Ubuntu

Ubuntu slow on Dell Inspiron 1300

Asked by Bajtalan Hunor

Hello I have a Dell Inspiron 1300 Laptop (1.8 Ghz Intel Pentium M, 512 mb RAM) and I use Gutsy Gibbon, but it runs slowly, bootup time and generally the response of the operating system is much slower than for example windows xp.
I took a look at the system requirements for gutsy and my system should fit in it, but I don't know it runs slowly. I tried Hardy and it was worse, it was much slower.

It is just a question that really ubuntu from gutsy to recent releases is so power hungry?

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Revision history for this message
Sharar Ravitz (jewfro-macabbi) said : 		#1

I'm running hardy on a similar laptop, albeit with more ram, but I'm running vm's on it even with no problems. Is it sluggish graphics? Did you install a graphics driver?

Revision history for this message
Bajtalan Hunor (cerebellum) said : 		#2

Hello thanks for the resposne!

Nope I did not install any graphics driver, I have just the basic configuration of ubuntu, because I it recognized everything from the start. I have in my laptop intel graphics chipset.

Revision history for this message
Johannes Pilkahn (j-pilkahn) said : 		#3

Even Hardy, if correctly configured, should run smoothly on your hardware.

I am writing to you from a 1.5GHz Pentium M, 512MB RAM Asus W1/N, similar specs. Hardy works well.

Can you post the out put of 'sudo lshw' and 'top'?

Revision history for this message
Bajtalan Hunor (cerebellum) said : 		#4

Thanks for response! Here is the output:

cerebellum-laptop
    description: Portable Computer
    product: ME051
    vendor: Dell Inc.
    serial: 696JD2J
    width: 32 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.3 dmi-2.3
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=portable
uuid=44454C4C-3900-1036-804A-B6C04F44324A
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: 0RJ272
       vendor: Dell Inc.
       physical id: 0
       serial: .696JD2J.CN7016667E07YL.
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: Dell Inc.
          physical id: 0
          version: A08 (04/27/2006)
          size: 64KB
          capacity: 448KB
          capabilities: isa pci pcmcia pnp upgrade shadowing cdboot
bootselect int13floppy720 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial
int17printer int10video acpi usb agp smartbattery biosbootspecification
netboot
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.70GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 400
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: 6.13.8
          slot: Microprocessor
          size: 1700MHz
          capacity: 2130MHz
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 133MHz
          capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8
apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe
nx up est tm2 cpufreq
        *-cache:0
             description: L1 cache
             physical id: 700
             size: 8KB
             capacity: 8KB
             capabilities: internal write-back data
        *-cache:1
             description: L2 cache
             physical id: 701
             size: 2MB
             capacity: 2MB
             clock: 66MHz (15.0ns)
             capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies unified
     *-memory
          description: System Memory
          physical id: 1000
          slot: System board or motherboard
          size: 512MB
        *-bank:0
             description: DIMM DDR Synchronous 533 MHz (1.9 ns)
             vendor: 7F7F7F5800000000
             physical id: 0
             serial: 00000000
             slot: DIMM_A
             size: 512MB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 533MHz (1.9ns)
        *-bank:1
             description: DIMM DDR Synchronous [empty]
             physical id: 1
             slot: DIMM_B
             width: 64 bits
     *-pci
          description: Host bridge
          product: Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM
Controller
          vendor: Intel Corporation
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
          version: 03
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
          configuration: driver=agpgart-intel module=intel_agp
        *-display:0
             description: VGA compatible controller
             product: Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm vga bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
        *-display:1 UNCLAIMED
             description: Display controller
             product: Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
        *-multimedia
             description: Audio device
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition
Audio Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1b
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
             version: 03
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0 module=snd_hda_intel
        *-pci:0
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master
cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport-driver
        *-pci:1
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 4
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.3
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master
cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport-driver
        *-usb:0
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
        *-usb:1
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.1
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
        *-usb:2
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.2
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
        *-usb:3
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.3
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
        *-usb:4
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI
Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.7
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.7
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0 module=ehci_hcd
        *-pci:2
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1e
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1e.0
             version: d3
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master cap_list
           *-network:0
                description: Ethernet interface
                product: BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX
                vendor: Broadcom Corporation
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
                logical name: eth0
                version: 02
                serial: 00:15:c5:67:5c:70
                size: 100MB/s
                capacity: 100MB/s
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii
10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
                configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=b44
driverversion=1.01 duplex=full ip=213.164.250.9 latency=64 link=yes
module=b44 multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100MB/s
           *-network:1 DISABLED
                description: Wireless interface
                product: BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN
Controller
                vendor: Broadcom Corporation
                physical id: 3
                bus info: pci@0000:02:03.0
                logical name: eth1
                version: 02
                serial: 00:14:a5:9a:be:ca
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: bus_master ethernet physical wireless
                configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bcm43xx
driverversion=2.6.22-15-generic latency=64 link=no module=bcm43xx
multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11b/g
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: isa bus_master
             configuration: latency=0
        *-ide
             description: IDE interface
             product: 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.1
             logical name: scsi0
             version: 03
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: ide bus_master emulated
             configuration: driver=ata_piix latency=0 module=ata_piix
           *-disk
                description: SCSI Disk
                product: WDC WD800VE-75HD
                vendor: ATA
                physical id: 0.0.0
                bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
                logical name: /dev/sda
                version: 11.0
                serial: WD-WXE506021090
                size: 74GB
                capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
                configuration: ansiversion=5
              *-volume
                   description: Extended partition
                   physical id: 2
                   bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2
                   logical name: /dev/sda2
                   size: 74GB
                   capacity: 74GB
                   capabilities: primary extended partitioned
partitioned:extended
                 *-logicalvolume:0
                      description: HPFS/NTFS partition
                      physical id: 5
                      logical name: /dev/sda5
                      capacity: 45GB
                 *-logicalvolume:1
                      description: Linux filesystem partition
                      physical id: 6
                      logical name: /dev/sda6
                      capacity: 28GB
                 *-logicalvolume:2
                      description: Linux swap / Solaris partition
                      physical id: 7
                      logical name: /dev/sda7
                      capacity: 439MB
                      capabilities: nofs
           *-cdrom
                description: DVD writer
                product: DVD+-RW TS-L532B
                vendor: TSSTcorp
                physical id: 0.1.0
                bus info: scsi@0:0.1.0
                logical name: /dev/cdrom
                logical name: /dev/dvd
                logical name: /dev/scd0
                logical name: /dev/sr0
                version: DE04
                capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r
                configuration: ansiversion=5 status=open
cerebellum@cerebellum-laptop:~$

2008/8/4 northern lights <email address hidden>

> Your question #41139 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41139
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> northern lights requested for more information:
> Even Hardy, if correctly configured, should run smoothly on your
> hardware.
>
> I am writing to you from a 1.5GHz Pentium M, 512MB RAM Asus W1/N,
> similar specs. Hardy works well.
>
> Can you post the out put of 'sudo lshw' and 'top'?
>
> --
> To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following page:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41139
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

--
=================================
Hunor Bajtalan

Studente Erasmus

Università Babeş-Bolyai
Facoltà di Scienze Geografiche
Dipartimento di Geografia Umana
Str. Clinicilor Nr. 5-7 400006
Cluj Napoca
Romania
UE

E-mail: <email address hidden>
Tel IT: 3293773406
Tel RO: +40749053514
=================================

"In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the
universe" Carl Sagan

Revision history for this message
Johannes Pilkahn (j-pilkahn) said : 		#5

Run 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel'. Then stop the desktop environment (jot down the next few lines first) with 'sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop', reconfigure X 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg'. Then restart the DE 'sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start'.

Any better?

Plus, in case CPU load is slowing your machine, please also post 'top'.

Revision history for this message
Bajtalan Hunor (cerebellum) said : 		#6

[sudo] password for cerebellum:

top - 17:19:39 up 2:22, 3 users, load average: 0.56, 0.99, 0.85
Tasks: 127 total, 2 running, 124 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie
Cpu(s): 12.3%us, 3.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 82.4%id, 2.0%wa, 0.3%hi, 0.0%si,
0.0%st
Mem: 507596k total, 501348k used, 6248k free, 3748k buffers
Swap: 449780k total, 52704k used, 397076k free, 118308k cached

  PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+
COMMAND
 5815 cerebell 15 0 163m 39m 19m S 10.6 7.9 2:28.64
rhythmbox
 5706 cerebell 15 0 279m 118m 28m R 2.3 23.9 26:18.40
firefox-bin
 5263 root 15 0 364m 30m 7516 S 1.3 6.1 5:47.91
Xorg
 2201 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.3 0.0 0:02.39
scsi_eh_0
 6925 root 15 0 2364 1164 876 R 0.3 0.2 0:00.14
top
    1 root 18 0 2952 1856 532 S 0.0 0.4 0:01.28
init
    2 root 11 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00
kthreadd
    3 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00
migration/0
    4 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00
ksoftirqd/0
    5 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00
watchdog/0
    6 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.03
events/0
    7 root 13 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00
khelper
   26 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.02
kblockd/0
   27 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01
kacpid
   28 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00
kacpi_notify
  148 root 13 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.02
kseriod
  167 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.05
pdflush
cerebellum@cerebellum-laptop:~$

xserver-xorg-video-intel - it says already installed previously
automatically

Thanks for help

2008/8/4 Johannes Pilkahn <email address hidden>

> Your question #41139 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41139
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Johannes Pilkahn proposed the following answer:
> Run 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-
> intel'. Then stop the desktop environment (jot down the next few lines
> first) with 'sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop', reconfigure X 'sudo dpkg-
> reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg'. Then restart the DE 'sudo
> /etc/init.d/gdm start'.
>
> Any better?
>
> Plus, in case CPU load is slowing your machine, please also post 'top'.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41139/+confirm?answer_id=4
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41139
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

--
=================================
Hunor Bajtalan

Studente Erasmus

Università Babeş-Bolyai
Facoltà di Scienze Geografiche
Dipartimento di Geografia Umana
Str. Clinicilor Nr. 5-7 400006
Cluj Napoca
Romania
UE

E-mail: <email address hidden>
Tel IT: 3293773406
Tel RO: +40749053514
=================================

"In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the
universe" Carl Sagan

Revision history for this message
Johannes Pilkahn (j-pilkahn) said : 		#7

Quoting Bajtalan:
xserver-xorg-video-intel - it says already installed previously
automatically

Did you still run the further commands, i.e. reconfigure X?

'top' suggests that your CPU load is fine.

The most common reason for a slow system is too much eye-candy, but then your xorg process would take more of the CPU.

Really it shouldn't be slow. When you ran top, was it slow?

Revision history for this message
Bajtalan Hunor (cerebellum) said : 		#8

Nope I did not run the rest of the commands what you suggested to me. I
don't have any eye-candy on, everything is turned off, and I feel that the
OS sometimes is really slow.

2008/8/4 Johannes Pilkahn <email address hidden>

> Your question #41139 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41139
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Johannes Pilkahn proposed the following answer:
> Quoting Bajtalan:
> xserver-xorg-video-intel - it says already installed previously
> automatically
>
> Did you still run the further commands, i.e. reconfigure X?
>
> 'top' suggests that your CPU load is fine.
>
> The most common reason for a slow system is too much eye-candy, but then
> your xorg process would take more of the CPU.
>
> Really it shouldn't be slow. When you ran top, was it slow?
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41139/+confirm?answer_id=6
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41139
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

--
=================================
Hunor Bajtalan

Studente Erasmus

Università Babeş-Bolyai
Facoltà di Scienze Geografiche
Dipartimento di Geografia Umana
Str. Clinicilor Nr. 5-7 400006
Cluj Napoca
Romania
UE

E-mail: <email address hidden>
Tel IT: 3293773406
Tel RO: +40749053514
=================================

"In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the
universe" Carl Sagan

Revision history for this message
Johannes Pilkahn (j-pilkahn) said : 		#9

Sorry mate, both your memory and your cpu load look fine. If your graphics and resolution are fine also, don't follow the above procedure.

I don't see why it whould be slow. Anyone else?

Revision history for this message
Bajtalan Hunor (cerebellum) said : 		#10

Anyway thanks for your help!

2008/8/4 Johannes Pilkahn <email address hidden>

> Your question #41139 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41139
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Johannes Pilkahn requested for more information:
> Sorry mate, both your memory and your cpu load look fine. If your
> graphics and resolution are fine also, don't follow the above procedure.
>
> I don't see why it whould be slow. Anyone else?
>
> --
> To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following page:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/41139
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

--
=================================
Hunor Bajtalan

Studente Erasmus

Università Babeş-Bolyai
Facoltà di Scienze Geografiche
Dipartimento di Geografia Umana
Str. Clinicilor Nr. 5-7 400006
Cluj Napoca
Romania
UE

E-mail: <email address hidden>
Tel IT: 3293773406
Tel RO: +40749053514
=================================

"In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the
universe" Carl Sagan

Revision history for this message
Martin K. (martin1782) said : 		#11

Hello!

Today i had the same problem with an inspiron 1730.
I didn't find the real solution for that problem, but i noticed that the system runs much faster when i unload the kernel modul for the network card with (the broadcom bcm44..):
modprobe -r b43
modprobe -r b44
Maybe that help you to solve the problem.

Regards,
Martin

Revision history for this message
marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#12

Bajtalan Hunor please try this:

I made a little terminal tool that i call mb_ubuntu_optimizer you can download it via torrent:
from my link http://www.elart.it/torrents/mb_ubuntu_optimizer-0.7.torrent
once it is downloaded please stop Transmission or your .torrent client then make it executable open a terminal from Applications->Accessories->Terminal:
and type:

chmod 700 ./mb_ubuntu_optimizer-0.7

Maximize your terminal window or you will get a warning; then run it, type:
./mb_ubuntu_optimizer-0.7

1) launched without parameter it do an automatic Firefox optimization: ./mb_ubuntu_optimizer-0.7
2) launched with '?' parameter give you an usage help: ./mb_ubuntu_optimizer-0.7 ?
3) launched with 'all' parameter it perform a check of your system and give you some hints: ./mb_ubuntu_optimizer-0.7 all
4) launched with 'clean' parameter give you tip and info about kernel and command to remove unused: ./mb_ubuntu_optimizer-0.7 clean

Reference page for this tools for automatic Firefox optimization http://www.elart.it/mozilla/speedup.php
and for Ubuntu tips (italian language) http://www.elart.it/kubuntu/ottimizzare.php

Hope this helps

Revision history for this message
Jetmund (jetmunds) said : 		#13

Martin K. said:
"
Hello!

Today i had the same problem with an inspiron 1730.
I didn't find the real solution for that problem, but i noticed that the system runs much faster when i unload the kernel modul for the network card with (the broadcom bcm44..):
modprobe -r b43
modprobe -r b44
Maybe that help you to solve the problem.

Regards,
Martin"

I did this on my Dell Inspiron 6000 with Hardy 8.04. Big improvement! I use wireless on this laptop, almost never wired. What are the consequences for those depending on wired network by unloading this modul?

Revision history for this message
Martin K. (martin1782) said : 		#14

Hello Jetmund!

The consequences should be that the wlan and ethernet won't work anymore.
The module b43 is for the broadcom wlan chipset and the b44 is for the ethernet chipset.
Try to unload only the ethernet module. The owner of the inspirion 1730 told me that the problem not occurs when he connect the notebook to a network via ethernet (wired).
Tomorrow a new ubuntu version will be released...

Regards,
Martin

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