Ubuntu sometimes starts swapping like crazy for no reason
Every once in a while, my Ubuntu starts using the hard disk like crazy, and for 3 minutes I can't move the mouse nor access any console, even CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE and CTRL-ALT-F1 do nothing.
It is usually when doing some action (opening a new browser tab, starting Eclipse, etc).
I think that at those times my Ubuntu starts swapping like crazy, for no reason.
It happens more if I have OpenOffice+Eclipse+Firefox open, but sometimes it also happens with only very simple apps open.
I used iotop to record disk activity during one of those freeze. That time I only had Chrome, gnome-terminal, gedit open. I had started iotop with sudo nice -20 sudo iotop -tbod10 > ~/iotop.log. It is supposed to write to the log every 10 seconds, but during the freeze it did not manage to write anything. However, the log just before the freeze (09:42:23) indicates kswapd is probably the culprit at 12.26 M/s:
TIME TID PRIO USER DISK READ DISK WRITE SWAPIN IO COMMAND
09:42:23 27 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 12.26 M/s 0.00 % 99.99 % [kswapd0]
09:42:23 1828 be/4 nico 1081.85 K/s 0.00 B/s 1.78 % 61.16 % compiz
09:42:23 31484 be/4 nico 128.22 K/s 668.16 B/s 0.00 % 50.59 % python /usr/bin/indicator-weather
09:42:23 17339 be/4 nico 89.72 K/s 668.16 B/s 0.00 % 50.32 % google-chrome
09:42:23 17397 be/4 nico 806.49 K/s 0.00 B/s 2.13 % 43.42 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc3880c0700.1895579466
09:42:23 315 be/4 root 334.08 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 37.90 % [flush-8:0]
09:42:23 297 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 1670.40 B/s 0.00 % 32.57 % [jbd2/sda1-8]
09:42:23 1244 be/4 root 502.75 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.77 % 31.90 % X :0 -nr -verbose -auth /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-XEqu73/database -nolisten tcp vt7
09:42:23 17403 be/5 nico 482.52 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 30.08 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc386e35000.1143953050
09:42:23 17608 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 27.27 % [kworker/0:2]
09:42:23 1857 be/4 nico 430.65 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 25.40 % indicator-multiload
09:42:23 2178 be/4 nico 100.49 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 23.91 % dropbox
09:42:23 17340 be/4 nico 448.59 K/s 0.00 B/s 3.66 % 18.24 % google-chrome
09:42:23 17322 be/4 nico 408.79 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.25 % 16.66 % google-chrome
09:42:23 17408 be/5 nico 162.47 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.37 % 15.75 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc387166c40.2054812173
09:42:23 1836 be/4 nico 278.62 K/s 0.00 B/s 72.10 % 14.14 % nautilus
09:42:23 9266 be/4 root 78.63 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 12.74 % adb fork-server server
09:42:23 17417 be/5 nico 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 11.63 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc386e35000.1143953050
09:42:23 17414 be/5 nico 9.79 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 11.63 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc387166c40.2054812173
09:42:23 17416 be/4 nico 668.16 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 11.63 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc3880c0700.1895579466
09:42:23 17237 be/4 postfix 5.55 K/s 0.00 B/s 20.29 % 9.59 % pickup -l -t fifo -u -c
09:42:23 17500 be/4 nico 27.73 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 9.39 % npwrapper.libflashplayer.so --lang=en-US --channel=17322.0x7fc38990c2c0.322771554
09:42:23 17399 be/4 nico 17.29 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 8.67 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc3880c0700.1895579466
09:42:23 584 be/4 root 87.44 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 6.36 % NetworkManager
09:42:23 17533 be/4 nico 47.96 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 5.88 % GoogleTalkPlugin
09:42:23 2218 be/4 nico 173.24 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 5.78 % unity-panel-service
09:42:23 1462 be/4 mysql 38.82 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 5.76 % mysqld
09:42:23 1463 be/4 mysql 5.87 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 5.65 % mysqld
09:42:23 29621 be/4 nico 32.95 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 4.43 % python /usr/bin/indicator-weather
09:42:23 1382 be/4 root 39.48 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 4.15 % apache2 -k start
09:42:23 17513 be/4 nico 119.41 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 4.06 % npviewer.bin --plugin /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so --connection /org/wrapper/NSPlugins/libflashplayer.so/17500-2
09:42:23 17335 be/4 nico 21.86 K/s 1670.40 B/s 0.00 % 4.02 % google-chrome
09:42:23 2201 be/4 nico 10.11 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 3.85 % bamfdaemon
09:42:23 1842 be/4 nico 30.34 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 3.23 % gnome-power-manager
09:42:23 1812 be/4 nico 26.10 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 2.89 % gnome-settings-daemon
09:42:23 1848 be/4 nico 38.17 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 2.55 % indicator-sensors
09:42:23 12233 be/4 root 31.32 K/s 1002.24 B/s 2.06 % 2.54 % python /usr/bin/iotop -tbod10
09:42:23 1915 be/4 nico 10.11 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 2.27 % gvfs-afc-volume-monitor
09:42:23 1831 be/4 nico 10.44 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 2.13 % compiz
09:42:23 1464 be/4 mysql 20.88 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 1.84 % mysqld
09:42:23 2309 be/4 nico 18.92 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 1.79 % unity-applications-daemon
09:42:23 17337 be/4 nico 9.14 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 1.74 % google-chrome
09:42:23 17343 be/4 nico 13.38 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 1.72 % google-chrome
09:42:23 1252 be/4 root 51.55 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 1.65 % master
09:42:23 1907 be/4 root 18.27 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 1.21 % udisks-daemon: polling /dev/sr0
09:42:23 2186 be/4 nico 46.00 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 1.13 % python /usr/share/system-config-printer/applet.py
09:42:23 1862 be/4 nico 5.22 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.98 % indicator-multiload
09:42:23 2199 be/4 nico 26.10 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.90 % unity-window-decorator
09:42:23 906 be/4 root 2.28 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.82 % irqbalance
09:42:23 580 be/4 avahi 32.63 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.59 % avahi-daemon: running [nico.local]
09:42:23 1877 be/4 nico 18.60 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.57 % notify-osd
09:42:23 17360 be/4 nico 43.72 K/s 0.00 B/s 26.23 % 0.51 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc38672e8c0.1339188300
09:42:23 1800 be/4 nico 27.73 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.34 % dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session
09:42:23 627 be/4 root 10.44 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.33 % wpa_supplicant -u -s
09:42:23 2243 be/4 nico 3.59 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.33 % indicator-application-service
09:42:23 2284 be/4 nico 6.20 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.19 % update-notifier
09:42:23 2234 be/4 nico 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.18 % indicator-application-service
09:42:23 2220 be/4 nico 4.24 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.10 % unity-panel-service
09:42:23 17362 be/4 nico 7.83 K/s 0.00 B/s 2.54 % 0.00 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc38672e540.2001766922
09:42:23 17412 be/5 nico 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 9.26 % 0.00 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc3880afa80.2009126862
TIME TID PRIO USER DISK READ DISK WRITE SWAPIN IO COMMAND
09:45:22 17596 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 99.99 % [kworker/1:0]
09:45:22 17608 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 98.44 % [kworker/0:2]
09:45:22 315 be/4 root 808.56 B/s 17.81 K/s 0.00 % 86.79 % [flush-8:0]
09:45:22 1828 be/4 nico 621.79 K/s 0.00 B/s 16.33 % 86.29 % compiz
09:45:22 17340 be/4 nico 815.78 K/s 0.00 B/s 14.61 % 83.30 % google-chrome
09:45:22 1857 be/4 nico 575.28 K/s 0.00 B/s 12.32 % 82.64 % indicator-multiload
09:45:22 1812 be/4 nico 540.14 K/s 0.00 B/s 3.06 % 81.94 % gnome-settings-daemon
09:45:22 1848 be/4 nico 541.02 K/s 0.00 B/s 12.30 % 81.58 % indicator-sensors
09:45:22 584 be/4 root 606.07 K/s 0.00 B/s 11.51 % 78.40 % NetworkManager
09:45:22 906 be/4 root 308.53 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 76.26 % irqbalance
09:45:22 17335 be/4 nico 18.79 K/s 332.94 B/s 8.56 % 60.25 % google-chrome
09:45:22 1382 be/4 root 361.76 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 49.17 % apache2 -k start
09:45:22 17533 be/4 nico 282.38 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 45.30 % GoogleTalkPlugin
09:45:22 17550 be/4 nico 134.88 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 40.96 % npviewer.bin --plugin /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so --connection /org/wrapper/NSPlugins/libflashplayer.so/17500-2
09:45:22 2309 be/4 nico 260.08 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 38.69 % unity-applications-daemon
09:45:22 1463 be/4 mysql 171.28 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 38.61 % mysqld
09:45:22 17360 be/4 nico 377.27 K/s 0.00 B/s 2.14 % 37.14 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc38672e8c0.1339188300
09:45:22 1888 be/4 nico 177.20 K/s 0.00 B/s 8.69 % 35.51 % python /usr/lib/desktopcouch/desktopcouch-service
09:45:22 2172 be/4 nico 64.52 K/s 0.00 B/s 3.93 % 35.19 % dropbox
09:45:22 17536 be/4 nico 71.95 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 32.79 % npviewer.bin --plugin /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so --connection /org/wrapper/NSPlugins/libflashplayer.so/17500-2
09:45:22 9266 be/4 root 106.53 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 28.34 % adb fork-server server
09:45:22 17351 be/4 nico 225.76 K/s 0.00 B/s 1.69 % 27.98 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc3866eae00.1806036416
09:45:22 17412 be/5 nico 165.21 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 24.66 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc3880afa80.2009126862
09:45:22 2179 be/4 nico 58.25 K/s 0.00 B/s 24.18 % 22.89 % dropbox
09:45:22 2178 be/4 nico 29.63 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 22.83 % dropbox
09:45:22 2284 be/4 nico 139.46 K/s 0.00 B/s 3.82 % 21.98 % update-notifier
09:45:22 627 be/4 root 89.74 K/s 0.00 B/s 74.21 % 21.71 % wpa_supplicant -u -s
09:45:22 2218 be/4 nico 129.89 K/s 0.00 B/s 76.33 % 21.59 % unity-panel-service
09:45:22 17532 be/4 nico 94.64 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 21.24 % GoogleTalkPlugin
09:45:22 9652 be/4 nico 12.91 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 20.14 % ruby script/rails console
09:45:22 17408 be/5 nico 152.30 K/s 0.00 B/s 83.52 % 17.19 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc387166c40.2054812173
09:45:22 17362 be/4 nico 178.41 K/s 0.00 B/s 1.63 % 16.11 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc38672e540.2001766922
09:45:22 1907 be/4 root 93.99 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 15.71 % udisks-daemon: polling /dev/sr0
09:45:22 27 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 136.18 M/s 0.00 % 15.66 % [kswapd0]
09:45:22 1915 be/4 nico 30.82 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 13.92 % gvfs-afc-volume-monitor
09:45:22 17403 be/5 nico 107.90 K/s 0.00 B/s 89.46 % 12.11 % --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --enable-print-preview --disable-webgl --disable-gl-multisampling --disable-accelerated-compositing --channel=17322.0x7fc386e35000.1143953050
09:45:22 1839 be/4 nico 60.13 K/s 0.00 B/s 21.61 % 9.98 % nm-applet --sm-disable
09:45:22 1244 be/4 root 105.58 K/s 0.00 B/s 84.86 % 9.73 % X :0 -nr -verbose -auth /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-XEqu73/database -nolisten tcp vt7
09:45:22 1462 be/4 mysql 29.35 K/s 0.00 B/s 9.90 % 8.99 % mysqld
09:45:22 1464 be/4 mysql 26.41 K/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 8.55 % mysqld
I am using Ubuntu 2011.04 with encrypted home and 4GB physical memory + 4GB swap:
free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 3894 3044 850 0 94 935
-/+ buffers/cache: 2013 1880
Swap: 4023 942 3081
I have much more RAM that I actually need, so this swapping craziness is baffling.
How can I stop those freezes?
UPDATE: As asked, here is the output of hdparm -Idc /dev/sda1:
/dev/sda1:
IO_support = 1 (32-bit)
HDIO_GET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number: FUJITSU MJA2500BH G2
Serial Number: K95FT9A26PNT
Firmware Revision: 0084001C
Transport: Serial, ATA8-AST, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6
Standards:
Used: ATA-8-ACS revision 3f
Supported: 8 7 6 5
Configuration:
Logical max current
cylinders 16383 16383
heads 16 16
sectors/track 63 63
--
CHS current addressable sectors: 16514064
LBA user addressable sectors: 268435455
LBA48 user addressable sectors: 976773168
Logical Sector size: 512 bytes
Physical Sector size: 512 bytes
device size with M = 1024*1024: 476940 MBytes
device size with M = 1000*1000: 500107 MBytes (500 GB)
cache/buffer size = 8192 KBytes (type=DualPortCache)
Form Factor: 2.5 inch
Nominal Media Rotation Rate: 5400
Capabilities:
LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
Queue depth: 32
Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16 Current = 16
Advanced power management level: disabled
Recommended acoustic management value: 254, current value: 254
DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
Cycle time: no flow control=120ns IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
Enabled Supported:
* SMART feature set
Security Mode feature set
* Power Management feature set
* Write cache
* Look-ahead
* Host Protected Area feature set
* WRITE_BUFFER command
* READ_BUFFER command
* DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
Advanced Power Management feature set
SET_MAX security extension
* Automatic Acoustic Management feature set
* 48-bit Address feature set
* Device Configuration Overlay feature set
* Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
* FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
* SMART error logging
* SMART self-test
* General Purpose Logging feature set
* WRITE_{DMA|MULTIPLE}_FUA_EXT
* 64-bit World wide name
* IDLE_IMMEDIATE with UNLOAD
* Disable Data Transfer After Error Detection
* WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE_EXT command
* {READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands
* Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
* Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
* Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
* Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
* Host-initiated interface power management
* Phy event counters
* NCQ priority information
* DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
Device-initiated interface power management
* Software settings preservation
* SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
* SCT LBA Segment Access (AC2)
* SCT Error Recovery Control (AC3)
* SCT Features Control (AC4)
* SCT Data Tables (AC5)
Result of sdparm /dev/sda:
/dev/sda: ATA FUJITSU MJA2500B 0084
Read write error recovery mode page:
AWRE 1
ARRE 0
PER 0
Caching (SBC) mode page:
WCE 1
RCD 0
Control mode page:
SWP 0
Result of smartctl -l selftest /dev/sda:
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Vendor offline Completed without error 00% 0 -
Solution 1:
It sounds more like you have bad disk behavior. Have you checked the hdparm output to make sure that you're using DMA? Simple disk access shouldn't freeze the system up unless there's something else going on. I'd look at the dmesg output and install the smartmontools to see if your drive is tossing out ATA errors or if SMART thinks the drive is dying.
And do what jnv said by cranking swappiness down; Linux prefers by default to swap idle programs out in favor of caching data from the hard disk, and with an encrypted homedir, there's a lot more disk activity to cache (you might consider not using homedir encryption, and just use gpg or similar to encrypt stuff you actually care about). :)
Solution 2:
You could try these two things to reduce swapping:
- Reduce swappiness (60 is default, try setting it to 10)
- Try zRam (This will first compress data in your memory before swapping it to harddisk)
Solution 3:
Upgrading to Ubuntu 2014.04 solved the problem.
(just an upgrade, not reinstall)
So it was actually not a hardware problem :-)