Ubuntu 18.04 Gnome-Shell High Cpu Usage
I Installed 18.04 from 17.04 (Passing Briefly Through 17.10, Didn't Test It and Jumped to 18.04) and I Am Experiencing a High Cpu Usage on Gnome-Shell, It...
I installed 18.04 from 17.04 (passing briefly through 17.10, didn't test it and jumped to 18.04) and I am experiencing a high cpu usage on gnome-shell, it takes almost all available CPU time:
$ top
top - 06:23:01 up 40 min, 3 users, load average: 3,30, 2,85, 2,09
Tareas: 249 total, 1 ejecutar, 195 hibernar, 0 detener, 0 zombie
%Cpu(s): 24,4 usuario, 3,8 sist, 0,0 adecuado, 71,4 inact, 0,2 en espera, 0,0 hardw int, 0,3 softw int, 0,0 robar tiempo
KiB Mem : 8059572 total, 3489680 libre, 2041520 usado, 2528372 búfer/caché
KiB Intercambio: 9868284 total, 9868284 libre, 0 usado. 5901376 dispon Mem
PID USUARIO PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM HORA+ ORDEN
23946 lealore 20 0 4043344 454724 98808 S 89,1 5,6 5:37.02 gnome-shell
24598 root -51 0 0 0 0 S 30,0 0,0 1:43.28 kidle_inject/2
24596 root -51 0 0 0 0 S 29,8 0,0 1:43.73 kidle_inject/0
24597 root -51 0 0 0 0 S 29,8 0,0 1:43.56 kidle_inject/1
24599 root -51 0 0 0 0 S 29,4 0,0 1:43.16 kidle_inject/3
23769 root 20 0 936456 168344 69492 S 3,0 2,1 0:12.22 Xorg
24154 lealore 20 0 657992 25260 19100 S 1,4 0,3 0:04.05 indicator-multi
23900 lealore 20 0 51196 5724 3932 S 0,7 0,1 0:02.29 dbus-daemon
24659 lealore 20 0 741896 41592 30524 S 0,4 0,5 0:01.01 gnome-terminal-
265 root 19 -1 167208 56740 55524 S 0,2 0,7 0:02.97 systemd-journal
I first used nvidia drivers, then I switched to intel graphics, and still the same behavior. It only stops when switching to Unity shell, but for some reason in Unity I have no sound (!). I saw several reports here and on Reddit, but none provided a solution, not even a clue of what it might be happening. I have no other gnome-shell extension than those that comes with a default 18.04 install, if any.
$ inxi -F
System: Host: lealore Kernel: 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Gnome 3.28.1
Distro: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Machine: Device: desktop Mobo: MSI model: H61M-P20 (G3) (MS-7788) v: 1.0 serial: N/A
BIOS: American Megatrends v: V1.3 date: 01/04/2012
CPU: Quad core Intel Core i5-2310 (-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
clock speeds: max: 3200 MHz 1: 1596 MHz 2: 1596 MHz 3: 1596 MHz 4: 1596 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 ) drivers: vesa (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev)
Resolution: 1920x1200@0.00hz
OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 256 bits) version: 3.3 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5
Audio: Card Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-20-generic
Network: Card: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller driver: r8169
IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 8c:89:a5:a1:ea:02
Drives: HDD Total Size: 1820.4GB (65.9% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD5000AAKX size: 500.1GB
ID-2: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB
ID-3: /dev/sdc model: WDC_WD3200AAJS size: 320.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 23G used: 16G (70%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
ID-2: /home size: 427G used: 217G (54%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
ID-3: swap-1 size: 10.11GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda6
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 94.0C mobo: 27.8C
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 251 Uptime: 36 min Memory: 2268.7/7870.7MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.56
9 Answers
My problem has been solved by disabling clock seconds. Maybe it has problem with anything with fast refresh rate.
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface clock-show-seconds false
For what it's worth I was seeing sluggish behavior after running an application like pyCharm then closing it. In my case closing pyCharm then clicking the power button looking icon in Gnome3 in the upper right hand corner took about seven seconds for the dialog box to come up.
I ended up pressing Alt+F2 then once the command box showed typing r then pressing enter. This restarted gnome and everything was snappy after that. I'm still a bit of a linux newb so I'm mainly posting this here in case it helps someone else.
There appears to be a relevant issue in GNOME with fixes pending. I'm seeing moderately high (30-40%) CPU usage even just moving the mouse around, and these optimizations will supposedly address that:
Unfortunately, as GNOME 3.30.2 is already released, these fixes likely won't make it until 3.32 is released around next March. Given the impact of this issue, I hope the maintainers will consider another hotfix release of the 3.30 series! (@Daniel van Vugt)
Additional references:
While animations are nice and eye-catchy, after awhile they might be annoying. To disable animations first install Gnome Tweaks:
sudo apt install gnome-tweaks
Then launch tool either from command line by running
gnome-tweaks
or by using dash and searching for Tweak.
gnome-tweaks was previously known as gnome-tweak-tool. Try that if you are using an older version than 18.04.
On the first tab Appearance there is a toggle switch Animations.
That's it!
What helped me was running ubuntu-drivers autoinstall - seems it may have been the problem with nvidia drivers in my case.
Just chiming in to tell my case, Dell XPS 13, Ubuntu 18.04 - it's the wireless mouse!
- Wireless Bluetooth mouse via USB C adapter: high CPU usage when mouse pointer is moving around (20-30% on all 8 threads!), sometimes gets stuck on it even when mouse activity ceases.
- Touchpad: no issues!
Apparently I had another application for monitoring my system called System Load Indicator which had a few graphs on my status bar.
Disabling it stopped the spike in CPU usage.
Running Ubuntu 18.04.1 in VirtualBox 6.0.2 on a Windows 10 Pro 1809 host, gnome-shell CPU usage was vastly improved (especially at rest) by selecting the "VMSVGA" controller in settings. GNOME Shell 3.28.3
Just my personal experience, not sure if related: After install ibus-pinyin (IM), the problem is gone
Sarah Jenkins is a veteran tech journalist with over 12 years of experience covering artificial intelligence, mobile innovations, and digital ethics. Her insights have appeared in leading technology publications worldwide.
