Video freezes 1 second every 30 seconds with external monitor

[psimint]

Ok, this is a strange one.
First of all I have to say that everything works fine (I'm using Mint 20.2 Cinnamon) except this little weird paper cut: each time I connect an external monitor using the hdmi port as a mirrored display and close my laptop screen any video that I play freezes for a second every 30 seconds (I timed it!).
If I keep my laptop monitor open it doesn't happen.
I've tried and the video can be a youtube video in firefox, a file played using celluloid or vlc, it doesn't matter, every 30 seconds it stutters for a second.
What in the world could it be?

[all41]

gremlins?
No doubt graphics related.
Please post the terminal results of:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxxxrz

(If you need help with this it's no problem on this forum).
This will give an overview of your hardware and will not reveal personal
or machine identifications. Please read more about this using the link within
the pink bar at the top.
This will get quicker and more focused responses.
Welcome to the forums @psimint.
Good to have you join in--
Cheers

[psimint]

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 5.4.0-90-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.7 wm: muffin 5.0.2 
           dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: AMI product: Intel v: N/A serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: AMI model: Intel serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1.3 date: 11/18/2020 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 30.3 Wh condition: 36.5/36.5 Wh (100%) volts: 8.2/N/A model: N/A type: Unknown serial: <filter> 
           status: Discharging 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Celeron N4120 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Goldmont Plus rev: 8 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 8755 
           Speed: 788 MHz min/max: 800/2600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 892 2: 966 3: 953 4: 951 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 605 driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:3185 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 600 (GLK 2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.0.3 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:0e.0 chip ID: 8086:3198 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-90-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Intel driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: f000 bus ID: 00:0c.0 chip ID: 8086:31dc 
           IF: wlo2 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 223.57 GiB used: 22.88 GiB (10.2%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Kingston model: SA400M8240G size: 223.57 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 62B3 
           scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 216.88 GiB used: 11.32 GiB (5.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1 
           ID-2: /boot size: 704.5 MiB used: 209.4 MiB (29.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 976.0 MiB used: 26.4 MiB (2.7%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://mintlinux.mirror.wearetriple.com/packages uma main upstream import backport
           2: deb http://pkg.adfinis.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://pkg.adfinis.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://pkg.adfinis.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:      Processes: 238 Uptime: 2d 20h 57m Memory: 7.60 GiB used: 3.42 GiB (45.0%) Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 
           Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 running in: guake inxi: 3.0.38

[MikeNovember]

Ok, this is a strange one.
First of all I have to say that everything works fine (I'm using Mint 20.2 Cinnamon) except this little weird paper cut: each time I connect an external monitor using the hdmi port as a mirrored display and close my laptop screen any video that I play freezes for a second every 30 seconds (I timed it!).
If I keep my laptop monitor open it doesn't happen.
I've tried and the video can be a youtube video in firefox, a file played using celluloid or vlc, it doesn't matter, every 30 seconds it stutters for a second.
What in the world could it be?

Hi,

What about keeping you laptop screen open ? And opt for an extended desktop instead of a mirror ?

Regards,

MN

[psimint]

Ok, this is a strange one.
First of all I have to say that everything works fine (I'm using Mint 20.2 Cinnamon) except this little weird paper cut: each time I connect an external monitor using the hdmi port as a mirrored display and close my laptop screen any video that I play freezes for a second every 30 seconds (I timed it!).
If I keep my laptop monitor open it doesn't happen.
I've tried and the video can be a youtube video in firefox, a file played using celluloid or vlc, it doesn't matter, every 30 seconds it stutters for a second.
What in the world could it be?

Hi,

What about keeping you laptop screen open ? And opt for an extended desktop instead of a mirror ?

Regards,

MN

I've already tried and the video plays just fine.
I've even tested disabling the laptop screen (while keeping the monitor open) and the video has no problem at all playing on the external monitor.
I know that's not a big issue, but like I said that's an annoying imperfection
PS: before moving to mint on the very same machine I have been using debian with kde and never had this problem.

[SMG]

PS: before moving to mint on the very same machine I have been using debian with kde and never had this problem.

What kernel were you using?

Goldmont Plus is new enough that you might want to consider using the 5.11 kernel. It is available in Update Manager if you would like to try it. Let us know if you do and would like instructions for installing it.

[xenopeek]

Admin note: some posts where another poster chose to replace Cinnamon on Xorg completely with GNOME Shell on Wayland have been split off to their own topic viewtopic.php?f=1&t=363771, as that isn't helping to solve OP's issue on Cinnamon.

[Aztaroth]

from the New Features of LM20.2 : https://linuxmint.com/rel_uma_cinnamon_whatsnew.php

Memory limit in Cinnamon 5.0
If that maximum amount is reached Cinnamon will restart itself. You won't lose your session or your windows, Cinnamon will just be unresponsive for about a second while it restarts itself internally. It will keep a log of such events so that you can see if this happens often and help the development team troubleshoot the issue.

May this describes your issue : you may then try giving Cinnamon more memory or disable the feature in Settings / General / Memory limit.