[SOLVED in 17.3] Laggy window controls (Cinnamon + NVIDIA)

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ainurakne

[SOLVED in 17.3] Laggy window controls (Cinnamon + NVIDIA)

Post by ainurakne »

Hello, after upgrading to Linux Mint 17.2 Rafaela (which also included upgrading kernel to 3.16.0-38 (3.16.7-ckt10) which is recommended by Update Manager), I started to notice problems with window controls.

What I have noticed so far:

Menu items in file and context menus in windows (and on desktop) doesn't light up when I hover mouse cursor over them. Instead they light up after when I have moved the cursor out of its bounds over the next item. Same with all the buttons at the top of the file explorer window (in the Main Toolbar).
This doesn't happen all the time, usually when I open a window, it's OK at first but then starts to lag behind. Also when something in animating inside the window or inside some other window on the screen, it works OK.

When I click on a tab in a tabbed view (for example Processes tab in System Monitor window) nothing happens for a long time, unless I move the cursor to the area where the minimize, maximize and close buttons of the window are - then it switches tab immediately.
But again, when I switch to a tab where something is animating (for example Resources tab in System Monitor window) it works OK.

When I scroll in Terminal window (using mouse scroll wheel), then the scrolling animation seems to lag a frame(/event?) behind (unless the blinking cursor is visible), so I can't get the image to completely up or down, until I move the cursor over the scroll bar. Again, if something is animating somewhere, it works OK.

It seems as if GUI events don't cause proper repaint or repaints get the state of previous event.
Is there anything I can try to fix this on my end or should I just wait for the next update?
Thanks.

If it matters, I've got:
Linux Mint 17.2 Cinnamon 64-bit
Cinnamon version: 2.6.13
Linux kernel: 3.16.0-38-generic
Graphics: GeForce GTX 560 Ti, using nvidia 346.72 driver
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: Laggy window controls (Mint 17.2 Cinnamon)

Post by Quexos »

Sadly, I can not offer any help for this, but I can say I got the same behavior, as if the mouse cursor has become disconnected from the grapic of it on screen. You can not even click on things in menus because the cursor will not "get on" the item you want or may appear to be on it but click on something else 3 inches away. It happens (or at least gets worse) after I install the Nvidia driver (any of them) FYI.

I started Linux/Mint about 2 weeks ago with MATE (preparing for the day when Windows 8/10 and it's hideous/bloated/spying like are all that's left and Windows 7 is old and abandoned). Had to dump that because it crashed (HARD!)/rebooted, then the BIOS/UEFI reported boot failure upon rebooting whenever I tried to change the wallpaper. So then I settled for Cinnamon...until this laggy mouse and keyboard thing. Now I am trying Xfce...so far so good with the legacy 304.125 Nvidia driver. My GTX 460 is not quite legacy yet, but that driver works better for me than the newer ones.

Well, this might be of some help. Use the 304.125 driver. It is "legacy" but does support your card. It should minimize the pronblem at least.
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverRe ... 0134/en-us (the link is just for reference to supported cards relative to the version in the Driver Manager, not suggesting you download from there)
ainurakne

Re: Laggy window controls (Mint 17.2 Cinnamon)

Post by ainurakne »

Thank you, Quexos, for your reply.

Your problem seems to be a bit different. All my mouse events seem to be dispatched correctly (+ cursor moves correctly), it's only the graphics of GUI elements that lags behind (or draws the pre-event state). And only the contents of windows (which use default system GUI components) + desktop popup menus are affected. Everything else seems to work fine.

Nevertheless, I did try all the drivers that are available via the Driver Manager, and you are right, the nvidia-304.125 doesn't cause this problem (xserver-xorg-video-nouveau also works fine). So this seems to be purely NVIDIA driver problem, as only 340.76 and 346.72 (of the ones that are available via Driver Manager) cause this problem. So, thanks again, Quexos.


I guess I should also try the 33x.xx something, which I think was the version I was using on Mint 17.1, before upgrade.
Is there a way to add drivers to the Driver Manager or do I have to install anything not in the Driver Manage's list manually?
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Re: Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by Quexos »

I imagine it's the same problem, I just describe it diffently? Basically, imagine a pull down menu (like File > open > save > save as > export > etc > etc ) with 10 options. You want to click on option 5, but the highlighted part stops on 4, and as you try to coax it down to 5 so you can click, it jumps to 6....and back to 4, etc and just refuses to land on 5. So you just ignore it and hover over 5 and click. Sometimes it clicks 5, sometimes 3, or who knows what.

If memory serves me the 331.113(?) worked well for me too, but anything 34x.x and up is broken, but during many many reinstall, tweak, learn stuff, break stuff, reinstall again sessions, it vanished from the choices in the driver manager. 331 had the "power mizer" pull down selections like the newer ones, where 304 has none, and defaults/behaves as adaptive, I believe...which is fine as long as it works. 331 was not "legacy" though and 304 is.

No idea how to get 331 now without major PITA install hassles, now that it has vanished from the repository. I wish they would put it back!
ainurakne

Re: Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by ainurakne »

Quexos wrote:I imagine it's the same problem, I just describe it diffently? Basically, imagine a pull down menu (like File > open > save > save as > export > etc > etc ) with 10 options. You want to click on option 5, but the highlighted part stops on 4, and as you try to coax it down to 5 so you can click, it jumps to 6....and back to 4, etc and just refuses to land on 5. So you just ignore it and hover over 5 and click. Sometimes it clicks 5, sometimes 3, or who knows what.
Hmm, it does sound pretty similar. Except, in my case, when I click on option 5, then option 5 seems to always get clicked, regardless of which option is actually currently highlighted.

Indeed, I think it was 331.113, that I used before, at least it sounds very familiar.


I guess, the easiest solution for now is to settle with the legacy 304.125 then - everything, including the games, seem to work fine with it. Pity, though, that it doesn't support OpenGL versions higher than 4.2. Since I do a bit of OpenGL programming as a hobby, I would have liked to have access to higher versions also.

I'm currently marking this thread as solved. Thanks for your input, Quexos.
bisherbas

Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by bisherbas »

I have got GTX 970 using 352 driver and experience all kind of desktop problems including sluggish window controls. Anyone can offer a solution?
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Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by Pjotr »

bisherbas wrote:I have got GTX 970 using 352 driver and experience all kind of desktop problems including sluggish window controls. Anyone can offer a solution?
Try the nvidia-355 by means of the mamarley PPA:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... nvidia-PPA
(item 1, left column)

After installing it, reboot your computer.
Tip: 10 things to do after installing Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
Keep your Linux Mint healthy: Avoid these 10 fatal mistakes
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All in all, horse sense simply makes sense.
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Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by Quexos »

I'm not so sure it's an Nvidia problem and not a Cinnamon (+nvidia) problem. I can use the newer Nvidia drivers (currently 346.82-Updates) on Xfce with no problems...and I am starting to like it better anyway. Cinnamon was pretty buggy/crashy in general for me.
bisherbas

Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by bisherbas »

Pjotr wrote:
bisherbas wrote:I have got GTX 970 using 352 driver and experience all kind of desktop problems including sluggish window controls. Anyone can offer a solution?
Try the nvidia-355 by means of the mamarley PPA:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... nvidia-PPA
(item 1, left column)

After installing it, reboot your computer.
Thanks! 355 did not make any difference unfortunately.
bisherbas

Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by bisherbas »

Quexos wrote:I'm not so sure it's an Nvidia problem and not a Cinnamon (+nvidia) problem. I can use the newer Nvidia drivers (currently 346.82-Updates) on Xfce with no problems...and I am starting to like it better anyway. Cinnamon was pretty buggy/crashy in general for me.
I'd like to give it a try. Can you tell me how to switch to xfce without breaking anything?
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Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by Quexos »

bisherbas wrote:I'd like to give it a try. Can you tell me how to switch to xfce without breaking anything?
I'd just download the ISO and run the live boot to test it and see if it behaves and if you like it. I imagine you could just download the Xfce stuff and install it on a current Cinnamon/Mate install (I put KDE on Cinnamon once, but didn't care for it), but I don't know if there would be any disadvantage or issues that way. I'm still new at Linux myself. I use imaging software (from a bootable CD) to make images of my partitions, then test stuff and simply restore the old partitions if I don't like the changes.

EDIT: This made me curious, so I went and downloaded the Cinnamon desktop and installed it on my Xfce with Nvidia 346.82 install. Right away I started getting the laggy mouse in menus, even worse than when I installed from the Cinnamon ISO/DVD. In the Workspaces > Settings options, those toggle on/off settings just went nuts. I'd click one from Off to On, for example, and it would not respond at all, then I'd click it again, it would toggle On...then 6 seconds later it would just go Off again by itself. So I figured I clicked twice and caused the delayed toggle back to Off. So I click it one more time and wait.......nothing. Still off. Just an unusable mess. Also it is missing some of the themes and such that it had when installed from the actual Cinnamon ISO, I assume if you installed Xfce over a Cinnamon version, it would be similarly not the "full package"? But it might very well fix the Nvidia thing.

Now to pull out that backup image of my partition I was talking about and get back to Xfce only!
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Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by arnie »

I too have encountered this problem and at first went back to using a slightly older driver but this has since been updated bringing the problem back.

I believe it is more to do with cinnamon as well but with a bit of searching I have found an alternative solution on the ArchLinux forums where users have had the same issues.

The solution below means so far the problem seems to be cured for me without downgrading my drivers again and not having to change to another window manager.
Add the following line to your ".nvidia-settins-rc" file found in your Home directory then logout and in again.

Code: Select all

0/InitialPixmapPlacement=0
The zero at the beginning may be different on your config as I believe it to be the X screen number 0 being the default.

You can check the value of this setting before and after with the following command in a terminal, for me it started as 2.

Code: Select all

nvidia-settings -q InitialPixmapPlacement
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Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by Quexos »

Thanks for that info...but it did not work for me. My default setting was also 2, changed to 0. I am still getting all sorts of odd, glitchy behavior from Cinnamon. Laggy, disconnected mouse, text being squished from two lines into one, etc. etc. and just a generally sluggish and laggy desktop over all. As I type this my text is lagging behind (and I type slow) and I swear several times it has simply failed to register a few letters I typed or even put them out of the order I typed them. The whole desktop is basically sputtering and skipping along. Out of Cinnamon, Mate, and Xfce, Xfce is the only one that is usable for me. Both the others are laggy, crashy messes on my hardware.
warpz0ne

Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by warpz0ne »

Well it's good to know I'm not the only one experiencing this GUI lag problem. Ever since the Nvidia 331 driver was removed from the Driver Manager options, this problem has been present on my machine. 331 worked flawlessly. 340 and 346 both have the display lag described here. I don't consider rolling back to legacy 304 or switching to Xfce a solution. Is this really an Nvidia issue or a Cinnamon issue? Who should be informed of it?

Linux PC 3.16.0-38-generic #52~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri May 8 09:43:57 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.2 Rafaela (all updates)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti or GeForce GTS 450 (symptoms are present with either)
"nvidia-346-updates" version 346.82 selected in driver manager

-Text cursor lags one step behind user input. When renaming a file from Name.ext to Placeholder.ext, one may see Placeholde.ext when the r is actually present, such that if one hits enter it will rename to Placeholder.ext. This phenomenon is the most annoying out of all the lag problems for me. I was just writing an email in Firefox and had to deal with this problem.

-Mouse cursor menu highlighting lags one step behind, as described by others:

[Menu Bar Dropdown List]
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3 (highlighted)
Item 4 (mouse cursor hovering over this item)
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Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by Quexos »

Nice description Warpzone. I get exactly the same thing, plus some other stuff, like when scrolling in Firefox or menus, etc. the text gets smashed (at the point of screen tearing?) so two lines will overlap and be unreadable or little micro freezes when clicking things, just enough so you think you may have miss-clicked, then it goes.

I have not found a solution, or even much talk about it...thought maybe I was the only one until I found this topic. For me, I've decided I like Xfce much better anyway, and all is well with 346.82 (or any other I've tried) on Xfce. So I suspect it is a Cinnamon problem...or at least one that only shows itself on Cinnamon for some reason.
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Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by kmb42vt »

I've had the exact same problem as has been described on this thread. Like a few others, I have older equipment including an Nvidia GT-430 w/1.0GB DDR3 ("media" card) that ran fine with Linux Mint/Cinnamon 17.0, 17.1 and the initial install of of 17.2 but after the last set of updates to Cinnamon (to 2.6.13 I believe) and related Cinnamon components, all the same symptoms that other folks on this thread have encountered showed up. I tried everything I could think of including switching between the various Nvidia drivers offered in the "Driver Manager". The only driver that didn't cause the problem was the open source "Nouveau" driver but that driver is good for much yet.

I have the same install on my Lenovo laptop that utilizes and Intel GPU that does not exhibit these problems.

I finally had to give up and switch to the Linux Mint 17.2/MATE edition and I've had no problems since. Too bad as I really like the Cinnamon DE. Has anyone filed a bug report on this?
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Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by Dave B »

Hi,

Not sure why this thread is marked as solved :)

I also experience sluggish text editing issues (desktop file renaming, gedit and so on), also sluggish context menu selection while using the NVIDIA GPU (GTX 580m) with Cinnamon.

After experimentation, it appears it's not that edits / menu selection aren't happening, or acting slowly, it's just that the screen isn't being refresh to reflect any changes.
You can test this, next time it happens, don't touch the keyboard, instead wiggle your mouse cursor over the affected area several times, screen should then update to reflect the changes. For context menu selection, wiggle the mouse gently sideways to reflect changes, otherwise another context menu option will be chosen.

Discovering the above lead to a different Internet search, which revealed this issue is well known, and has been happening since at least 2014.
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=728464

There is good news though! :)
According to a recent phoronix news article, this issue has been fixed in GNOME 3.18

David
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Re: [SOLVED] Laggy window controls (NVIDIA driver problem!)

Post by Wild Penguin »

arnie wrote:

Code: Select all

0/InitialPixmapPlacement=0
The zero at the beginning may be different on your config as I believe it to be the X screen number 0 being the default.

You can check the value of this setting before and after with the following command in a terminal, for me it started as 2.

Code: Select all

nvidia-settings -q InitialPixmapPlacement
I have this same issue. I noticed it mostly in tabbed dialog windows, where clicking on a tab does not update the UI; also when moving the (text/kb) cursor in text fields, particularly SHIFT+END/HOME to select text - the text field is not updated (not sure if the change has actually happened, just not displayed, but it sure is confusing in any case).

The above fix works for me. FWIW, If you think you are experiencing this problem, you can test the fix without logging in and out and editing the text file (this might be obvious, i.e. replace -q with -a):

Code: Select all

nvidia-settings -a InitialPixmapPlacement=0
ainurakne

Re: Laggy window controls (Cinnamon + NVIDIA)

Post by ainurakne »

I removed the [SOLVED] tag, since this problem seems to be much wider, affecting many users and isn't solvable for everyone.

-----

Also, this:
arnie wrote:The solution below means so far the problem seems to be cured for me without downgrading my drivers again and not having to change to another window manager.
Add the following line to your ".nvidia-settins-rc" file found in your Home directory then logout and in again.

Code: Select all

0/InitialPixmapPlacement=0
The zero at the beginning may be different on your config as I believe it to be the X screen number 0 being the default.

You can check the value of this setting before and after with the following command in a terminal, for me it started as 2.

Code: Select all

nvidia-settings -q InitialPixmapPlacement
did the trick for me. Reinstalled the latest nvidia driver that is available from my Driver Manager and modified my ".nvidia-settings-rc" as you described.
So far everything works great. Thanks a bunch, Arnie.
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Re: Laggy window controls (Cinnamon + NVIDIA)

Post by arnie »

did the trick for me. Reinstalled the latest nvidia driver that is available from my Driver Manager and modified my ".nvidia-settings-rc" as you described.
So far everything works great. Thanks a bunch, Arnie.
Its good to hear this trick is working for others as well. I have also tried the setting as 1 and for me seems a bit smoother for scrolling in Firefox so worth experimenting. It can only be 0-4 but I'm guessing higher numbers may make it worse.

Its worth noting though that if this does work for you and you run the Nvidia settings program the entry will be removed as the .nvidia-settings-rc file is over written on quitting the program, you will have to remember to re-insert the line manually or the old problem will come back.

I'm not sure if this only effects earlier Nvidia chips. I have a 460se which is now the lowest the new drivers cover and I'm wondering if anyone is experiencing the problem with the newer 800 or 900 series chips, I'm thinking of upgrading some time in the future.
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