Linux Mint Very Slow

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bassman59

Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by bassman59 »

Hi there,
Noob here and hope you can help. I've seen a few posts related to the same issue but I still need some help.

Formatted a PC, added a new 2TB drive I had and installed Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon Version 3.8.9. PC is an Optiplex 960

From the System info:

Kernel: 4.15.0-43-generic
Processor: Intel© Core™2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz × 2
Memory: 1.9 GiB
Hard Drives: 1919.8 GB
Graphics Card: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller

Its really slow often taking 20 secs to open a file etc.

Thanks in advance
bassman
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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Schultz
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Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by Schultz »

The first thing that pops out to me is the low amount of memory. With only 2 gigs, I think you should try Xfce or Mate, Cinnamon might be too much for that. You can try to shut off some of Cinnamon's "bells and whistles," that might help. But I can't give you any direction on that as I've never used Cinnamon.

It might also be useful to give more complete info about your machine. Paste inxi -Fxz in a terminal window and copy back here the output (in code tags, please).
DAMIEN1307

Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by DAMIEN1307 »

Yes, schultz is correct...you need to install XFCE version of Linux Mint or perhaps Peppermint 9 which is using XFCE/LXDE hybrid for its desktop interface...DAMIEN
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kevin987
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Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by kevin987 »

It's best to have 4 GB of RAM or more to run Cinnamon.
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powerwagon75
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Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by powerwagon75 »

bassman59,

If you really like Mint/Cinnamon, you could try adding more RAM. Pretty reasonable for that computer. I have the "almost" exact model, with 3 GB of 800mhz RAM--it is my experimenting computer, and currently it also has Fedora 28 on it, which when comparing Fedora's performance to Mint 18.3 (sorry haven't tried 19 yet), it makes Mint look good. Running same kernel family as you: 4.15.0-36. I stated almost above, as you have E8500 Duo at3.16GHz, and mine is 2.03GHz.

For your reference, I just tried opening documents with LibreOffice a few times. First session took about 6 seconds, after that, I tried opening up a few documents over sftp from another computer and they only take about 2 seconds to open. This was also with Firefox up and about 10 tabs open. I closed/reopened the same Firefox session, and its response on Mint is much better than on Fedora.

Running inxi -Fxz, I saw I got my used memory up from a fresh start of 614MB, to 1028MB used.

If all else is working, and again I don't know yet how much more hungry Mint 19 is over 18.3, if any, but a little more RAM would probably improve it (Optiplex 960 is supposed to be good up to a maximum of 8GB of 800mhz ram.)

As Shultz suggested, please post results of inxi -Fxz from terminal, preferably right after you opened a document where the program was lagging along.

If you want to see where your memory is being used up in a GUI, you can open System Monitor, under the Administration tab in the Menu. Go to the Processes tab, then click on the Memory column--click memory until it shows the word Memory and the pointer pointing down. It will sort highest to lowest memory usage.
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Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by Petermint »

Cinnamon runs happily in 2 GB. Cinnamon + Chrome Web browser needs 4 GB. :evil:
Some Web browsers chew up memory preloading Web pages in the background. There are other equally stupid applications destroying memory.
I suggest a clean boot then open System Monitor. Look at Processes with Memory sorted in descending order. What does System Monitor show as the big memory hogs in your system?

Do you get bad disk access speed at this point or after you open applications?

On my machine, Thunderbird and Firefox battle for the top spot but neither hogs memory anywhere near as bad as Chrome or KDE based applications. Look at the "always on" applications. Mint Update sits there all day using over 20 MB. I let Mint Update do its thing once at startup then close it.

Slow disk response can also indicate impending disk failure or misaligned partitions or a USB fault and a few other things. Test with a live version of Linux Mint Xfce to see if it makes a difference. Look at memory usage by processor under Xfce.
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Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by Hoser Rob »

LuvNix wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 8:00 pm With a decent amount of gnu/Linux knowledge and know how a person should be able to comfortably run pretty much any DE with 2gbs of RAM. ....
If you think you have said "decent amount of gnu/Linux knowledge" you are as delusional as you are tech clueless. What you're saying in that post is ridficulous. A little knowledge is a daangerous thing, as any IT consultant knows. It's people like you who are most likely to break their OS and then be the worst sort of belligerent idiot to deal with after. This is a volunteer forum and I don't have to be that nice.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken
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JoeFootball
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Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by JoeFootball »

Augmenting the above comments, in addition to RAM considerations is the Intel E8500 CPU, which is well over 10 years ago in technology. That said, taking 20 seconds to open a file, if that's not an exaggeration, sounds egregious.

Joe
bassman59

Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by bassman59 »

Hi All,
thanks for your time and replies and apologies for the long delay (i'm flat out). I stopped using chrome and only using Firefox has improved things but not greatly.
I'm posting the inxi-Fxz result. Maybe that might help.
If any one can specify for me the correct Ram memory pack I should buy (2 x 4 G) Id be grateful. I cant seem to locate the correct part number online but I'll keep looking (Max is 8G i believe)
Thanks again for your help
Ed

Code: Select all

jsecure@jsecure-OptiPlex-960:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: jsecure-OptiPlex-960 Kernel: 4.15.0-43-generic x86_64
           bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.8.9 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu1)
           Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine:   Device: desktop System: Dell product: OptiPlex 960 serial: N/A
           Mobo: Dell model: 0K075K v: A00 serial: N/A
           BIOS: Dell v: A05 date: 07/31/2009
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core2 Duo E8500 (-MCP-) 
           arch: Penryn rev.10 cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 12634
           clock speeds: max: 2167 MHz 1: 2167 MHz 2: 2021 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel 4 Series Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
           drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1280x1024@60.02hz
           OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 128 bits)
           version: 3.3 Mesa 18.0.5 Direct Render: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-43-generic
Network:   Card: Intel 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection
           driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: ecc0 bus-ID: 00:19.0
           IF: enp0s25 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2000.4GB (5.8% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST2000VX003 size: 2000.4GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 1.8T used: 106G (7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1
           ID-2: /boot size: 704M used: 221M (34%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 2.09GB used: 0.49GB (23%)
           fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 191 Uptime: 1:30 Memory: 1095.6/1940.8MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.4.191) inxi: 2.3.56 
jsecure@jsecure-OptiPlex-960:~$ ^C
jsecure@jsecure-OptiPlex-960:~$
Last edited by Moem on Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Adding [code] tags. They retain some formatting that makes your output easier to read.
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Schultz
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Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by Schultz »

As already has been said, either add more memory, or switch to Xfce (or Mate).
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Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by kelebek333 »

bassman59 wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:45 pm drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1280x1024@60.02hz
OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 128 bits)
version: 3.3 Mesa 18.0.5 Direct Render: Yes
You can try to switch Intel legacy driver instead of modesetting with following command. After this, you must restart your PC.

Code: Select all

sudo mkdir -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ && echo -e 'Section "Device"\n Identifier "Intel Graphics"\n Driver "Intel"\n Option "AccelMethod" "uxa"\nEndSection' | sudo tee /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf
OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 128 bits)
There is also an OpenGL issue on your system. This may cause performance problems. I think, the problem can be solve with the above command.

In addition, try to set the swappines value to 10. you can find a short research on how to do it.

You can use Midori instead of Firefox or Chromium based browsers.
bassman59

Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by bassman59 »

Hi again,
After reading again through all your posts I see the best time to do inxi-Fxz is after opening a file. Here it is again with the HD light on constantly after opening an instance of Firefox.
Thanks for your time and input.
Regards
Ed

Code: Select all

secure@jsecure-OptiPlex-960:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: jsecure-OptiPlex-960 Kernel: 4.15.0-43-generic x86_64
           bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.8.9 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu1)
           Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine:   Device: desktop System: Dell product: OptiPlex 960 serial: N/A
           Mobo: Dell model: 0K075K v: A00 serial: N/A
           BIOS: Dell v: A05 date: 07/31/2009
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core2 Duo E8500 (-MCP-) 
           arch: Penryn rev.10 cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 12634
           clock speeds: max: 3158 MHz 1: 3158 MHz 2: 3158 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel 4 Series Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
           drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1280x1024@60.02hz
           OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 128 bits)
           version: 3.3 Mesa 18.0.5 Direct Render: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-43-generic
Network:   Card: Intel 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection
           driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: ecc0 bus-ID: 00:19.0
           IF: enp0s25 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2000.4GB (5.8% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST2000VX003 size: 2000.4GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 1.8T used: 106G (7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1
           ID-2: /boot size: 704M used: 221M (34%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 2.09GB used: 0.46GB (22%)
           fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 212 Uptime: 12:30 Memory: 1215.6/1940.8MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.4.191) inxi: 2.3.56
Last edited by Moem on Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Adding [code] tags. They retain some formatting that makes your output easier to read.
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Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by Moem »

Hoser Rob wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 8:26 am This is a volunteer forum and I don't have to be that nice.
Actually, and I'm speaking as a mod here: yes, you do. We all do. Name-calling is off-limits here. Keep that in mind.
See those words at the top of the page? "Help, knowledge, and fellowship"? A little more of that fellowship, please.
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If your issue is solved, kindly indicate that by editing the first post in the topic, and adding [SOLVED] to the title. Thanks!
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Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by Moem »

bassman59 wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:45 pm Max is 8G i believe
Oh man, and you're limping along with 2. Do yourself a favour and get those 8GB. You'll be glad that you did.
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If your issue is solved, kindly indicate that by editing the first post in the topic, and adding [SOLVED] to the title. Thanks!
Quetzal

Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by Quetzal »

@bassman59

In case you're still looking for compatible memory:-

https://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/compatibl ... 960-series

You can select your country by clicking on the flag in upper right.
bassman59

Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by bassman59 »

Hi Quetzal
Thank you.
Is it enough fro me to provide the type (DDR2) and speed 667MHz to get the correct compatible ram?
[Edit]
I'm reading that I can use 800 MHZ Ram but it will still run at 667 MHz but I read also that at least one guy had problems with this

Does DIMM form factor, 667MHz speed, DDR2 type,and get 4 x 2 Gb packs seem logical. Mr Memory have this Ram
Thanks again
Ed
Last edited by bassman59 on Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
Quetzal

Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by Quetzal »

@bassman59

I believe so - if you can get it cheaper somewhere else.

The larger units on the lower part of the page DO seem pretty expensive.

Been a few years since I bought any memory - think it'll probably stay that way too! :)

EDIT - I usually stuck with Crucial though as I didn't do it often, but wanted their guarantee that it WOULD work.

(i.e. it WAS guaranteed compatible)
Quetzal

Re: Linux Mint Very Slow

Post by Quetzal »

@bassman59

If you look around that Crucial site there's a quite a lot of additional information on memory how's and why's, e.g.

https://uk.crucial.com/ (Memory finder for computer make/types)

https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/support- ... patability

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/i ... -dimm.html

After that you'll have to make your own mind up, as you'll be just as knowledgable (or not!) as me.

(p.s. It's a low bar) :)
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