Take the 2-minute tour ×

12.04 runs my CPU up to 99% and then lags to the point of having to shut down the laptop to restart it manually.Why is my CPU running so high and what can I do to fix it?

share|improve this question
How many days have you been running 12.04? Was it an upgrade, or clean install? Are you fully updated? –  david6 May 12 '12 at 23:58

2 Answers 2

You should probably select the "system monitor" app, and go to the "processes" tab. There you can find what program is consuming your CPU. (My bet is on Compiz)

NOTE: This does not mean select the program, then click "end process". That can be very dangerous, I know firsthand.

share|improve this answer

Same thing here! What worked for me was:

  1. Find the culprit. Either from the system monitor as the previous post suggested or running "top" from the command line. In the system monitor you can order by CPU consumption. You may need to show all processes, in the "View" menu.

  2. Kill/restart the process. In my case it was "ubuntu-launcher", and I only needed to kill it, as ubuntu-one was already running: from the system monitor, you can right-click in the process, and select "End Process". Note: Use "Kill Process" as a last resource.


share|improve this answer

Your Answer


