I have recently rebooted after the latest software update and suddenly my laptop is running slower than slow. top shows compliz is taking between 20% to more often 130% or more of the CPU (dual CPU). My system was running really well now it is very very slow.

[Doug Gray]

I have recently rebooted after the latest software update and suddenly my laptop is running slower than slow.

'Top 'shows compliz is taking between 20% to more often 130% or more of the CPU (dual CPU). My system was running really well now it is very very slow.

doug@doug-AOD255E:~$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS
Release: 14.04

doug@doug-AOD255E:~$ apt-cache policy compiz
compiz:
  Installed: 1:0.9.11.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 1:0.9.11.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 1:0.9.11.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:0.9.11+14.04.20140409-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main i386 Packages
doug@doug-AOD255E:~$ apt-cache policy unity
unity:
  Installed: 7.2.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1.1
  Candidate: 7.2.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1.1
  Version table:
 *** 7.2.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1.1 0
        500 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main i386 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     7.2.0+14.04.20140416-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main i386 Packages
doug@doug-AOD255E:~$

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: unity 7.2.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-34.60-generic 3.13.11.4
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-34-generic i686
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.3
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,vpswitch,snap,mousepoll,resize,place,move,wall,grid,regex,imgpng,session,gnomecompat,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Wed Aug 27 09:21:53 2014
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Atom Processor D4xx/D5xx/N4xx/N5xx Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:a011] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0349]
   Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0349]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-08-16 (10 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release i386 (20140722.2)
MachineType: Acer AOD255E
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-34-generic root=UUID=e6ef8dfb-6153-419b-ba33-d5d31364e19c ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 02/15/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Acer
dmi.bios.version: V3.15(DDR3)
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: JE02_PT_E
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: V3.15(DDR3)
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: V3.15(DDR3)
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:bvrV3.15(DDR3):bd02/15/2011:svnAcer:pnAOD255E:pvrV3.15(DDR3):rvnAcer:rnJE02_PT_E:rvrV3.15(DDR3):cvnAcer:ct10:cvrV3.15(DDR3):
dmi.product.name: AOD255E
dmi.product.version: V3.15(DDR3)
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.52-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.1.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.1.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.10-1ubuntu2
xserver.bootTime: Wed Aug 27 09:02:31 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 25042
 vendor AUO
xserver.version: 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2

[Doug Gray (doug2233)]

More investigation - significant improvement after rediscovering the external screen. Still have rather high compliz cpu usage with the external screen connected. I will update when I have more.

[Doug Gray (doug2233)]

I can reproduce this problem by logging out and logging in with the external screen attached. Compiz chokes the computer running at around 150% CPU usage alone.
If I unplug the external screen the laptop seems to get largely back to normal.
Then plugging the screen back in - the situation is as I previously noted, compiz usage is high but not so bad.
Rebooting or logging out then back in triggers the very high compiz usage.

[Doug Gray (doug2233)]

Tasks: 160 total, 1 running, 159 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
%Cpu(s): 63.2 us, 10.1 sy, 0.5 ni, 24.6 id, 1.4 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.4 si, 0.0 st
KiB Mem: 2053488 total, 1163696 used, 889792 free, 42084 buffers
KiB Swap: 2084860 total, 0 used, 2084860 free. 593244 cached Mem

  PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
 2159 doug 20 0 424732 169440 35288 S 145.3 8.3 8:36.72 compiz
 1133 root 20 0 199332 69408 61120 S 23.2 3.4 1:15.23 Xorg
 2575 doug 20 0 5428 1312 988 R 11.6 0.1 0:00.03 top
 2443 doug 20 0 560384 135440 41464 S 5.8 6.6 1:01.32 firefox

compiz is choking my system to death.......