High CPU, Memory usage + 1 of 3 HDD not detected

Issues & Assistance Newbies
1

Hi all,

a Linux Newbie here, I absolutely loved Garuda circa 22/23, the Live ISO I had from about 2 years ago, I decided to Live run the newest version, getting ready to switch permanent as win10 updates end in october, Imagine my shock when its using almost 100% more RAM than Window 10 at 7.86GB RAM (Win10 uses 4GB) and the CPU is using between 14%-60%, it jumps up down fast. Also it can access all my drives (including USB) apart from one of the 3 disk-drives? which is formatted the same as others?

Is this normal, Iā€™m gutted because Garuda just looks the part.

I do use an old PC, bu thought that what was so good about Linux, it could be used on anything. its a 2500K 4.4Ghz Quad-Core, 14GB DDR3 RAM, 1TB SSD, 2 x 2TB HDDā€™s

I could only get it to work on Open-Source Video drivers, otherwise it would stick at 768p

any help and advice is greatly appreciated,

regards.

2

A garuda inxi would be quite helpful, but in terms of ram linux normally displays it a bit different you can learn more here https://www.linuxatemyram.com/

For the cpu side you might have to turn off the blur bits or go into settings - window management - desktop effects - better blur

image
image1017Ɨ610 122 KB

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3

Which garuda spin/desktop environment?

NTFS? Error message? This one?

wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/xxx, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.

If yes, then your keyword is ntfsfix.

Nvidiaā€¦as long as we donā€™t know which nvidia GPU it is, we canā€™t help you.

The hardware should easily be sufficient for Garuda Linux. There are many users who run Garuda Linux on an old Sandy Bridge i5.

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4

I use the DRAGONIZED version, I do have MOKKA version if thatā€™s what you mean?

To all, thanks very much for the replies, I will try it out, my GPU is a GTX460 that came with the machine, my father gave me the PC, I used to have a newer GTX650 in a ā€˜weakerā€™ Ivy-Bridge system that I eventually installed in the Sandy-Bridge (overclockable), after many years the GPU kept crashing the system, and swapped them over to get a working machine, Nvidia drivers used to work on that on the version from 2 years ago.

I cant recall an NTFS error, Iā€™ll have to re-run the live disc and test itā€¦ looks like Iā€™am gonna have to go to a more modest version of Linux that can run on a GTX460. The windows move a bit juddery, and not butter smooth like before, that I recallā€¦ so two years have passed and my GPU has downgraded from a 650GTX to a 460GTX, apart from new drives. The whole PC was built in 2009 with the 460, but I had a spare 650 and wanted newer hardware (even though the 460 is 15% faster).

thanks again.

5

And when you have booted the live.iso, open the console and enter this:

garuda-inxi

Copy the output and paste it into the forum as a code block. This gives us an overview of your system.

It would also make sense to install Garuda Linux - an installed Linux usually runs better than a live environment.
You can also try ā€œGaruda KDE Liteā€, this version is much more resource-friendly. Then you only add the things (for example themes/icons) that you really need.

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6

maybe you can try to install the LTS Kernel for your 460GTX ?ā€“>Garuda Setup Assistant
(IIRC is used for my gtx1050ti years ago and GTX960M on my 2012 laptop)

also you can try the missing HDD or SSD to mount in the Terminal but first you have to check which partition you want mount over KDE Partition Manager. In my case it was sda3.

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /mnt/
7

you need a old driver for that which you can get from arch which one you need you would have to check
nvidia-390xx-dkms or the nvidia-470xx-dkms

but yea we still would need the inix as stated in the template

1 Like
8

i would certainly try out the nvidia-all drivers, although the developers do not like it, it has saved my life countless times, and see if it could improve things a little, for with such an old graphic card, the open source drivers will not support your card i donā€™t think.

git clone https://github.com/Frogging-Family/nvidia-all.git
cd nvidia-all
makepkg -si
sudo dracut-rebuild

Also, and more likely to produce good results, have you tried other lighter build Garuda Desktops?

Maybe try these Garuda flavours, both are good!

Garuda XFCE

or the one which is even lighter

Garuda KDE Lite

1 Like
9

Thank you for all the help guys and gals, very friendly in this forum.

I believe I was running the LTS version (Long Term Service?)
EDIT: No it was the ZEN version, the only Dragonized version on the download page?

I will install Garuda as I have Macrium backups of Windows that only take 6 minutes to restore, I wondered if it being live from USB would be a problem, but thought it would just be slower is all. I have backed up my bookmarks to install straight in.

Ive read that ā€˜extra memory usageā€™ is like what they do in windows (cached code), except in Windows its shown as ā€˜unused spaceā€™ (just cached with items your likely to use), but in Linux they actually show everything being used? is that right? in windows it would use 99% of the unused RAM, but only show it has code in it if you hovered over the unused section in windows Task Manager.

@ Jeshu - thanks, I have download the XFCE edition to take a look at. I will try that code in Terminal thanks. I could buy a 2nd hand GPU, Though Iā€™d rather get it working on this as-is with Gardua dragonized.. I may even retry my 650 in-case it was something else.

@ nepti - When you say ā€˜code blocksā€™ do you mean BBcode ouput goes here yeah?

thanks again, Iā€™am going to try this some time today.

10

ā€¦well I tried installing it and came into so many problems, that even when i countered them all, at restart it was stuck on GRUB! screen, i left it for 10 minutes and didnt budge and no HDD lights flickering.

Now during the install, I deleted the 3 Windows partitions, created a new one. I come to find it would only let me move forward when I chose a SLASH in the Boot option (or whatever that was)..then.. it says (if you havenā€™t already) go back and create a GPT partition with the BIOS-GRUB flag enabled, and this partition must be unformatted and 8MB in size, or the system wont boot, so I did it, had 2 partitionsā€¦ and thatā€™s exactly what happened, it didnā€™t boot, I spent a good hour in it, gone are the days of the installs being ā€œas easy as windowsā€ lol.

I cant remember the exact reason (even though i have two sheets lol) but to post my error code on the NTFS error it needed a restart for some reason, I knew with it not being installed yet the restart would be null and void (unless linux retain info between live boots?)

I am gutted, its the most beautiful distro Ive used, Feren used to be good but then when you chose your default desktop during setup, I could be wrong but last time I tried it, it never done that anymore, but my memory going, I just remember being less impressed.

I think that NTFS error can be fixed, so how do I get it installed so that it boots?, I donā€™t want it (telemetry) but Linux Mint done it all for youā€¦

Any Ideas?

11

it seems you are on a MBR partiton and have trouble with it.We have a other topic here today look like same issue. im trying beside to get my old laptop running with it and report later =)we dont know which details because the inxi say us did you use mbr or gpt table :wink:

12

Just take three ā€œ~ā€ above and below the output:
~~~
output
~~~

Disconect all drives physically and leave only the drive you want to install Linux on connected.
BIOS settings correct? AHCI on, Secure Boot off, Fastboot off?

I assume that you want to use the entire drive for Linux, in which case you donā€™t need to partition anything manually. Just select ā€œErase Diskā€ during the installation, this will erase all partitions on the drive and install Garuda Linux automatically (be sure you have a backup of this drive).

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13

lol yes i did the same on my laptop i was writing too and work beside on the laptop but it runs smooth . i have to login from the laptop so i can post the output if its intresting for someone used a old asus laptop with nvidia and intel from 2009. nice suspend and hibernate working just wondering myself ;)(609mb ram usage on htop)

System:
  Kernel: 6.12.17-1-lts arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts
    root=UUID=c823b035-2dec-4c8e-9932-ad1a248aff4b rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.48 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    with: xfce4-panel tools: xfce4-screensaver avail: xautolock vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: G71GX v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: ASUSTek Computer INC. type: 10 v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: G71GX v: 1.00 serial: <superuser required>
    uuid: <superuser required> BIOS: American Megatrends v: 0904
    date: 04/27/2009
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 53.6 Wh (100.0%) condition: 53.6/74.0 Wh (72.4%)
    volts: 16.5 min: 14.8 model: ASUS G71GX type: Li-ion serial: N/A
    status: full
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core2 Duo T9600 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Penryn level: v1
    built: 2008 process: Intel 45nm family: 6 model-id: 0x17 (23) stepping: 6
    microcode: 0x60F
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 2 smt: <unsupported> cache:
    L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1600 min/max: 1600/2800 scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq
    governor: schedutil cores: 1: 1600 2: 1600 bogomips: 11177
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA G92M [GeForce GTX 260M] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nouveau
    v: kernel non-free: series: 340.xx status: legacy (EOL~2019-12-xx) last:
    release: 340.108 kernel: 5.4 xorg: 1.20 arch: Tesla process: 40-80nm
    built: 2006-2013 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports:
    active: LVDS-1 empty: HDMI-A-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0618
    class-ID: 0300 temp: 54.0 C
  Device-2: Suyin USB 2.0 UVC 2.0M WebCam driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 8-5:4 chip-ID: 064e:a115
    class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0 driver:
    X: loaded: nouveau unloaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa
    dri: nouveau gpu: nouveau display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1440x900 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 382x239mm (15.04x9.41")
    s-diag: 451mm (17.74")
  Monitor-1: LVDS-1 model: LG Philips 0xa101 built: 2007 res: mode: 1440x900
    hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 100 gamma: 1.2 size: 367x230mm (14.45x9.06")
    diag: 433mm (17.1") ratio: 16:10 modes: max: 1440x900 min: 640x350
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.304 layers: 6 device: 0 type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM
    19.1.7 128 bits) driver: N/A device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: xcb,xlib
  API: OpenGL Message: Unable to show GL data. glxinfo is missing.
  Info: Tools: api: vulkaninfo de: xfce4-display-settings
    x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801JI HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:3a3e class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.17-1-lts status: kernel-api tools: N/A
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: b800 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: AzureWave AW-NE771 802.11bgn driver: ath9k v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:002a class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp7s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: ASUSTek BT-253 Bluetooth Adapter driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-1:2 chip-ID: 0b05:1751
    class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1
    lmp-v: 4 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 6c010c
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.36 TiB used: 4.2 GiB (0.3%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Toshiba model: MQ04ABF100
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 7C scheme: MBR
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Crucial model: CT500MX500SSD1
    size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 043 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 931.51 GiB size: 931.51 GiB (100.00%) used: 4.2 GiB (0.5%)
    fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
  ID-2: /home raw-size: 931.51 GiB size: 931.51 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 4.2 GiB (0.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
  ID-3: /var/log raw-size: 931.51 GiB size: 931.51 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 4.2 GiB (0.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
  ID-4: /var/tmp raw-size: 931.51 GiB size: 931.51 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 4.2 GiB (0.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 5.79 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    comp: zstd avail: lzo-rle,lzo,lz4,lz4hc,deflate,842 max-streams: 2
    dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 54.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 6 GiB available: 5.79 GiB used: 1.52 GiB (26.3%)
  Processes: 229 Power: uptime: 49m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 2.3 GiB services: upowerd,xfce4-power-manager
    Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1212 libs: 378 tools: paru Compilers:
    gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: garuda-inxi default: Bash v: 5.2.37
    running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.37
warning: database file for 'garuda' does not exist (use '-Sy' to download)
warning: database file for 'core' does not exist (use '-Sy' to download)
warning: database file for 'extra' does not exist (use '-Sy' to download)
warning: database file for 'multilib' does not exist (use '-Sy' to download)
warning: database file for 'chaotic-aur' does not exist (use '-Sy' to download)
Garuda (2.7.2-1):
  System install date:     2025-03-15
  Last full system update: 2025-03-15
  Is partially upgraded:   No
  Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut
  Windows dual boot:       <superuser required>
  Failed units:

upd on work.

14

@ nepti - I know what you mean, Iā€™ve seen it on many distros that option, very similar to windows install, but the problem is, it doesnā€™t give me that option?, to ā€˜Erase Diskā€™ and install (just like Linux Mint does), it says to ā€˜delete and manually create partitionā€™ only, and to install it so it boots, I need another partition thatā€™s 8MB in size and unformatted (otherwise it wont boot it says), I got through it and managed an install after 30 minutes of trying, but as i say after install it wouldnā€™t boot, and it was on GPT.

Yeah its on AHCI and doesnā€™t have SecureBoot or Fastboot, its also one generation before UEFI, its a BIOS., I chose GPT as recommended during the install, on the next page it kept saying ā€œif you havent already, go back and choose GPTā€ (which I had). P.S. I use Macrium to backup and restore Windows10.

So, I tried the other XFCE version of Garuda (which had the same GPU issue), and a couple of other Linux distroā€™s at 3am this morning when I couldnā€™t sleep (I forgot to write down results, tired).

Iā€™ll have to re-try later on tonight, a lot of them did the same with the GPU issue, apart from Mint, Feren, Kodachi, they all tested fine on Live, POPos and few others were stuck with 768p or less screen.

I have noticed that, for e,g. on Kodachi, that 2 years ago it used to use 2-3% CPU, I remember trying a new version 2 years later and it was slow compared to 2 years ago, now the current version is on a constant 12% CPU - it seems they are re-making the distros to run on newer hardware, which is natural, I just thought Linux was praised for its low resource use on old PCā€™s, bringing old PCā€™s to life..

Until I get a newer PC sorted (which is what Iā€™m actually trying to avoid), I will stick with Feren or Mint which worked on a Nvidia or Opensource driver.

Some of the others that worked would open all 3 of my HDDā€™s (2 and one SSD), bar one that threw up the same ā€˜fs errorā€™ on the same drive, its odd as the 2 HDDā€™s are both formatted the same (NTFS 64KB)

@Duke87 - its a windows10 MBR partition, but during Linux install (depending on distro) it either lets me ā€œerase disk and install distroā€ and ā€œbobā€™s yer uncleā€, others are giving me only one option, to ā€˜manually delete, and create a partitionā€™ and when I do as followed its changed to GPT, I know because when I boot Macrium to restore windows, it says the current partition is GPT, the restore changes it back to MBR.

thanks again for the help, I really do appreciate it, seems my PC is too old at 16 to run ā€˜mostā€™ Linux Distros for newbies :laughing:

15
  • this is an issue for me, no laptop to run side by side on, having to try live, try and install, restore to windows, come back and post, as you can imagine, its monotonous!
16

thats really wired but yeah i installed it fresh on my laptop asus gx71x from 2009. It dont have Efi also the old Bios.After i said erase disk and install it format itself to mbr and took the bootloader on /dev/sda !!! not /dev/sda1 or /(root) (this cause wont boot) also only worked with open driver not nvidia even the lappi has the nvidia older GTX 260M gpu. Its installed the noveau driver 340. It also installed the LTS Kernel itself i didnt do that on install.

Really funny so its to figure out how or which OS run fine.If i had a older PC i would test until i got in run.But my older pcs are in Germany on Brothers or Parants Storage =)

17

This is a socket 1155 mobo and should support UEFI, but we could help you better in this case if you would post your garuda-inxi from a live environment so that we have an overview of the system. Maybe you are just using the wrong BIOS settings, we had a similar issue with such an old board here before and it was solved (Legacy/CSM/blabla).

Just forget about that old nvidia GPU for now, the 2500K should have an iGPU. Remove the nvidia GPU and use the iGPU so that you have one less source of error.

You have to delete this partition. Connect only the drive on which you want to install Garuda ā†’ boot the live.iso ā†’ open the KDE Partition Manger in the live environment and delete all partitions on the drive ā†’ open Calamares (Installer) and then the option ā€œErase Diskā€ should be available.

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