laggy Mint 13

Andri · 9 Jan 2013 at 14:59

Hi All,

I've wanted to try out Linux on my laptop for a while, after testing various different distros on VM and testing them on my laptop via live USB, I decided to go with Mint 13 Cinnamon.

I really like the UI and the overall speed of the OS but I have run into a lag problem and I have no idea what is causing it or how to fix it. This issue also presented on Ubuntu 12.04 as well (I couldn't stand unity so replaced it with Mint).

Any how, the lag issue comes and goes with no real apparent cause, although, it may come up when running the software centre or updating software. The system will suddenly become very slow and laggy, after a couple minutes it may return to normal but then become laggy again.

It’s incredibly frustrating.

System monitor doesn’t indicate anything is killing the CPU, it’s a little higher than I like but it should be fine ~5-15%. I have also noticed when this happens and system monitor is up, if I move the mouse around the system monitor stops updating until I stop moving.

The laptop is a Packard Bell Butterfly Touch
Intel U4100 dual core
3GB DDR3 ram
250GB hard drive
Touchscreen and touchpad

this happens on and off mains power, on and off the network as well as being idle, Although every so often it can run for an entire day without any lagging at all.

Last thing to note is that I also have no idea what I’m doing with linux, I already have it set up in Dual boot with win7x64, Mint is installed on an extended partition with 3GB swap file. It would be very nice if anyone has any ideas on this as I am really liking Mint 13 and cinnamon.

Thanks

Hades · 9 Jan 2013 at 20:34

Which version of mint are you using? A few people have reported issues with 14 and it should also be remembered that cinnamon is still very new. If you're on 14 it would be worth trying 13 or vice versa.

I love mint cinnamon

Andri · 9 Jan 2013 at 20:47

i'm using Mint 13 Cinnamon.

it's an awesome os except for this very annoying problem which likes getting in the way at the worst times.

Hades · 9 Jan 2013 at 20:56

It's worth trying 14 then. Either just install it fresh or use sudo apt-get dist-upgrade from the command prompt. This downloads all the newer packages and installs them (I would probably recommend a clean install though.

Andri · 1 Feb 2013 at 16:29

Just thought I would write a small update on this weird problem. I've narrowed it down to 2 possibilities which are not connected.

I noticed the lag happened after plugging my Laptop into the mains so, I thought it was power profile related. I also noticed this lagging happened when running updates on it. All I have done at the moment is disable auto-update checking and it appears to have resolved the issue almost completely.

While on the Power the curser may lag for a few ms when I use it after a few minutes but I can easily work with that. This is now the OS I was hoping for and it runs very smoothly and does pretty much everything I ask of it (until I perform an update)