Severe Lag & Screen Flickering: i5-8265U @ 500MHz / NVIDIA MX110 on Mint Cinnamon 22.2

[mario006]

Hi. A few days ago, I upgraded my laptop. I replaced the 1TB HDD with a 500GB SSD, and I also increased the RAM to 12GB. It used to run Windows 10. I installed Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.2 Zara, but it is very slow. I installed the Brave browser, but it takes a long time to start, and the mouse pointer keeps spinning. Also, the screen flickers. Thanks

System:
  Kernel: 6.14.0-34-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0 clocksource: tsc
  Desktop: Cinnamon v: 6.4.8 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: Muffin v: 6.4.1 vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0
    Distro: Linux Mint 22.2 Zara base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 81MU v: Lenovo IdeaPad S145-14IWL
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 v: Lenovo IdeaPad S145-14IWL
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: NO DPK serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: LENOVO_MT_81MU_BU_idea_FM_IdeaPad S145-14IWL uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO
    v: ASCN51WW date: 05/14/2021
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 17.2 Wh (56.8%) condition: 30.3/30.3 Wh (100.0%) power: 3.4 W volts: 7.5
    min: 7.4 model: LGC L16L2PB2 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: discharging cycles: 9
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i5-8265U bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled
    arch: Comet/Whiskey Lake note: check rev: C cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1712 high: 1903 min/max: 400/3900 cores: 1: 1900 2: 1900 3: 1903 4: 1900
    5: 400 6: 1900 7: 1900 8: 1898 bogomips: 28800
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel WhiskeyLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics 620] vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel
    arch: Gen-9.5 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3ea0
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM108M [GeForce MX110] vendor: Lenovo driver: N/A arch: Maxwell pcie:
    speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 4 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:174e class-ID: 0302
  Device-3: Syntek Integrated Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
    bus-ID: 1-7:3 chip-ID: 174f:1176 class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.21x7.99") s-diag: 414mm (16.31")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: BOE Display 0x0827 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 112
    size: 309x174mm (12.17x6.85") diag: 355mm (14") modes: 1366x768
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris device: 1 drv: swrast gbm:
    drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris x11: drv: iris inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.0.7-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (WHL GT2) device-ID: 8086:3ea0
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9dc8 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.14.0-34-generic status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 00:14.3
    chip-ID: 8086:9df0 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-10:4 chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: down bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block:
    hardware: no software: yes address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.37 TiB used: 12.92 GiB (0.9%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Kingston model: SNV3S500G size: 465.76 GiB speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: P3AR2B12 temp: 33.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD10SPZX-24Z10 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1A05 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdb model: General size: 7.5 GiB type: USB rev: 2.0 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 tech: N/A
    serial: <filter> fw-rev: 5.00 scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 456.89 GiB used: 12.92 GiB (2.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 12 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-1:5 info: LogiLink UDisk flash drive type: mass storage driver: usb-storage
    interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: abcd:1234 class-ID: 0806
    serial: <filter>
  Device-2: 1-3:2 info: SHARKOON GmbH 2.4GHz Wireless rechargeable vertical mouse [More&Better]
    type: mouse driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1
    power: 100mA chip-ID: 1ea7:0064 class-ID: 0301
  Device-3: 1-7:3 info: Syntek Integrated Camera type: video driver: uvcvideo interfaces: 2
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 500mA chip-ID: 174f:1176 class-ID: 0e02
  Device-4: 1-10:4 info: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) type: bluetooth
    driver: btusb interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0aaa
    class-ID: e001
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 6 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0 C pch: 39.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2137
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com zara main upstream import backport
    2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.sources
    1: deb [arch=amd64 arm64] https: //brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com stable main
Info:
  Memory: total: 12 GiB available: 11.56 GiB used: 2.49 GiB (21.5%)
  Processes: 269 Power: uptime: 25m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep wakeups: 0
    hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5) default: graphical
  Compilers: gcc: 13.3.0 Client: Unknown python3.12 client inxi: 3.3.34

 

[bob466]

I think the problem is your CPU...I have an old Laptop that until a few years ago ran Mint Cinnamon really well but ran slow with Cinnamon 21.1 even with an SSD.

So I installed Mint xfce 22.1 and now it's fast as lightning...might be worth a try.

 

[osprey]

Hi. A few days ago, I upgraded my laptop. I replaced the 1TB HDD with a 500GB SSD, and I also increased the RAM to 12GB. It used to run Windows 10. I installed Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.2 Zara, but it is very slow. I installed the Brave browser, but it takes a long time to start, and the mouse pointer keeps spinning. Also, the screen flickers. Thanks

Welcome.

There's quite a few steps one can take to determine what may be causing a system to be "slow" or sluggish, but most that I'm familiar with are quite involved. Here's a brief rundown of the sort of things I'd do.

Ensure that the installation is upgraded to the latest possible state. If installed from an installation disk, there are likely to have been updates to upgrade the system since that installation disk was released. It's not clear how you installed, but upgrading to the latest puts the system in the most optimal state for any investigation. If that step alone resolves the sluggishness, that would be a win. However, if not, perhaps consider the following.

Check the drive. For example run as root in a terminal: smartctl -a /dev/sda, check for critical errors, see if the drive has "PASSED", and check that the temperatures are within the appropriate ranges the details of which are in that output.

One can check temperatures more generally to see that they are in range with the command: sensors which is from the
lm-sensors package.

Check excessive use of memory and cpu of the machine during functioning. To see that usage one can run htop or a similar app in a terminal and watch the cpu% and mem% columns to see if any process is using up too much of those resources. It may be useful to watch the output of htop in a terminal on the same screen other apps that normally run on your machine such as a browser or mailer etc. being active, but if not convenient, then one can just watch the output especially when some other apps that are known to be resource intensive on the machine are running.

Check for excessing swap usage with the command: swapon -s repeated at intervals. If the machine is using swap with your 12G of RAM, and it's only light usage of apps, that would signify an unusual memory issue I think.

Check for open ports and network activity. If there are any processes hogging the network or constantly making connections, it could impact performance. Run, as root: ss -tulpen and see if there are any unexpected processes running by checking the process columns.

Hopefully something will show up.