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some days ago i installed gentoo on my laptop. it all runs fine so far but i have some problems with kde. when i start kde(kdm command in console) i get to the login screen where i can pick a user. i have two users to pick from, root and my normal work account. i enter my pass and continue to login. the small kde window opens and there my problem begins. the initialization is very slow. when its done, i get to the normal kde desktop. now when i select a program from the startmenu (it doesnt matter which program i choose its the same with all) it takes ages to load. a simple calculator needs ~20-30 seconds to load. during the program start there is the windowname in the taskbar with a small sandglas turning and turning. i have the impression that actually nothing is happening cause the hd-led is not blinking. after some time(20-30 secs) the hd-led blinks and the program opens. does anyone have a clue how to speed this up? i doubt that this is normal cause on other pcs running kde i have never seen something like that.
i just read something about a problem with qt which can cause this slow program loading, can someone tell me what qt is used for? im currently doing an "emerge qt" maybe it helps....
Memory useage is my guess (in that it's capable of running faster)...
Reboot your computer - using a text console (before login, but immediately after turning on your computer) check your memory (memory statis in "top" will be sufficient). Go back to your graphical login screen login - do whatever, but keep checking your memory usage. Does it go much lower when your computer starts to slow down?
If it had never sped up at all (and this still may help) I would suggest checking that your video card specific X driver is loaded. (This helped a lot on my Celeron Toshiba Satelite) - but not as much as I had hoped.
mem 904396k total, 34568k used, 869828k free, 2164k buffers
swap 514072k total. 0k used , 514072k free. 19676k cached
after kdm
mem 904396k total, 82632k used, 821764k free, 3592k buffers
swap 514072k total. 0k used , 514072k free. 47888k cached
after login
mem 904396k total, 150636k used, 753312k free, 6076k buffers
swap 514072k total. 0k used , 514072k free. 708892k cached
for tasks and cpu the results dont change much, so i didnt list them.
for me it seems there is enough free ram, but i dont know what those big increase in the swap section for cached means.
after i logged in i had the same effect as usual, a simple console needs around 20-30 secs to open.....
Try updating KDE to 3.1.4 and see if that helps. I had a similar problem with my 500mhz DELL Latitude laptop the other day. I found that I had a service that was not enabled at boot time that was causing other services to delay in which caused (what seemed to be) a mem problem. In my particular case, it was that I had a "Internet" service enabled at boot but the "Network" was not. Since I have a router hooked to my cable modem (and not a direct line), I need both to start at boot...(at least that's my interpretation)
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