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I have 8 Gb RAM and 2 CPU, I install Ubuntu 12.10 on my laptop. The system works strangely. The computer becomes slow for no reasons! I ran top and Htop and there is nothing that uses my CPU or my RAM (I mean nothing that use the whole RAM or CPU). I even change the platform several time(now is Xubuntu). But still it freezes when I do simple things. (Like when I'm editing a document!) But surprisingly when I run a program (that use lots of memory) the laptop functions normal! I have no idea what is the problem! Or how can I find it! I even thought it might be because of Chrome! But the computer freeze even when I'm not using chrome! it freeze for few minutes (the mouse moves really slow, the windows change slowly) and then it's okay for few more minutes!

Can someone tell me what I should do! Or how can I find out what is the problem?

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  • What kind of CPU, and video card? this information may make it possible to determine if it is a known issue with your hardware or not.
    – TheXed
    Mar 22, 2013 at 13:04
  • can you tell me plz how to find this info? since I don't know how to find it in xubuntu
    – mahmood
    Mar 22, 2013 at 13:07
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    Okay lets start with this, what is the brand and model of your computer?
    – TheXed
    Mar 22, 2013 at 13:07
  • Lenovo ThinkPad T400
    – mahmood
    Mar 22, 2013 at 13:09
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    @mahmood There's a lot listed there. Can you expand your question to provide more details about what you tried? (There are many more suggested techniques there than you've talked about here, and while many and perhaps most may be inapplicable to your situation, many others you could try and I presume, from what you've just said, that you have.) Without that information, this is likely to become a rehash of some of the ideas posted there, impeding people's ability to give you fresh, new, potentially effective solutions. Mar 22, 2013 at 20:12

2 Answers 2

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I would be interested to learn what you have in the System Log. You can access the System Log by typing 'System Log' into the launcher.

You can also access the same log files from terminal with your favorite text editor by navigating to '/var/log/'...

You can try reproducing the problems that you are experiencing and check to see if any new entries are made to the syslog that would point at what your problem actually is.

running 'dmesg' from terminal and reviewing the output may also hint at the problem...

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  • should I copy everything from System Log??!! its a really big list!
    – mahmood
    Mar 22, 2013 at 13:15
  • Well, if I were you, I would be most interested in opening the log and then reproducing the problem while monitoring the log to see if new entries that hint at the failure are made... You can also copy and paste the log contents to pastebin.com and then share the link here for us to review.
    – mattezell
    Mar 22, 2013 at 13:28
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    the problem is that I don't know how this problem happens! sometime editing a text, sometime working on net! I couldn't find any pattern. and I'm not good in understanding the log thing! I'm a beginner in Linux!
    – mahmood
    Mar 22, 2013 at 13:32
  • I looked and I have this: pam_unix(cron:session): session open pam_unix(cron:session): session closed almost every second!! can it be that!?
    – mahmood
    Mar 22, 2013 at 16:19
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Most of time this kind of behavior depends on temperature problems. If you have difficulties in dissipating heat your cpu/ram/mb/whatever will start idling many times per second: the overall outcome is a general loss of performance.

You can confirm this by running a simple monitoring tool. In ubuntu you have sensors package.

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