xorg and nvidia give very bad performance on multi display setup after update to ubuntu 11.04

[Andreas]

Binary package hint: xorg

this is a two graphic cards, three monitors setup. I've been using this now for many years with ubuntu.
After the update to ubuntu 11.04 the entire GUI experience is extremely slow and lags. This behaviour even occurs with the 'ubuntu standard no effects' desktop session! very annoying.
If I drag a round a gedit window for example, the xorg process (as visible in 'top') will use up to 99% of my CPU power.
Anyway, since the standard desktop was just working fine with the previous ubuntu versions, I would expect the latest one to work just fine too.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.1: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/1'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 270.41.06 Mon Apr 18 14:53:56 PDT 2011
 GCC version: gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-8ubuntu4)
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,mousepoll,vpswitch,regex,animation,snap,expo,move,compiztoolbox,place,grid,imgpng,gnomecompat,wall,ezoom,workarounds,staticswitcher,resize,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,scale,session,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: None
Date: Tue May 3 10:20:49 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-04-28 15:08:14.568103
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38-8-generic, x86_64: installed
 vboxhost, 4.0.6, 2.6.38-8-generic, x86_64: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 nVidia Corporation G96 [GeForce 9500 GT] [10de:0640] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device [3842:c954]
 nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] [10de:0221] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: ZOTAC International (MCO) Ltd. Device [19da:3036]
JockeyStatus:
 xorg:nvidia_173 - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
 xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, Not in use)
MachineType: Dell Inc. OptiPlex 960
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=27600731-8251-4ac4-8ddf-a33d5d9f3f9a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-28 (4 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 04/29/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A04
dmi.board.name: 0Y958C
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 6
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA04:bd04/29/2009:svnDellInc.:pnOptiPlex960:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0Y958C:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct6:cvr:
dmi.product.name: OptiPlex 960
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu13
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7

[Andreas (andreas-kotowicz)]

one more thing: the rendering of firefox also seems to drive my CPU usage up:

 PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
1088 root 20 0 418m 169m 45m R 99.0 2.2 2:37.80 Xorg

In this case, the system will stay unresponsive for 5 seconds or so.

[Andreas (andreas-kotowicz)]

if I disable Xinerama, the GUI becomes responsive again but then I lose the ability to move windows across monitors.

[Andreas (andreas-kotowicz)]

I've installed the latest NVIDIA drivers from https://launchpad.net/~portis25/+archive/test/+packages/ and things have improved for me. Can anyone else confirm this?

[Sven K. (wagalaweia)]

I had very similar problems with unity (latest ubuntu 11.04) + nvidia (latest driver from the official repositories). The PC is a "Foxconn NetBox-nT330i Nettop" (Intel Atom 330 with NVIDIA ION chipset) with two monitors (TwinView 2x1920x1080):

As soon as I open a terminal, or kile, etc. the Xorg process rises up to 100% CPU power, which slows down all processing, e.g., typing needs about 50-500 ms after each keypress, dragging&dropping a maximized window from one monitor to the others laggs a lot, and so on. The system was near to be unuseable. So, I gave it a last try:

The Intel Atom 330 provides 64bit instructions, but I had a 32bit ubuntu installed. Today, I installed ubuntu 11.04 64bit. And now all works as it should (and as it was before with older 32 bit ubuntus)! No more typing delay, and no more Xorg process raising to 100% CPU power. The system responses very fast! So, at least on my PC, this problem seems to be somehow related to 32/64 bit combinations of CPU, ubuntu and perhaps the nvidia driver (due to 3D-requesting unity).

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hey andreas-kotowicz,

You filed this bug report against natty, but I see it's still open and
doesn't appear to have much activity recently. So, now that oneiric
is released and stable, this may be a good point for you to upgrade
and re-test if this issue is still present there.

If it's solved in the new release and you think it's worth backporting
the fix, please indicate that. Or if having the fix in the new release
is good enough, feel free to close out the bug (or let us know and we'll
close it.)

If it's not solved, leave the bug report open. I can't promise we'll
get to it (we get way more bugs filed than we can usually get to), but
your testing and feedback can help out if and when we do.

[bugbot (bugbot)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.