memory/CPU.

dwhitney67 09-14-2007 09:38 AM
The output from running 'uname -a':

Linux huahin 2.6.22.5-76.fc7 #1 SMP Thu Aug 30 13:47:21 EDT 2007 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

A snapshot of the running processes when the system is 'idle':
PHP Code:
Cpu(s): 30.7%us,  0.5%sy,  3.1%ni, 65.5%id,  0.2%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
Mem:   1026056k total,  1007520k used,    18536k free,    89476k buffers
Swap:  2031608k total,       92k used,  2031516k free,   659604k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                                                                
18879 olymed    20   0  2232  924  728 R   18  0.1   0:00.22 top                                                                    
    1 root      20   0  2140  596  516 S    0  0.1   0:03.78 init                                                                   
    2 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kthreadd                                                               
    3 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.42 migration/0                                                            
    4 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.14 ksoftirqd/0                                                            
    5 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 watchdog/0                                                             
    6 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.42 migration/1                                                            
    7 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.16 ksoftirqd/1                                                            
    8 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 watchdog/1                                                             
    9 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.42 events/0                                                               
   10 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:01.14 events/1                                                               
   11 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 khelper                                                                
   52 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.24 kblockd/0                                                              
   53 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.09 kblockd/1                                                              
   54 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kacpid                                                                 
   55 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kacpi_notify                                                           
  167 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 cqueue/0                                                               
  168 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 cqueue/1                                                               
  169 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 ksuspend_usbd                                                          
  172 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 khubd                                                                  
  174 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kseriod                                                                
  200 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:02.09 kswapd0                                                                
  251 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 aio/0                                                                  
  252 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 aio/1                                                                  
  401 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kpsmoused                                                              
  438 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:01.04 ata/0                                                                  
  439 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.66 ata/1                                                                  
  440 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 ata_aux                                                                
  447 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:03.20 scsi_eh_0                                                              
  448 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 scsi_eh_1                                                              
  449 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 scsi_eh_2                                                              
  450 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 scsi_eh_3                                                              
  463 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 ksnapd                                                                 
  474 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:09.80 kjournald                                                              
  507 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kauditd                                                                
  544 root      16  -4  3380 1744  392 S    0  0.2   0:02.99 udevd                                                                  
 1258 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kmpathd/0                                                              
 1259 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kmpathd/1                                                              
 1284 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kjournald                                                              
 1830 root      17  -3 13228  668  492 S    0  0.1   0:00.11 auditd                                                                 
 1832 root      17  -3 10988  676  448 S    0  0.1   0:00.01 audispd                                                                
 1847 root      20   0 10716 9100  324 S    0  0.9   0:00.07 restorecond                                                            
 1858 root      20   0  1804  628  532 S    0  0.1   0:00.32 syslogd                                                                
 1861 root      20   0  1744  396  332 S    0  0.0   0:00.14 klogd                                                                  
 1889 root      20   0  2232  516  392 S    0  0.1   0:00.41 mcstransd                                                              
 1902 rpc       20   0  2200  700  532 S    0  0.1   0:00.07 rpcbind                                                                
 1915 root      20   0 43200  12m 5536 S    0  1.2   0:11.69 setroubleshootd 
A snapshot of the system when building software packages:
PHP Code:
Cpu(s): 30.6%us,  0.5%sy,  3.1%ni, 65.5%id,  0.2%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
Mem:   1026056k total,   524140k used,   501916k free,   106136k buffers
Swap:  2031608k total,       92k used,  2031516k free,   182512k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                                                                
24521 olymed    20   0  2236  940  728 R   22  0.1   0:00.27 top                                                                    
24505 olymed    20   0  3260 1812  964 S   14  0.2   0:01.97 sh                                                                     
24584 olymed    20   0  1908  548  472 S    2  0.1   0:00.01 gcc                                                                    
    1 root      20   0  2140  596  516 S    0  0.1   0:03.78 init                                                                   
    2 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kthreadd                                                               
    3 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.42 migration/0                                                            
    4 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.15 ksoftirqd/0                                                            
    5 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 watchdog/0                                                             
    6 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.43 migration/1                                                            
    7 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.16 ksoftirqd/1                                                            
    8 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 watchdog/1                                                             
    9 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.42 events/0                                                               
   10 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:01.14 events/1                                                               
   11 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 khelper                                                                
   52 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.25 kblockd/0                                                              
   53 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.09 kblockd/1                                                              
   54 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kacpid                                                                 
   55 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kacpi_notify                                                           
  167 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 cqueue/0                                                               
  168 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 cqueue/1                                                               
  169 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 ksuspend_usbd                                                          
  172 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 khubd                                                                  
  174 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kseriod                                                                
  200 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:02.09 kswapd0                                                                
  251 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 aio/0                                                                  
  252 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 aio/1                                                                  
  401 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kpsmoused                                                              
  438 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:01.05 ata/0                                                                  
  439 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.66 ata/1                                                                  
  440 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 ata_aux                                                                
  447 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:03.21 scsi_eh_0                                                              
  448 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 scsi_eh_1                                                              
  449 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 scsi_eh_2                                                              
  450 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 scsi_eh_3                                                              
  463 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 ksnapd                                                                 
  474 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:09.88 kjournald                                                              
  507 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kauditd                                                                
  544 root      16  -4  3380 1744  392 S    0  0.2   0:02.99 udevd                                                                  
 1258 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kmpathd/0                                                              
 1259 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kmpathd/1                                                              
 1284 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kjournald                                                              
 1830 root      17  -3 13228  668  492 S    0  0.1   0:00.11 auditd                                                                 
 1832 root      17  -3 10988  676  448 S    0  0.1   0:00.01 audispd                                                                
 1847 root      20   0 10716 9100  324 S    0  0.9   0:00.07 restorecond                                                            
 1858 root      20   0  1804  628  532 S    0  0.1   0:00.32 syslogd                                                                
 1861 root      20   0  1744  396  332 S    0  0.0   0:00.14 klogd                                                                  
 1889 root      20   0  2232  516  392 S    0  0.1   0:00.41 mcstransd 
Note, as I specified in my OP, this problem is not endemic to Fedora 7; the same issue occurred when I had previously experimented with RHEL4 and Ubuntu 7.04 on the system.

I have a Pentium-M 1.4 Ghz laptop that runs faster than this dual-processor system. Based on the hardware specs, one would think that a system with a 3GHz processor, or even two of them, would run faster.

Spinlock 09-14-2007 11:36 AM
That's curious... top is using that much processor time? Hmm...

I'm afraid I'm out of ideas. Your kernel is certainly recent enough, and were it related to the distro, you would see differences when switching. I'm not seeing any daemons taking more than their fair share of things... I'm stumped. =/

dwhitney67 09-14-2007 04:26 PM
I ran Memtest86 (v.3.3) and everything passed. Thus this probably means that it is not RAM that is the problem.

My system has 4 RAM slots, two of which contain 512MB chips. This is the configuration:

Memory Channel A Slot 0: 512MB
Memory Channel A Slot 1: Not Installed
Memory Channel B Slot 0: 512MB
Memory Channel B Slot 1: Not Installed

Does this configuration matter? Is it ok for the chips to be in separate Channels?

Lastly, is there any tool that I can used to test the HDD read/write performance? Is there anything in the BIOS that could be affecting the performance of the HDD?

Gethyn 09-14-2007 04:48 PM
Usually you get better performance out of having RAM in two different channels than when they're sharing the same channel, so that shouldn't be the problem. Have you checked the temperatures? The temperature of the CPU and motherboard can be checked using lm-sensors, and hard drive temperatures can be checked using smartctl/smartmontools, although these programs don't support all hardware. Overheating is one of the major causes of slowdown that I've encountered.

It might be worth checking the drive configuration to make sure that dma is enabled (and also in the BIOS, some BIOSes allow you to disable DMA), although I would be surprised if it isn't, modern distros are generally pretty good about setting these things up automatically.

dwhitney67 09-19-2007 03:27 PM
Help! The problem I initially reporting concerning a slow system still persists.

I've ran Memtest86 and successfully validated my system's memory. Thus I believe the only other area that could be causing issues would be within my system's SATA drive.

Here are the results when I checked the disk speed:

# hdparm -t /dev/sda
Timing buffered disk reads: 166 MB in 3.02 seconds = 55.01 MB/sec

I've Googled and searched this forum for similar reports, but every time I came across something it was a dead-end... almost as if this problem is more difficult to troubleshoot than the "meaning of life".

Does anyone have any suggestions?

P.S. I have already tried passing kernel args, but still no joy:
  • ide0=noprobe
  • irqpoll
  • noapic

syg00 09-19-2007 04:29 PM
Bad hardware, or bad driver. And to show how hard these things can be to track/explain, have a look at this recent experience of mine.

dwhitney67 09-19-2007 07:02 PM
It could be bad h/w, but sure will be difficult to find out. My video, sound and networking are integrated into the motherboard. The only thing external is the CD-ROM drive and the HDD.

The system experiences slowness right from the start when udev starts running. It take between 3-5 minutes for that phase to complete, then another 5-7 minutes for the system to display the GDM login. This occurs whether or not I am connected to my LAN.

Frankly, I really don't give a darn anymore. Tomorrow I will return the computer to my office and I will be given a new PC (toshiba laptop) with all the bells/whistles.


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