ubuntu 14.04 periodically becomes VERY slow

[silver.bullet at zoho.com]

On Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:16:13 +0200, robert wrote:
>No process runs to more than a few % cpu.

Hi,

we need more information.

Did you always run some software before or when it happened?

Did you run "top", "atop" or "htop" to check the CPU usage, if not,
how did you get the information?

What info was given about memory usage and swap usage?

Did a drive's LED indicate extensive access?

Are you using special settings by /etc/security/limits.conf
or /etc/security/limits.d/*?

Does accessing a tty by Ctrl+Alt+a_function_key work without or with
delay?

Does running "df" show bottlenecks?

What's the output of "uname -a" and "wmctrl -m"?

What graphics are you using and what graphics driver?

Did you disconnect external devices such as printers, scanners, cams
and others?

Does "cat ~/.xsession-errors" show something unusual?

Did you test with a new user account?

Did you test different window managers/desktop environment?

Did you test what happens when using other graphics drivers?
IOW how does a proprietary compare to a FLOSS driver or even the vesa
driver?

Did you check the kernel ring buffer? "dmesg"
Did you check any log files? Did you at least run
"grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log"?

Regards,
Ralf