Hi, I'm looking for some advice trying to pinpoint why or where my system has becoming almost unusable slow. Searching the web I've found some hints but nothing precise enough. Maybe it's a failing HDD, but I'm first posting what I have until now in the hope someone can give some advice. Superficial symptoms are a general slowness. I'm using just IceWM and `startx` to initialize the GUI, and even logging into my account previous to that takes almost a minute to get done. Then any application I launch takes minutes to just start (from IceWM to firefox, from qtox to pcmanfm or geany, etc.). Even navigate the folders tree with pcmanfm takes 10 or more seconds just to show any folder content... Hope some of this helps: $ sudo journalctl -b -exp3 -- Journal begins at Thu 2021-12-02 23:59:31 -03, ends at Fri 2021-12-03 19:50:29 -03. -- dic 03 00:48:43 arch kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Asking for cache data failed dic 03 00:48:43 arch kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through dic 03 00:50:39 arch libvirtd[592]: cannot open directory '/home/dell/Software/VMs/TrisquelMini8': No existe el fichero o el directorio dic 03 00:50:39 arch libvirtd[592]: error interno: Falló al iniciar automáticamente el grupo de almacenamiento 'TrisquelMini8': cannot open directory '/home/dell/Softwar> dic 03 00:50:41 arch libvirtd[592]: No se encontró 'dmidecode' en ruta: No existe el fichero o el directorio dic 03 00:50:57 arch libvirtd[592]: No se encontró 'dmidecode' en ruta: No existe el fichero o el directorio dic 03 00:56:40 arch systemd[1]: Failed to start Disk Manager. Subject: A start job for unit udisks2.service has failed Defined-By: systemd Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel A start job for unit udisks2.service has finished with a failure. The job identifier is 1072 and the job result is failed. $ systemctl --state=failed UNIT LOAD ACTIVE SUB DESCRIPTION 0 loaded units listed. $ systemd-analyze Startup finished in 11.038s (kernel) + 1min 31.352s (userspace) = 1min 42.391s graphical.target reached after 1min 31.352s in userspace $ systemd-analyze blame 37.946s polkit.service 29.248s dev-sda1.device 28.827s systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service 24.692s udisks2.service 15.936s systemd-journal-flush.service 14.228s systemd-hwdb-update.service 13.930s ldconfig.service 13.502s upower.service 12.881s ufw.service 8.830s user@1000.service 7.556s systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service 7.280s avahi-daemon.service 7.275s bluetooth.service 7.262s iwd.service 6.067s systemd-logind.service 6.058s systemd-machined.service 5.825s systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service 5.123s systemd-sysusers.service 4.569s systemd-udevd.service 4.511s systemd-resolved.service 4.281s systemd-networkd.service 3.724s systemd-journal-catalog-update.service 3.415s systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-1d72b82c\x2d9c58\x2d4f57\x2d97a3\x2de29ff35a5632.service 2.959s systemd-modules-load.service 2.557s lm_sensors.service 2.503s systemd-random-seed.service 2.389s systemd-backlight@backlight:acpi_video0.service 1.983s dev-disk-by\x2duuid-84c91978\x2da09c\x2d4087\x2db60d\x2d86730d142f63.swap 1.967s systemd-backlight@leds:dell::kbd_backlight.service 1.563s systemd-timesyncd.service 1.457s systemd-update-utmp.service 1.287s systemd-udev-trigger.service 1.278s systemd-rfkill.service 1.219s alsa-restore.service 1.164s systemd-sysctl.service (...) $ systemctl status polkit.service ● polkit.service - Authorization Manager Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/polkit.service; static) Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-12-03 00:50:28 -03; 19h ago Docs: man:polkit(8) Main PID: 613 (polkitd) Tasks: 12 (limit: 6993) Memory: 18.9M CPU: 1.032s CGroup: /system.slice/polkit.service └─613 /usr/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug dic 03 00:49:50 arch systemd[1]: Starting Authorization Manager... dic 03 00:50:05 arch polkitd[613]: Started polkitd version 0.120 dic 03 00:50:26 arch polkitd[613]: Loading rules from directory /etc/polkit-1/rules.d dic 03 00:50:26 arch polkitd[613]: Loading rules from directory /usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d dic 03 00:50:28 arch polkitd[613]: Finished loading, compiling and executing 6 rules dic 03 00:50:28 arch systemd[1]: Started Authorization Manager. dic 03 00:50:28 arch polkitd[613]: Acquired the name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 on the system bus $ systemctl status dev-sda1.device ● dev-sda1.device - Hitachi_HTS545025B9A300 ROOT Follows: unit currently follows state of sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:1f.2-ata1-host0-target0:0:0-0:0:0:0-block-sda-sda1.device Loaded: loaded Active: active (plugged) since Fri 2021-12-03 00:49:12 -03; 19h ago Device: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.2/ata1/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:0/block/sda/sda1 Notice: journal has been rotated since unit was started, output may be incomplete. $ systemctl status systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service ○ systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service - Cleanup of Temporary Directories Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service; static) Active: inactive (dead) since Fri 2021-12-03 01:03:52 -03; 19h ago TriggeredBy: ● systemd-tmpfiles-clean.timer Docs: man:tmpfiles.d(5) man:systemd-tmpfiles(8) Process: 1473 ExecStart=systemd-tmpfiles --clean (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 1473 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) CPU: 185ms dic 03 01:03:23 arch systemd[1]: Starting Cleanup of Temporary Directories... dic 03 01:03:52 arch systemd[1]: systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service: Deactivated successfully. dic 03 01:03:52 arch systemd[1]: Finished Cleanup of Temporary Directories. $ systemctl status udisks2.service ● udisks2.service - Disk Manager Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/udisks2.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled) Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-12-03 00:59:51 -03; 19h ago Docs: man:udisks(8) Main PID: 1129 (udisksd) Tasks: 5 (limit: 6993) Memory: 3.2M CPU: 23.045s CGroup: /system.slice/udisks2.service └─1129 /usr/lib/udisks2/udisksd dic 03 00:59:26 arch systemd[1]: Starting Disk Manager... dic 03 00:59:26 arch udisksd[1129]: udisks daemon version 2.9.4 starting dic 03 00:59:51 arch systemd[1]: Started Disk Manager. dic 03 00:59:54 arch udisksd[1129]: Acquired the name org.freedesktop.UDisks2 on the system message bus $ systemctl status systemd-journal-flush.service ● systemd-journal-flush.service - Flush Journal to Persistent Storage Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-journal-flush.service; static) Active: active (exited) since Fri 2021-12-03 00:48:59 -03; 19h ago Docs: man:systemd-journald.service(8) man:journald.conf(5) Process: 283 ExecStart=journalctl --flush (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 283 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) CPU: 15ms dic 03 00:48:43 arch systemd[1]: Starting Flush Journal to Persistent Storage... dic 03 00:48:59 arch systemd[1]: Finished Flush Journal to Persistent Storage. $ systemctl status systemd-hwdb-update.service ● systemd-hwdb-update.service - Rebuild Hardware Database Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-hwdb-update.service; static) Active: active (exited) since Fri 2021-12-03 00:48:57 -03; 19h ago Docs: man:hwdb(7) man:systemd-hwdb(8) Process: 279 ExecStart=systemd-hwdb update (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 279 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) CPU: 1.746s dic 03 00:48:57 arch systemd[1]: Finished Rebuild Hardware Database. $ journalctl -b -u systemd-journald.service -- Journal begins at Thu 2021-12-02 23:59:31 -03, ends at Fri 2021-12-03 20:49:18 -03. -- dic 03 00:48:43 arch systemd-journald[271]: Journal started dic 03 00:48:43 arch systemd-journald[271]: Runtime Journal (/run/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c) is 8.0M, max 292.4M, 284.4M free. dic 03 00:48:44 arch systemd-journald[271]: Time spent on flushing to /var/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c is 7.561088s for 798 entries. dic 03 00:48:44 arch systemd-journald[271]: System Journal (/var/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c) is 16.0M, max 2.4G, 2.4G free. $ journalctl -b -u systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\\x2duuid-1d72b82c\\x2d9c58\\x2d4f57\\x2d97a3\\x2de29ff35a5632.service -- Journal begins at Thu 2021-12-02 23:59:31 -03, ends at Fri 2021-12-03 20:52:36 -03. -- dic 03 00:49:18 arch systemd[1]: Starting File System Check on /dev/disk/by-uuid/1d72b82c-9c58-4f57-97a3-e29ff35a5632... dic 03 00:49:21 arch systemd-fsck[485]: HOME: limpio, 208781/13107200 ficheros, 37165716/52398592 bloques dic 03 00:49:21 arch systemd[1]: Finished File System Check on /dev/disk/by-uuid/1d72b82c-9c58-4f57-97a3-e29ff35a5632. $ journalctl --verify PASS: /var/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c/user-1000.journal 3b84d8: Data object's entry array not sorted File corruption detected at /var/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c/system.journal:915878 (of 16777216 bytes, 56%). FAIL: /var/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c/system.journal (Mensaje erróneo) $ journalctl --disk-usage Archived and active journals take up 24.0M in the file system. Maybe it's pertinent to mention that I've just cleaned up /var/log/journal to rule out storage issues. Any help will be most welcome. Thanks a lot in advance.
Hey, have you tried booting any live system from a USB drive? If it works better then it might be a problem with your HDD. Cheers On Fri, Dec 3, 2021, 7:07 PM riveravaldez via arch-general < arch-general@lists.archlinux.org> wrote:
Hi,
I'm looking for some advice trying to pinpoint why or where my system has becoming almost unusable slow. Searching the web I've found some hints but nothing precise enough. Maybe it's a failing HDD, but I'm first posting what I have until now in the hope someone can give some advice.
Superficial symptoms are a general slowness. I'm using just IceWM and `startx` to initialize the GUI, and even logging into my account previous to that takes almost a minute to get done. Then any application I launch takes minutes to just start (from IceWM to firefox, from qtox to pcmanfm or geany, etc.). Even navigate the folders tree with pcmanfm takes 10 or more seconds just to show any folder content...
Hope some of this helps:
$ sudo journalctl -b -exp3 -- Journal begins at Thu 2021-12-02 23:59:31 -03, ends at Fri 2021-12-03 19:50:29 -03. -- dic 03 00:48:43 arch kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Asking for cache data failed dic 03 00:48:43 arch kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through dic 03 00:50:39 arch libvirtd[592]: cannot open directory '/home/dell/Software/VMs/TrisquelMini8': No existe el fichero o el directorio dic 03 00:50:39 arch libvirtd[592]: error interno: Falló al iniciar automáticamente el grupo de almacenamiento 'TrisquelMini8': cannot open directory '/home/dell/Softwar> dic 03 00:50:41 arch libvirtd[592]: No se encontró 'dmidecode' en ruta: No existe el fichero o el directorio dic 03 00:50:57 arch libvirtd[592]: No se encontró 'dmidecode' en ruta: No existe el fichero o el directorio dic 03 00:56:40 arch systemd[1]: Failed to start Disk Manager. Subject: A start job for unit udisks2.service has failed Defined-By: systemd Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
A start job for unit udisks2.service has finished with a failure.
The job identifier is 1072 and the job result is failed.
$ systemctl --state=failed UNIT LOAD ACTIVE SUB DESCRIPTION 0 loaded units listed.
$ systemd-analyze Startup finished in 11.038s (kernel) + 1min 31.352s (userspace) = 1min 42.391s graphical.target reached after 1min 31.352s in userspace
$ systemd-analyze blame 37.946s polkit.service 29.248s dev-sda1.device 28.827s systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service 24.692s udisks2.service 15.936s systemd-journal-flush.service 14.228s systemd-hwdb-update.service 13.930s ldconfig.service 13.502s upower.service 12.881s ufw.service 8.830s user@1000.service 7.556s systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service 7.280s avahi-daemon.service 7.275s bluetooth.service 7.262s iwd.service 6.067s systemd-logind.service 6.058s systemd-machined.service 5.825s systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service 5.123s systemd-sysusers.service 4.569s systemd-udevd.service 4.511s systemd-resolved.service 4.281s systemd-networkd.service 3.724s systemd-journal-catalog-update.service 3.415s systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by \x2duuid-1d72b82c\x2d9c58\x2d4f57\x2d97a3\x2de29ff35a5632.service 2.959s systemd-modules-load.service 2.557s lm_sensors.service 2.503s systemd-random-seed.service 2.389s systemd-backlight@backlight:acpi_video0.service 1.983s dev-disk-by\x2duuid-84c91978\x2da09c\x2d4087\x2db60d\x2d86730d142f63.swap 1.967s systemd-backlight@leds:dell::kbd_backlight.service 1.563s systemd-timesyncd.service 1.457s systemd-update-utmp.service 1.287s systemd-udev-trigger.service 1.278s systemd-rfkill.service 1.219s alsa-restore.service 1.164s systemd-sysctl.service (...)
$ systemctl status polkit.service ● polkit.service - Authorization Manager Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/polkit.service; static) Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-12-03 00:50:28 -03; 19h ago Docs: man:polkit(8) Main PID: 613 (polkitd) Tasks: 12 (limit: 6993) Memory: 18.9M CPU: 1.032s CGroup: /system.slice/polkit.service └─613 /usr/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
dic 03 00:49:50 arch systemd[1]: Starting Authorization Manager... dic 03 00:50:05 arch polkitd[613]: Started polkitd version 0.120 dic 03 00:50:26 arch polkitd[613]: Loading rules from directory /etc/polkit-1/rules.d dic 03 00:50:26 arch polkitd[613]: Loading rules from directory /usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d dic 03 00:50:28 arch polkitd[613]: Finished loading, compiling and executing 6 rules dic 03 00:50:28 arch systemd[1]: Started Authorization Manager. dic 03 00:50:28 arch polkitd[613]: Acquired the name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 on the system bus
$ systemctl status dev-sda1.device ● dev-sda1.device - Hitachi_HTS545025B9A300 ROOT Follows: unit currently follows state of
sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:1f.2-ata1-host0-target0:0:0-0:0:0:0-block-sda-sda1.device Loaded: loaded Active: active (plugged) since Fri 2021-12-03 00:49:12 -03; 19h ago Device: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.2/ata1/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:0/block/sda/sda1
Notice: journal has been rotated since unit was started, output may be incomplete.
$ systemctl status systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service ○ systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service - Cleanup of Temporary Directories Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service; static) Active: inactive (dead) since Fri 2021-12-03 01:03:52 -03; 19h ago TriggeredBy: ● systemd-tmpfiles-clean.timer Docs: man:tmpfiles.d(5) man:systemd-tmpfiles(8) Process: 1473 ExecStart=systemd-tmpfiles --clean (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 1473 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) CPU: 185ms
dic 03 01:03:23 arch systemd[1]: Starting Cleanup of Temporary Directories... dic 03 01:03:52 arch systemd[1]: systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service: Deactivated successfully. dic 03 01:03:52 arch systemd[1]: Finished Cleanup of Temporary Directories.
$ systemctl status udisks2.service ● udisks2.service - Disk Manager Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/udisks2.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled) Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-12-03 00:59:51 -03; 19h ago Docs: man:udisks(8) Main PID: 1129 (udisksd) Tasks: 5 (limit: 6993) Memory: 3.2M CPU: 23.045s CGroup: /system.slice/udisks2.service └─1129 /usr/lib/udisks2/udisksd
dic 03 00:59:26 arch systemd[1]: Starting Disk Manager... dic 03 00:59:26 arch udisksd[1129]: udisks daemon version 2.9.4 starting dic 03 00:59:51 arch systemd[1]: Started Disk Manager. dic 03 00:59:54 arch udisksd[1129]: Acquired the name org.freedesktop.UDisks2 on the system message bus
$ systemctl status systemd-journal-flush.service ● systemd-journal-flush.service - Flush Journal to Persistent Storage Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-journal-flush.service; static) Active: active (exited) since Fri 2021-12-03 00:48:59 -03; 19h ago Docs: man:systemd-journald.service(8) man:journald.conf(5) Process: 283 ExecStart=journalctl --flush (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 283 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) CPU: 15ms
dic 03 00:48:43 arch systemd[1]: Starting Flush Journal to Persistent Storage... dic 03 00:48:59 arch systemd[1]: Finished Flush Journal to Persistent Storage.
$ systemctl status systemd-hwdb-update.service ● systemd-hwdb-update.service - Rebuild Hardware Database Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-hwdb-update.service; static) Active: active (exited) since Fri 2021-12-03 00:48:57 -03; 19h ago Docs: man:hwdb(7) man:systemd-hwdb(8) Process: 279 ExecStart=systemd-hwdb update (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 279 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) CPU: 1.746s
dic 03 00:48:57 arch systemd[1]: Finished Rebuild Hardware Database.
$ journalctl -b -u systemd-journald.service -- Journal begins at Thu 2021-12-02 23:59:31 -03, ends at Fri 2021-12-03 20:49:18 -03. -- dic 03 00:48:43 arch systemd-journald[271]: Journal started dic 03 00:48:43 arch systemd-journald[271]: Runtime Journal (/run/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c) is 8.0M, max 292.4M, 284.4M free. dic 03 00:48:44 arch systemd-journald[271]: Time spent on flushing to /var/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c is 7.561088s for 798 entries. dic 03 00:48:44 arch systemd-journald[271]: System Journal (/var/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c) is 16.0M, max 2.4G, 2.4G free.
$ journalctl -b -u systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by \\x2duuid-1d72b82c\\x2d9c58\\x2d4f57\\x2d97a3\\x2de29ff35a5632.service -- Journal begins at Thu 2021-12-02 23:59:31 -03, ends at Fri 2021-12-03 20:52:36 -03. -- dic 03 00:49:18 arch systemd[1]: Starting File System Check on /dev/disk/by-uuid/1d72b82c-9c58-4f57-97a3-e29ff35a5632... dic 03 00:49:21 arch systemd-fsck[485]: HOME: limpio, 208781/13107200 ficheros, 37165716/52398592 bloques dic 03 00:49:21 arch systemd[1]: Finished File System Check on /dev/disk/by-uuid/1d72b82c-9c58-4f57-97a3-e29ff35a5632.
$ journalctl --verify PASS: /var/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c/user-1000.journal 3b84d8: Data object's entry array not sorted File corruption detected at /var/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c/system.journal:915878 (of 16777216 bytes, 56%). FAIL: /var/log/journal/431f639f382e4bad8a43628868f2fc6c/system.journal (Mensaje erróneo)
$ journalctl --disk-usage Archived and active journals take up 24.0M in the file system.
Maybe it's pertinent to mention that I've just cleaned up /var/log/journal to rule out storage issues.
Any help will be most welcome.
Thanks a lot in advance.
On Friday, December 3, 2021, Santiago Forero via arch-general < arch-general@lists.archlinux.org> wrote:
Hey, have you tried booting any live system from a USB drive? If it works better then it might be a problem with your HDD.
Cheers
Hi, thanks a lot for the reply and sorry for the delay. I'll try that next and report the results. Thanks a lot!
Hi, On Saturday, 4 December 2021 01:07:18 CET riveravaldez via arch-general wrote:
Hi,
I'm looking for some advice trying to pinpoint why or where my system has becoming almost unusable slow. Searching the web I've found some hints but nothing precise enough. Maybe it's a failing HDD, but I'm first posting what I have until now in the hope someone can give some advice.
Have you check SMART health status of your disks? Maybe also run some self- tests to discard HDD issues. A HDD about to die can make system incredible slow.
Superficial symptoms are a general slowness. I'm using just IceWM and `startx` to initialize the GUI, and even logging into my account previous to that takes almost a minute to get done. Then any application I launch takes minutes to just start (from IceWM to firefox, from qtox to pcmanfm or geany, etc.). Even navigate the folders tree with pcmanfm takes 10 or more seconds just to show any folder content...
Do you have a single disk or more than one? If so, do you feel a difference navigating directories that are physically in different disks? Also, to discard other hardware problems, can you boot arch (or any other distro) on a USB and check if system is more responsive. Another thing you can check is the CPU freq. If CPU too hot, modern CPUs will throttle a lot. Although if you have a HDD I don't think this is the case... anycase, it's a quick think to check temperature and frequency. Also, did the slowness start after updating any BIOS/firmware? Maybe also run some memtest? Hope it helps. -- Iyán Méndez Veiga GPG: 0x422E3694311E5AC1
On Friday, December 3, 2021, Iyán Méndez Veiga via arch-general < arch-general@lists.archlinux.org> wrote:
Hi,
On Saturday, 4 December 2021 01:07:18 CET riveravaldez via arch-general wrote:
Hi,
I'm looking for some advice trying to pinpoint why or where my system has becoming almost unusable slow. Searching the web I've found some hints but nothing precise enough. Maybe it's a failing HDD, but I'm first posting what I have until now in the hope someone can give some advice.
Have you check SMART health status of your disks? Maybe also run some self- tests to discard HDD issues. A HDD about to die can make system incredible slow.
Hi, Iyán, thanks a lot for the reply and sorry for the delay. I've run some SMART tests (short and long), this is what I have til now: $ sudo smartctl -i /dev/sda | grep SMART SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled $ sudo smartctl -c /dev/sda === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity was never started. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 113) The previous self-test completed having the read element of the test failed. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 645) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. No Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 83) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x003d) SCT Status supported. SCT Error Recovery Control supported. SCT Feature Control supported. SCT Data Table supported. $ sudo smartctl -H /dev/sda === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED $ sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/sda === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error # 1 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 52941 98659719 # 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 52932 - # 3 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 52887 78053410 # 4 Short offline Completed without error 00% 52881 - # 5 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 52875 98659715 # 6 Short offline Completed without error 00% 52868 - $ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Model Family: Hitachi Travelstar 5K500.B Device Model: Hitachi HTS545025B9A300 Serial Number: 091108PB42061SCP1DUL LU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 5e8c99119 Firmware Version: PB2OC60N User Capacity: 250.059.350.016 bytes [250 GB] Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical Rotation Rate: 5400 rpm Form Factor: 2.5 inches Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show] ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 6 SATA Version is: SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s Local Time is: Thu Dec 16 21:59:01 2021 -03 SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity was never started. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 113) The previous self-test completed having the read element of the test failed. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 645) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. No Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 83) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x003d) SCT Status supported. SCT Error Recovery Control supported. SCT Feature Control supported. SCT Data Table supported. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 098 098 062 Pre-fail Always - 196609 2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 206 206 033 Pre-fail Always - 1 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0012 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 3347 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 005 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 067 Pre-fail Always - 0 8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0005 100 100 040 Pre-fail Offline - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 53005 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 060 Pre-fail Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 3213 191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1114237 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0012 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 4508441 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0002 144 144 000 Old_age Always - 38 (Min/Max 9/50) 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 7 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 3 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0008 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x000a 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 2 223 Load_Retry_Count 0x000a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 SMART Error Log Version: 1 ATA Error Count: 2 CR = Command Register [HEX] FR = Features Register [HEX] SC = Sector Count Register [HEX] SN = Sector Number Register [HEX] CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX] CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX] DH = Device/Head Register [HEX] DC = Device Command Register [HEX] ER = Error register [HEX] ST = Status register [HEX] Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes, SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days. Error 2 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 3303 hours (137 days + 15 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 4b dd df 1d e1 Error: UNC 75 sectors at LBA = 0x011ddfdd = 18735069 Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- 25 00 80 a8 df 1d e0 00 00:34:49.600 READ DMA EXT ea 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 00:34:49.600 FLUSH CACHE EXT 25 00 08 80 cc 1d e0 00 00:34:49.600 READ DMA EXT 35 00 08 c8 cd 5b e0 00 00:34:49.600 WRITE DMA EXT 25 00 08 f8 41 28 e0 00 00:34:49.600 READ DMA EXT Error 1 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 3303 hours (137 days + 15 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 4b dd df 1d e1 Error: UNC 75 sectors at LBA = 0x011ddfdd = 18735069 Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- 25 00 80 a8 df 1d e0 00 00:34:45.600 READ DMA EXT 25 00 08 50 a0 20 e0 00 00:34:44.700 READ DMA EXT 25 00 68 00 df 1d e0 00 00:34:44.700 READ DMA EXT 25 00 30 80 f9 20 e0 00 00:34:44.700 READ DMA EXT 25 00 08 20 b6 21 e0 00 00:34:44.700 READ DMA EXT SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error # 1 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 52941 98659719 # 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 52932 - # 3 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 52887 78053410 # 4 Short offline Completed without error 00% 52881 - # 5 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 52875 98659715 # 6 Short offline Completed without error 00% 52868 - SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS 1 0 0 Not_testing 2 0 0 Not_testing 3 0 0 Not_testing 4 0 0 Not_testing 5 0 0 Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0): After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay. That's it. I'm not sure if that's more or less normal or a dying disk... Any comment? Something informative there?
Superficial symptoms are a general slowness. I'm using just IceWM and `startx` to initialize the GUI, and even logging into my account previous to that takes almost a minute to get done. Then any application I launch takes minutes to just start (from IceWM to firefox, from qtox to pcmanfm or geany, etc.). Even navigate the folders tree with pcmanfm takes 10 or more seconds just to show any folder content...
Do you have a single disk or more than one?
Single disk.
Also, to discard other hardware problems, can you boot arch (or any other distro) on a USB and check if system is more responsive.
I'll do that next and report.
Another thing you can check is the CPU freq. If CPU too hot, modern CPUs will throttle a lot. Although if you have a HDD I don't think this is the case... anycase, it's a quick think to check temperature and frequency.
I'm looking for that right now. Any hint or recommendation about how to better do it?
Also, did the slowness start after updating any BIOS/firmware?
Not to my knowledge. Right now, on boot, this is all I have: $ sudo dmesg (...) [ 533.325003] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: INTR 00000001: 00000000 [ 533.325022] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: SCHED_ERROR 00 [] [ 533.325029] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: INTR 00010000: 00000000 [ 533.325034] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: INTR 01000000: 00000000 [ 533.325042] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: INTR 08800010 [ 533.325090] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: bus: MMIO read of 00000000 FAULT at 002100 [ !ENGINE ] (...) $ sudo journalctl -b -exp3 -- Journal begins at Thu 2021-12-02 23:59:31 -03, ends at Mon 2021-12-13 21:32:34 -03. -- dic 13 20:58:00 arch libvirtd[608]: cannot open directory '/home/dell/Software/VMs/TrisquelMini8': No existe el fichero o el directorio dic 13 20:58:00 arch libvirtd[608]: error interno: Falló al iniciar automáticamente el grupo de almacenamiento 'TrisquelMini8': cannot open directory '/home/dell/Softwar> dic 13 20:58:02 arch libvirtd[608]: No se encontró 'dmidecode' en ruta: No existe el fichero o el directorio dic 13 20:58:12 arch libvirtd[608]: No se encontró 'dmidecode' en ruta: No existe el fichero o el directorio dic 13 21:05:29 arch kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: SCHED_ERROR 00 [] dic 13 21:05:29 arch kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: fifo: INTR 08800010 dic 13 21:05:29 arch kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: bus: MMIO read of 00000000 FAULT at 002100 [ !ENGINE ]
Maybe also run some memtest?
I'll try that also and report.
Hope it helps.
Me too. Thanks a lot again!
On 12/17/21 04:33, riveravaldez via arch-general wrote:
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error # 1 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 52941 98659719 # 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 52932 - # 3 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 52887 78053410 # 4 Short offline Completed without error 00% 52881 - # 5 Extended offline Completed: read failure 10% 52875 98659715 # 6 Short offline Completed without error 00% 52868 -
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS 1 0 0 Not_testing 2 0 0 Not_testing 3 0 0 Not_testing 4 0 0 Not_testing 5 0 0 Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0): After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
That's it. I'm not sure if that's more or less normal or a dying disk... Any comment? Something informative there?
Hard to say. I would backup all data that you have on this disk. There are 3 pending sectors that you need to rewrite to be able to re-run smartd long test. A suspicious thing is that three long tests stopped on different LBA_of_first_error - it may be an not mechanical problem, but hdd electronics. My advice is - after doing a backup to run badblocks read-write test[1]. If it passes then you should have 0 "Current pending sector" reported by smartd and "Reallocated_Sector_Ct" set to 3. Then you can run smartctl --test=long and see if it passes. Anyway, this disk is suspicious and I would not use it without constant backup. [1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/badblocks#Read-write_test_(non-destructive)
Hi Rivera,
Superficial symptoms are a general slowness. I'm using just IceWM and `startx` to initialize the GUI, and even logging into my account previous to that takes almost a minute to get done.
Once logged in, run ‘LC_ALL=C dstat -tap’ and leave it to settle down with nothing happening. Then start any of the complex GUI programs you mentioned which take a long time. Observe dstat's output to see where there's a bottleneck. $ LC_ALL=C dstat -tap ----system---- --total-cpu-usage-- -dsk/total- -net/total- ---paging-- ---system-- ---procs--- time |usr sys idl wai stl| read writ| recv send| in out | int csw |run blk new I doubt CPU usr and sys will be the problem; if they are then it suggests you CPU got slower. If CPU wai(t) it high then the CPUs are stalled from doing work waiting for I/O, e.g. disk reads. Lots of paging could show a problem some of the machine's RAM not being used. Seeing those figures might give you, and us on the list, some idea. -- Cheers, Ralph.
On Sat, Dec 4, 2021 at 6:36 AM Ralph Corderoy via arch-general <arch-general@lists.archlinux.org> wrote:
Hi Rivera,
Superficial symptoms are a general slowness. I'm using just IceWM and `startx` to initialize the GUI, and even logging into my account previous to that takes almost a minute to get done.
Once logged in, run ‘LC_ALL=C dstat -tap’ and leave it to settle down with nothing happening. Then start any of the complex GUI programs you mentioned which take a long time. Observe dstat's output to see where there's a bottleneck.
$ LC_ALL=C dstat -tap ----system---- --total-cpu-usage-- -dsk/total- -net/total- ---paging-- ---system-- ---procs--- time |usr sys idl wai stl| read writ| recv send| in out | int csw |run blk new
I doubt CPU usr and sys will be the problem; if they are then it suggests you CPU got slower. If CPU wai(t) it high then the CPUs are stalled from doing work waiting for I/O, e.g. disk reads. Lots of paging could show a problem some of the machine's RAM not being used.
Seeing those figures might give you, and us on the list, some idea.
-- Cheers, Ralph.
Hi, Ralph, thanks a lot, I was away from this machine and now I see the problem persists. This is an example from: $ pcp dstat -tap ----system---- ----total-usage---- -dsk/total- -net/total- ---paging-- ---system-- ---procs--- time |usr sys idl wai stl| read writ| recv send| in out | int csw |run blk new 27-10 06:20:57| | | | | |2.0 1.0 27-10 06:20:58| 3 2 65 31 0| 196k 212k|3432B 1119B|39.0 0 |1793 2269 |1.0 1.5 1.0 27-10 06:20:59| 1 2 79 18 0|1080k 4095B| 432B 221B|26.5 0 |2847 1632 | 0 2.0 0.5 27-10 06:21:00| 1 1 84 13 0| 416k 0 | 404B 381B| 113 0 | 780 1135 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:01| 2 0 86 12 0| 304k 0 | 97B 94B|21.0 0 | 626 938 | 0 1.0 1.0 27-10 06:21:02| 2 1 84 12 0| 304k 0 | 13k 8508B|51.0 0 |1048 1751 | 0 1.0 1.0 27-10 06:21:03| 2 1 83 15 0| 232k 1528k| 0 0 |59.0 0 | 773 1146 | 0 1.0 2.0 27-10 06:21:04| 1 1 75 24 0| 40k 100k| 0 0 |8.00 0 | 737 1152 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:05| 3 0 85 12 0| 80k 0 | 0 0 |19.0 0 | 633 729 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:06| 2 1 85 12 0| 552k 0 | 871B 6056B|48.0 0 | 910 1290 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:07| 3 1 85 12 0| 252k 0 |1684B 5343B|32.0 0 | 973 1722 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:08| 4 1 82 12 0| 168k 84k|5577B 21k|15.0 0 |1313 2424 | 0 1.0 1.0 27-10 06:21:09| 1 0 78 21 0| 20k 124k| 0 0 |5.00 0 | 526 722 | 0 3.0 1.0 27-10 06:21:10| 1 0 76 22 0| 176k 224k| 0 0 |44.0 0 | 802 1084 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:11| 1 0 72 26 0| 84k 112k| 171B 227B|10.0 0 |1309 1032 | 0 3.0 0 27-10 06:21:12| 2 1 78 19 0| 160k 108k| 70B 99B|42.0 0 |1073 1145 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:13| 1 0 83 15 0| 376k 80k| 71B 99B|91.0 0 | 700 1004 | 0 2.0 2.0 27-10 06:21:14| 1 1 74 24 0| 100k 136k| 0 0 |27.0 0 | 675 1032 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:15| 1 0 87 12 0| 32k 0 | 0 0 |6.00 0 | 460 596 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:16| 1 0 82 16 0| 20k 556k| 280B 103B|7.00 0 | 585 769 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:17| 2 0 79 18 0| 96k 260k| 0 0 |22.0 0 | 812 1058 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:18| 2 0 85 12 0| 40k 0 | 0 0 |10.0 0 | 561 760 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:19| 1 0 87 13 0| 268k 0 | 205B 102B|67.0 0 | 495 812 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:20| 1 1 86 12 0| 152k 0 | 0 0 |41.0 0 | 475 689 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:21| 1 0 86 12 0| 264k 0 | 522B 5729B|63.0 0 | 727 1175 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:22| 1 1 87 12 0| 72k 0 | 0 0 |17.0 0 | 480 666 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:23| 2 1 82 15 0| 492k 28k|1463B 1201B|24.0 0 | 739 1244 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:24| 5 1 82 12 0| 384k 0 | 0 0 |39.0 0 |1048 2187 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:25| 5 0 82 12 0| 52k 16k| 0 0 |15.0 0 |1192 908 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:26| 6 2 77 15 0| 336k 0 | 19k 9634B|42.0 0 |2065 5712 | 0 3.0 18 27-10 06:21:27| 4 1 75 20 0| 148k 0 | 25k 7909B|23.0 0 |1713 3171 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:28| 4 1 82 12 0| 372k 0 | 657B 536B|29.0 0 |1022 1543 | 0 2.0 1.0 27-10 06:21:29| 5 1 73 21 0| 220k 76k| 0 94B|28.0 0 |1062 1216 |1.0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:30| 2 0 89 8 0| 124k 132k| 0 0 |11.0 0 | 693 793 | 0 0 0 27-10 06:21:31| 1 1 92 6 0| 52k 0 | 0 0 |15.0 0 |2294 947 | 0 1.0 0 27-10 06:21:32| 3 1 81 15 0| 172k 0 | 307B 574B|44.0 0 |1132 3241 |2.0 3.0 0 27-10 06:21:33| 6 2 59 33 0| 204k 0 | 21k 7401B|37.0 0 |1770 3596 | 0 3.0 0 27-10 06:21:34| 3 1 86 9 0| 52k 20k| 23k 5695B|6.00 0 |1457 2917 | 0 0 0 27-10 06:21:35| 7 1 91 1 0| 36k 44k| 18k 4856B|1.00 0 |1771 4649 |1.0 0 0 27-10 06:21:36| 12 2 83 1 0| 28k 0 |6429B 8614B|2.00 0 |3823 6275 | 0 0 0 27-10 06:21:37| 2 1 97 0 0|4096B 0 | 570B 5830B|1.00 0 | 774 1303 | 0 0 0 I don't know if there's any useful information there... Running any distro from pendrive (LiveUSB) works fine, so, it seems to me like some issue with the HDD or the OS... Any hint would be most welcomed. Thanks a lot and sorry for the inconvenience. Kind regards!
On 10/27/25 1:26 AM, riveravaldez wrote:
I don't know if there's any useful information there... Running any distro from pendrive (LiveUSB) works fine, so, it seems to me like some issue with the HDD or the OS...
Any hint would be most welcomed.
I'm not sure I can interpret the numbers, but just from a value standpoint, your read/write numbers are orders of magnitude above the rest: read writ 196k 212k 1080k 4095B 416k 0 304k 0 304k 0 232k 1528k 40k 100k 80k 0 552k 0 252k 0 168k 84k 20k 124k 176k 224k 84k 112k 160k 108k 376k 80k 100k 136k 32k 0 20k 556k 96k 260k 40k 0 268k 0 152k 0 264k 0 72k 0 492k 28k 384k 0 52k 16k 336k 0 148k 0 372k 0 220k 76k 124k 132k 52k 0 172k 0 204k 0 52k 20k 36k 44k 28k 0 4096B 0 If you are using spinning drives, that would explain that, but I use spinning drives in RAID1 on an Arch server, and I notice no slowdowns. (yes I/O intensive apps like pacman, etc take longer to finish a clean-up than on SSD, but no longer that normal before SSDs appeared) Ralph's post brings up another questions - what happened to 'dstat'? I see you using 'pcp', I've got sysstat installed, there apparently was a dstat - is it pcp now? -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
participants (6)
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David C Rankin
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Iyán Méndez Veiga
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Ralph Corderoy
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riveravaldez
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Santiago Forero
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Łukasz Michalski