xorg and compiz hog the cpu

[DavidW617]

Binary package hint: compiz

Description: Ubuntu 11.04
Release: 11.04

compiz:
  Installed: 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

xorg:
  Installed: 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
  Candidate: 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
  Version table:
 *** 1:7.6+4ubuntu3 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

The computer has become a lot slower since upgrading to Natty. When observing top, xorg and compiz often are at the top of the list taking up 10% to 40% of the CPU each. This doesn't happen all the time but it does happen often. I don't think that it's the fault of any program that I run because it is sometimes like this right after a reboot.

I am using the Ubuntu Classic session as the Unity session is almost unusable because it is so sluggish.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Sat May 14 16:17:00 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-04-26 16:47:57.939504
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: fglrx, 8.840, 2.6.38-8-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard:
 ATI Technologies Inc RS780M/RS780MN [Radeon HD 3200 Graphics] [1002:9612] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:21b2]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
InstallationMedia_: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
JockeyStatus: xorg:fglrx - ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, In use)
MachineType: LENOVO 3508RS2
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_CA:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=b2da0782-a625-47de-8081-a6125883e1f8 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
ProcVersionSignature_: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: compiz
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-26 (17 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 03/26/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 6XET37WW (1.21 )
dmi.board.name: INVALID
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr6XET37WW(1.21):bd03/26/2010:svnLENOVO:pn3508RS2:pvrThinkPadX100e:rvnLENOVO:rnINVALID:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 3508RS2
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X100e
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
version.fglrx-installer: fglrx-installer N/A
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.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

[Harshad (harshad-sahasrabudhe)]

i have observed this in 12.04 Beta 2. 16th April 2011

[Steinar Haugen (steinar-haugen)]

No activity on this issue? This is still an issue in both 12.04 and 12.10.

I have many different computers, and they all suffer from this issue!

It seems to be many different problems with compiz and resources (both cpu and ram), that may or may not be related. For a prolonged period, I've noticed that compiz and xorg often takes a substantial amount of cpu (just as for the original poster in 11.04).

There are more issues, though, that seems to be related to compiz. The reason I'm stating this, is that they all disappeared when I changed to ubuntu-2d on my 12.04.1 LTS desktop computer. I've seen many bug-reports on these (and/or related) problems, but none of the fixes seems to do anything for me. When I started using ubuntu-2d and metacity instead of compiz, all these issues magically disappeared.

The issues I've noticed are:
* compiz and xorg taking large amount of cpu when the computer is otherwise idle (same issue as OP)
* libre office AND open office taking a large amount of cpu, when idle and just a spreadsheet opened (I've tried multiple versions of both these products, including the latest versions as of today, and both have the same issue - even when idle, it seems that one of the cpu cores is dedicated to the soffice.bin process)
* indicator-multiload takes a large amount of cpu and leaks memory (after a week of up-time, the memory usage was ridiculous - a restart would fix it though) --> note: this might be an unrelated issue since I haven't used this indicator for a while because of this problem -- now that I tried it with metacity, I noticed that the problem was gone, but that might be a coincidence.

I'm really hoping that these problems get some attention, they've certainly been around long enough. For me, at least on my long term desktop computer (which is already 6 years old), it has gotten so bad that I can not use compiz anymore.

[Steinar Haugen (steinar-haugen)]

One more thing that might be a clue; all my systems are using 64 bit version of the OS (which apparently the OP used as well). It might be related to 64 bit systems only.

I'm more than happy to provide more information if required! :)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu. 11.04 reached end of life on October 28, 2012.
See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

I've tried recreating this bug with 12.10 and was unable to, given the information you've provided. Please upgrade to the latest version and re-test. If the bug is still reproducible, increase the verbosity of the steps to recreate it so we can try again.

Do feel free to report any other bugs you may find.

P.S. The cause of such CPU issues will be different for each person so please log your own bugs rather than sharing them in this case.