Q4OS Forum

Michael_

Member

Registered: 2023-01-29

Posts: 37

KDE Plasma getting slow after days of use

The machine in question is a workstation and is turned on in perpetuation basically.
I rarely turn it off and logout or reboot only if absolutely necessary.

But after multiple days (or even weeks) without logging out or rebooting the Desktop is getting slow and windows open black etc.
Logging out and back in fixes the problem.

Is there a way to fix it without having to logout/back or rebooting? (For extra convenience / time savings sake)
I found  a terminal command that restarts kde plasma but it hangs in the terminal (process does not finish) and if i close the terminal the whole desktop goes down...

Michael_

Member

Registered: 2023-01-29

Posts: 37

Re: KDE Plasma getting slow after days of use

Please help. It's currently getting slow again and i need to take action soon.

There must be a working terminal command or something?

bin

Member

From: U.K.

Registered: 2016-01-28

Posts: 1,333

Re: KDE Plasma getting slow after days of use

Please provide the output from

inxi -SMmCGx

The important thing to do is to find what process or application is causing this.

I don't use Plasma but my guess is that there is a Process Manager application that will show you if there is a memory hog or something else going on. Personally I still prefer htop.

You would need to power down the machine (not reboot) , power up and wait a few minutes for it to settle. Take a look at the readings and record/screengrab them. Then carry on as normal and when it starts to slow down take a look at the the output from htop or Process Manager and hopefully you'll start to get a picture of what's happening.

There's no 'Fix Everything' command I'm afraid. If logging out and back in clears it then it is clearly session related. Do you leave any one application running all the time? Have you added anything to your autostart?

In your home folder you'll find a hidden file called .xsession-errors When the machine starts to slow down copy that file somewhere else and find out what size it is.

Michael_

Member

Registered: 2023-01-29

Posts: 37

Re: KDE Plasma getting slow after days of use

I don't use Plasma but my guess is that there is a Process Manager application that will show you if there is a memory hog or something else going on. Personally I still prefer htop.

Tried different ones, there is no CPU or Memory hog.
See Screenshot: https://postimg.cc/K1t2gM6G

Please provide the output from inxi -SMmCGx

michael@michael-x9srax9sra3:~$ inxi -SMmCGx
System:
  Host: michael-x9srax9sra3 Kernel: 6.1.0-18-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0 Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.5 Distro: Q4OS 5.4.1-n1
    base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Server Mobo: Supermicro model: X9SRA/X9SRA-3 v: 0123456789
    serial: <superuser required> BIOS: American Megatrends v: 3.0b
    date: 12/06/2013
Memory:
  RAM: total: 125.75 GiB used: 6.3 GiB (5.0%)
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges
    required.
CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: Intel Xeon E5-1660 v2 bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 4 cache: L1: 384 KiB L2: 1.5 MiB L3: 15 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1408 high: 3700 min/max: 1200/3700 cores: 1: 1200
    2: 1200 3: 1200 4: 3700 5: 1200 6: 1200 7: 1200 8: 1200 9: 1200 10: 1200
    11: 1200 12: 1200 bogomips: 88807
  Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Ellesmere [Radeon Pro WX 5100] driver: amdgpu v: kernel
    arch: GCN-4 bus-ID: 04:00.0 temp: 61.0 C
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu
    resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 Graphics
    (polaris10 LLVM 15.0.6 DRM 3.49 6.1.0-18-amd64) direct-render: Yes

Do you leave any one application running all the time?

NotepadQQ and Firefox basically.
But if it's getting really slow closing them makes no difference. Only logging out/back in does.

Have you added anything to your autostart?

No

In your home folder you'll find a hidden file called .xsession-errors When the machine starts to slow down copy that file somewhere else and find out what size it is.

It's 629,8kb right now.
I uploaded it here: https://easyupload.io/i0k016

There's no 'Fix Everything' command I'm afraid.

The thing is i don't really care much about fixing it if there is a command that restarts kde plasma without me having to logout/back in or rebooting.

Michael_

Member

Registered: 2023-01-29

Posts: 37

Re: KDE Plasma getting slow after days of use

I just wasted 2 hours of my time.

I was using ChatGPT and distrosea.com (Debian 12 KDE) trying to solve this.

I tried the following commands which all result in the same outcome:
It closes plasmashell, then reopens it but the process in the terminal does not finish and if i close the terminal the whole desktop goes down.

kquitapp5 plasmashell && plasmashell

killall plasmashell ; kstart plasmashell

killall plasmashell && kstart plasmashell

Then i found these which at first i thought they work BUT the only difference is the terminal keeps running in the background instead of visible.
If i close the terminal the desktop again goes down.

killall plasmashell && nohup plasmashell & exit

killall plasmashell && setsid nohup plasmashell >/dev/null 2>&1 & exit

So is it really not possible to restart KDE Plasma without having a terminal that is impossible to close without the desktop going down?

Michael_

Member

Registered: 2023-01-29

Posts: 37

Re: KDE Plasma getting slow after days of use

After only 4 hours i found the solution. Actually i found 3 working solutions/commands.

systemctl --user restart plasma-plasmashell.service
https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/u71bok/newbie_kdelinux_user_what_are_the_different_ways/

-----

systemctl --user restart plasma-plasmashell
https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/10ka4h8/how_to_restart_plasma_with_script/

-----

pkill -ABRT plasmashell
https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/a5d2ly/how_do_you_properly_restart_kwin_and_plasmashell/

I created a "restart_plasma.sh" by doing this:

Create a "restart_plasma.sh" file with the following content:
-------------------------------------------------------------

#!/bin/bash
systemctl --user restart plasma-plasmashell

Then:
-----

Right click on the file -> Properties -> Permissions Tab -> check "is executable" -> click ok.
Now you can start the script by single/double clicking on it.

Now i just have to double click on that to restart the plasma desktop which seems to fix my problem.

Edit:

If there should be any downsides / reasons not to do this please let me know.

Last edited by Michael_ (2024-05-05 02:13)