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Recently my computer has been responding slowly. It was fine few days ago, but now it always lags. I need to find the cause. Thanks.

belacqua
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1 Answers1

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Some troubleshooting ideas :

First, run this command :

sudo apt-get install htop iotop
  • Start a terminal, in it run htop
  • Start another terminal, in it run iotop
  • Start another terminal, it it run tail -f /var/log/kern.log

Wait until the lag occurs, then look at your three terminals :

  • The first one will tell you if a process is hogging the processor
  • The second one will tell you if your hard disk is being thrashed by a process.
  • The third one will tell you if an event has occurred regarding your hardware.
Scaine
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    Thanks,the kernel log says :Buffer I/O error on device sda5, logical block 28279025 – Vamsi Krishna B Jan 15 '11 at 10:57
  • Sounds like you have a disk error on sda5. Type df to get information about where/what this drive is (if you don't know). Look at the "mounted on" column. You may have to backup/re-format/restore that hard disk. (And don't forget to vote up/accept useful answers - thanks!) – Scaine Jan 15 '11 at 11:29