Mint - cinnamon taking over 100% CPU

zagmund

I have a pair of HP/compaq 6510b machines which have been happily running LM14 since before Christmas.

Yesterday one of them ground to a halt. It works, but really, really, really slowly. CPU is pegged at 100%. It seems to have developed this problem - http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=208&t=117292 - which seems to be saying that for some reason the OS has decided to render the graphics with the CPU instead of the GPU.

The affected machine reports "GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 0x301) GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 9.0.3" which apparently is the indication that this is the issue.

From what I can gather "this just happens", but I'm afraid mini-zag#1 is not impressed with this explanation and would like his computer back in action.

I am trying (really hard) to follow the suggested fixes that I have turned up around the internet, but I'm afraid many of them start off with technical jargon that leaves me stumped . . . and I work in IT .

So, on the basis that whatever it is cannot possibly be irreversible, does someone know what I need to roll back/edit/configure to tell this to go back to the way it operated yesterday? If it comes down to it, can I just lash LM14 back on top again and hope it retains all his stuff? I should be able to back up the documents and things, but I would prefer not to have to re-install everything from scratch, especially if it could switch back to this mode again tomorrow.

For the record, the second machine which is essentially identical is operating just fine and hasn't caught whatever issue this is, but I'm obviously worried that it will start the same behaviour.

z

PrzemoF

cpu @100%... what shows "top"?

zagmund

It shows cinnamon running at 105%, 140%, etc . . . and everything else struggling to grab a slice of CPU.

z

zagmund

I tried the xorg.conf bit from this link - http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=117294 - and now it won't get past the Mint splash screen. This is going from bad to worse. Oh no.

Create the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and put the following into it:

CODE: SELECT ALL
Section "Device"
Identifier "My device"
Driver "intel"
EndSection

PrzemoF

remove the xorg.conf (on move it somewhere) and try:

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg-video-intel

zagmund

Thanks - I did that and it *looks* like things are better. For one thing the desktop appeared, the trackpad which had stopped responding also came back to life. The fan is also quiet.

GLX Renderer is now "Mesa DRI Intel 965GM"

However now when I run system monitor to see what is using resources it takes over 70% of CPU and the system goes all slow again. There's something not quite right about this still.

z

Gamayun

zagmund wrote: »

From what I can gather "this just happens", but I'm afraid mini-zag#1 is not impressed with this explanation and would like his computer back in action.

So, on the basis that whatever it is cannot possibly be irreversible, does someone know what I need to roll back/edit/configure to tell this to go back to the way it operated yesterday? If it comes down to it, can I just lash LM14 back on top again and hope it retains all his stuff? I should be able to back up the documents and things, but I would prefer not to have to re-install everything from scratch, especially if it could switch back to this mode again tomorrow.

Have you tried the Cinnamon 2D environment from login?

In the mean time young mini-zag#1 could switch desktops at the login screen to the generic gnome option, boring but functional.

Is it an option to remove and re-install the Cinnamon environment (from the gnome log in)?

zagmund

I've tried switching to gnome and other environments at login, but still the same problem. It's really weird. My main gripe about Windows is the way things "just happen", whereas with Linux there's always a reason, there's always a config file you can edit to over ride or revert any changes, but it looks like I may have to revise my opinion.

I'll keep googling over the weekend and see what else turns up.

I may also try uninstalling cinnamon, but since the problem is happening under gnome too (which rules out cinnamon I think, doesn't it?) then it may not help. I'll give it a shot anyway.

Thanks,

z