Linux very slow and uresponsive - linux swapper process high usage

Question

My laptop with archlinux kde5 is slow and unresposive, to do all task, open chrome or dolphin, etc. and sometimes freezing for 10-30 seconds like if i have a lot cpu usage, i try with different desktops, gnome, kde, etc. and diferrents distros and the same, i think is somethings relating to the kernel... i dont have a bad laptop is corei5

my hardware info:

[samuel@Toshiba ~]$ sudo lshw -short
H/W path         Device  Class          Description
===================================================
                         system         SATELLITE L845 (PSKF6P)
/0                       bus            Type2 - Board Product Name1
/0/0                     memory         128KiB BIOS
/0/4                     processor      Core i5 (To Be Filled By O.E.M.)
/0/4/9                   memory         32KiB L1 cache
/0/4/a                   memory         256KiB L2 cache
/0/4/b                   memory         3MiB L3 cache
/0/8                     memory         32KiB L1 cache
/0/28                    memory         4GiB System Memory
/0/28/0                  memory         DIMM [empty]
/0/28/1                  memory         4GiB SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1600 MHz (0,6 ns)
/0/100                   bridge         3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller
/0/100/2                 display        3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
/0/100/14                bus            7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/14/0      usb4    bus            xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/14/1      usb3    bus            xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/16                communication  7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1
/0/100/1a                bus            7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
/0/100/1a/1      usb1    bus            EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/1a/1/1            bus            Integrated Rate Matching Hub
/0/100/1a/1/1/3          communication  Bluetooth USB Host Controller
/0/100/1a/1/1/4          multimedia     TOSHIBA Web Camera - HD
/0/100/1b                multimedia     7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller
/0/100/1c                bridge         7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1
/0/100/1c.2              bridge         7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3
/0/100/1c.2/0    wlp2s0  network        AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter
/0/100/1c.3              bridge         7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4
/0/100/1c.3/0    enp3s0  network        AR8152 v2.0 Fast Ethernet
/0/100/1d                bus            7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
/0/100/1d/1      usb2    bus            EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/1d/1/1            bus            Integrated Rate Matching Hub
/0/100/1f                bridge         HM76 Express Chipset LPC Controller
/0/100/1f.2              storage        7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
/0/100/1f.3              bus            7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller
/1                       power          CRB Battery 0
/2                       power          OEM_Define5

i do a perf and i see the swapper kernel process is on red and with high usage, is related to this?

  Children      Self  Command          Shared Object                      Symbol                                                                                                               ◆
+   30,34%     0,14%  swapper          [kernel.vmlinux]                   [k] cpu_startup_entry                                                                                                ▒
+   27,47%     0,01%  swapper          [kernel.vmlinux]                   [k] call_cpuidle                                                                                                     ▒
+   27,45%     0,00%  swapper          [kernel.vmlinux]                   [k] cpuidle_enter                                                                                                    ▒
+   25,12%     0,11%  swapper          [kernel.vmlinux]                   [k] cpuidle_enter_state                                                                                              ▒
+   24,75%    24,75%  swapper          [kernel.vmlinux]                   [k] intel_idle                                                                                                       ▒
+   23,16%     0,00%  swapper          [kernel.vmlinux]                   [k] start_secondary                                                                                                  ▒
+    7,33%     0,00%  swapper          [kernel.vmlinux]                   [k] rest_init                                                                                                        ▒
+    7,33%     0,00%  swapper          [kernel.vmlinux].init.text         [k] start_kernel                                                                                                     ▒
+    7,33%     0,00%  swapper          [kernel.vmlinux].init.text         [k] x86_64_start_reservations                                                                                        ▒
+    7,33%     0,00%  swapper          [kernel.vmlinux].init.text         [k] x86_64_start_kernel                                                                                              ▒
+    4,04%     0,00%  Xorg             [unknown]                          [k] 0x0300055600000000         

i dont know if is normal or not, what test can i do?

thanks!!

Answer 1

You assert that your laptop is not bad, but do not support that assertion.

Your symptoms exactly match what I would expect of a dying hard drive. I'd suggest looking at your syslog messages to see if any errors are being logged, and look at S.M.A.R.T information for the drive as well.