Since updating to KDE 4.13.3 (with the latest nvidia driver), I've been having severe performance issues with desktop effects. Sometimes, when I maximize, resize, or bring up a minimized window, the whole screen will freeze (the animation will freeze, too), and other times I simply won't be able to move the mouse or use the keyboard. This happens at various times, such as when I open a new tab in Firefox or navigate to a more resource heavy page, but other times it seems completely random. I have dual screens, and sometimes it'll freeze when I am watching a video on one monitor and doing things on the other.

The only way to make it work again is to disable and reenable desktop effects via the hotkey. Unfortunately I can't just leave compositing disabled all the time, since there is severe screen tearing if I do.

I'm using OpenGL 3.1, but I've tried it with every version of OpenGL and the still persists. My scale method is set to smooth, but changing it doesn't make a difference. I thought this might be a performance issue, like my video card not being good enough, but disabling all the desktop effect animations and eye candy makes no difference at all.

I'm running Arch Linux (a fresh install, actually), and I have an AMD FX 6300 CPU and an Nvidia 8800 GTS video card. My dual monitors are different sizes and have two different resolutions.

The output of dmesg | grep NVRM is normal:

Code: Select all

[    7.378646] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module  340.24  Wed Jul  2 14:24:20 PDT 2014


I've set __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=1 as an environment variable (to fix a different issue), but that doesn't seem to have made a difference. I'm also using KWIN_TRIPLE_BUFFER=1 to fix video tearing that happens with desktop effects turned on. If there's other environment variables I should try, please let me know. Or if there's any other outputs you guys need to see.

It's worth mentioning that before KDE 4.13.3, desktop effects worked great and I never had any performance issues with them. This problem happened both before and after I reinstalled Arch. I suspect it's just a bug (not sure if it's KWin or nvidia's fault), so if anyone has any information/terminal outputs I should provide when reporting it, that would be very helpful.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Stalled mouse would be in the framebuffer and that would be the driver (did you update that as well by any chance?) - KWin or other clients are not capable from freezing the mouse (except by grabbing it and forcing a position, but I assume we don't

I'm also using KWIN_TRIPLE_BUFFER=1

Does that match your actual hardware config?

Code: Select all

grep -i triple /var/log/Xorg.0.log

[quote]I maximize, resize, or bring up a minimized window[/code]
What window decoration do you use?

Yes, I am using version 340.24-3 of the nvidia driver, the very latest one. Truth be told, I've had this issue since I upgraded my computer from an old Intel Duo Core to a new AMD FX 6300 back in February. But it only ever happened when I opened LibreOffice or when I tried to scroll down on YouTube pages, so it wasn't a big deal. Now it does it all the time in most applications. I'm wondering if this all has something to do with the Nvidia drivers and AMD CPUs or kernel modules or something not getting along, since I have none of these issues on the older Intel PC I own that has the same video card. Maybe I should've just bought an i7.

Does that match your actual hardware config?

It didn't, but then I created the 20-nvidia.conf file and I actually used the one you provided here. So now that command reads:

Code: Select all

[   369.510] (**) NVIDIA(0): Option "TripleBuffer" "True"

Unfortunately it doesn't make a difference. The problem, I've noticed, really seems to occur a lot more when I try to watch a video (or Netflix) on my secondary monitor, particularly if I try to navigate to resource-heavy pages with lots of images or flash or scripts in Firefox. The video playback always freezes up, too, but the sound keeps going. It never used to do it before, though. I may try downgrading to the previous nvidia driver version.

What window decoration do you use?

I'm just using Oxygen, and the Oxygen plasma theme. I'm still running KDE without any of the fancy desktop effect animations as well. Before I re-installed Arch and I was having this issue, I was using QtCurve.

Ok! Disregard all that I said above. It appears to have been my video card. I switched it out for the one in the Intel PC, and everything seems to be good now. I guess the old one was overheating or defective; it was extremely hot when I took it out.

This would explain why none of the solutions you provided seemed to do anything.

I feel rather silly now, but thanks for trying to help me out