[ASUS n51v] Kernel versions 2.6.38 and above are extremely slow

Bug #841948 reported by Carles Pastor i Badosa
14
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Linux
Invalid
High
linux (Ubuntu)
Incomplete
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

Both 11.04 and 11.10 beta 1 are extremely slow on asus n51 laptops, installation takes around 6 hours, starting nautilus takes around 3 minutes and apport took around 17 minutes to compile the information in this bug report.
The cpu speed gnome applet shows the cpu always at minim clock speed (800MHz) and trying to change it using the applet has no effect, this however does not explain the slowdown, as capping the cpu clock at the same 800MHz frequency in 10.04 and 10.10 while using a kernel older than the one in natty the gnome2 desktop works pretty fast.

The problem is found both in the amd64 and i386 builds, and can be noticed as soon as you get to language selection in the installation process, (changing from english to catalan takes 38 seconds).

Updating from 10.10 to 11.04 has the same problem.
Booting a live cd has the same problem.
Using the nvidia binary blob or the free noveau driver makes no difference.

While 10.04 and 10.10 are not affected, I have managed to reproduce the bug in those versions by compiling and installing the latest upstream kernel from git.

At first I suspected a hardware problem, but after trying to install 11.04 in my girlfriend's laptop (also an n51, not the exact same model) I found it exhibited the same symptoms. I also contacted two other people through the forums with asus n51 series laptops and they suffer from similar problems.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: linux-image-generic 2.6.38.8.22
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfbff8000 irq 49'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC269'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0269,10431593,00100004'
   Controls : 13
   Simple ctrls : 8
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xfde7c000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Nvidia GPU 0a HDMI/DP'
   Components : 'HDA:10de000a,10de0101,00100100'
   Controls : 16
   Simple ctrls : 4
Date: Mon Sep 5 15:56:46 2011
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110427.1)
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. N51Vn
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/hostname.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-2.6.38-8-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.38-8-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.52
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/13/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 217
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: N51Vn
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr217:bd08/13/2009:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pnN51Vn:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnN51Vn:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: N51Vn
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Revision history for this message
Carles Pastor i Badosa (uzieru) wrote :
Brad Figg (brad-figg)
Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Carles Pastor i Badosa (uzieru) wrote :
Revision history for this message
penalvch (penalvch) wrote :

Carles Pastor i Badosa, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Please do not test the kernel in the daily folder, but the one all the way at the bottom. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested and remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the text:
needs-upstream-testing

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, please comment as to why specifically you were unable to test it and add the following tags:
kernel-unable-to-test-upstream
kernel-unable-to-test-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

tags: added: needs-upstream-testing oneiric regression-release
Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
summary: - Kernel versions 2.6.38 and above are extremely slow on asus n51 laptops
+ Kernel versions 2.6.38 and above are extremely slow on asus n51 laptop
Revision history for this message
Carles Pastor i Badosa (uzieru) wrote : Re: Kernel versions 2.6.38 and above are extremely slow on asus n51 laptop

Thank you for your help, I didn't answer you because this bug is a duplicate of bug #793437, however, as it looks like #793437 has been marked invalid I'll try to update this one as much as possible.

Yes, this is still an issue on every kernel version I have tried up to 3.6 it is not ubuntu specific and happens on every distribution I have that includes a linux kernel newer than the offending version (the most precise account we have of this is the bisect), discussion on this bug on launchpad seems to have died down around last year and right now the only activity is in the kernel.org bug tracker: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42725

This summer I ran a bisect to the best of my ability, the results are in the thread but I'll attach them here just in case you find it useful. You can find the log in the attachment and this is the list of possible offending commits:

$ git log e8eb6228094bcf..c172cb73bc79fe6991 | grep commit
commit c172cb73bc79fe69915b1a1a48e374aa4b1f8a59
commit 28f4f8a9def2b1f3a6066bae791c77043ec49524
commit a0d468718b9049f7396d101075a129a2d683ad66
commit 9ce10df8d83d0528e80cd319b35ac5f6812b4f62
commit 9874647ba1bdf3e1af25e079070a00676f60f2f0
commit e8e18c956152ec9c26c94c6401c174691a8f04e7
commit 9e6c3e996e3c80d00cf931538e17126efe45f45c
commit 09079250db4d470f75eddcce31e0229c92d6c3bf
commit 150dba38f0c3d2d5f5edc58145d202de08ed623c
commit de5668fe7549c0586c6f64fa5661604cf7029a99
commit ddcc6a037c0f9378f29658636a2c2b54c4238ec4
commit 9d8b5e7b28179784e2c6250086a44021fbb9c5a0
commit 546eb57695875712f676e5f729159b0779f1c0af
commit 3bd741bd0dfcc1845ae6892baa5192c91addc84c
commit 3784730b02b9f147a55b0e4623fcad671273e6e6
commit b63559f5ce08bc8f94ce144a8d06f7af607ecc53
commit a44061aa8b5d58b2729faca4c155a94a5bea2a09
commit e8b6f970107cfc9c00cdcdb12ec6c7e135cf379f
commit b76df673522d94e3eafcf16935b3d7e5dded3078
commit ccba77eb45c36cf1d8b22f241eb8a4a292c1362e
commit 4461cf546ec8c97b6b997b8e533d6de1960499d3
commit a9fc03125ea0001ff18bc29da9539b587fdbd1d7
commit 20d33aea7ae7ad858f3f91c834d9043cd8122d38
commit c45b5c097001480e66d4c523eb715ad317a4ef77
commit 5821f75421aa7c7bafdec291223153597f649934
commit b27d65975c252ff774edff8e01f0a9fd46d8ab62
commit 96b7b7ad79e4bd8a0ae67dd201f7532ef4abf1c1
commit 507f7d5e27015be1e5dda5c56bb5e10315b76f71
commit aa9d36060fb7480a5907660b7ba61c3fda20fc61

Because of this bug installing a new version of ubuntu takes many hours and leaves me with an unusable laptop when the process finishes, if you really think this is needed I'll do it. But won't be able to do it until I have free time and do not need the computer, probably in December.

Thank you again for your help.

tags: added: kernel-bug-exists-upstream
tags: removed: needs-upstream-testing
penalvch (penalvch)
tags: added: needs-upstream-testing
removed: kernel-bug-exists-upstream
Changed in linux:
importance: Unknown → High
status: Unknown → Incomplete
Changed in linux:
status: Incomplete → Invalid
Changed in linux:
status: Invalid → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
penalvch (penalvch) wrote :

Carles Pastor i Badosa, thank you for your comments. Regarding the laptop you originally filed the bug report with, is this a N51Vn Notebook as noted in http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=N51Vn&p=3&s=161 ?

summary: - Kernel versions 2.6.38 and above are extremely slow on asus n51 laptop
+ [ASUS n51v] Kernel versions 2.6.38 and above are extremely slow
Revision history for this message
Gue (wilsonr) wrote :

Friends, I have an ASUS n51V laptop and I still have the Ubuntu 10.10 version running on it. I tried all new UBUNTU versions after 10.10 and no success on any version. I tried the live cd versions of open SUSE (openSUSE-12.1-GNOME-LiveCD-i686.iso) and Debian (debian-6.0.5-i386-CD-1.iso) and all those versions works fine, only Debian show dificulties with my video card (nvidia GT 240M) and wirelless (Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100), but no performance problems on any of them. May be a comparation with other distros could open possibilities of solving this issue.

Revision history for this message
penalvch (penalvch) wrote :

Gue, if you have a bug in Ubuntu, could you please file a new report by executing the following in a terminal:
ubuntu-bug linux

For more on this, please see the Ubuntu Kernel team article:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/KernelTeamBugPolicies#Filing_Kernel_Bug_reports

the Ubuntu Bug Control and Ubuntu Bug Squad article:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/BestPractices#X.2BAC8-Reporting.Focus_on_One_Issue

and Ubuntu Community article:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette

When opening up the new report, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

Please note, not filing a new report may delay your problem being addressed as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your understanding.

Revision history for this message
Gue (wilsonr) wrote :

Christopher, my comment is about this bug (#841948). My intention was only to bring more information that could help in some way. Even apologize for having written that Open SUSE worked ok on my ASUS, actually it didn´t work, it shows the same problem than this bug (#841948). After writing here, a saw the comments on kernel.org bug tracker: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42725, and they are very close to reach the root of this problem. Thanks for answer and sorry for not been so clear.

Changed in linux:
status: Incomplete → Invalid
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