I have Ubuntu 10.04 running from an external hard drive (installed on an enclosure) connected via USB port. Like a month or so ago, I increased RAM on my pc from 2 Gigs to 3 Gigs. This resulted on extremely long boot times and slow application loads. While I was understanding the nature of my problem, I posted various threads on this forum ( Questions # 188417, 188801), where I was advised to gather speed tests, and other info on my machine. I was also suggested that I might have problems with the RAM installed. Initially, I did not consider that possibility because:

1) I did a memory test with a diagnostic program from DELL (My pc is from Dell) 2) My pc works fine with Windows XP (the default OS), no problems with memory 3) My pc works fine when booting with Ubuntu 10.10 memory stick, no speed problems 4) My pc works fine when booting with Ubuntu 11.10 memory stick, no speed problems

Anyway, I performed the memory tests suggested. But before doing it, and to check out any possibility of hardware issues on the hard drive, I did the following: (1) purchased a new hard drive enclosure and moved my hard drive to it, (2) purchased a new USB cable and used it to connect my hard drive/enclosure setup to a different USB port on my pc.

Then, I performed speed tests with 1 Gig, 2 Gigs and 3 Gigs of RAM with my Ubuntu 10.04 OS. Ubuntu 10.04 worked well when booted with 1 Gig or 2 Gigs of RAM. When I increased to 3 Gigs, it slowed down to a crawl. I can't understand the relationship between an increase of 1 Gig and the effect it has in Ubuntu 10.04. This doesn't happen with Ubuntu 10.10 and 11.10. Unfortunately for me, Ubuntu 10.04 is my principal work operating system. So, I need a solution for this.

Hardware and system information:

• DELL Precision 670
• 2 internal SATA Hard drives
• Audigy 2 ZS audio system
• Factory OS: Windows XP Professional SP3
• NVidia 8400 GTS video card

More info:

williepabon@WP-WrkStation:~$ uname -a
Linux WP-WrkStation 2.6.32-38-generic #83-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 4 11:13:04 UTC 2012 i686 GNU/Linux

williepabon@WP-WrkStation:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS
Release:    10.04
Codename:   lucid

Speed test with the 3 Gigs of RAM installed:

williepabon@WP-WrkStation:~$ sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sdc
[sudo] password for williepabon:

/dev/sdc:
Timing cached reads: 84 MB in 2.00 seconds = 41.96 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 4 MB in 3.81 seconds = 1.05 MB/sec

This is a very slow transfer rate from a hard drive.

I will really appreciate a solution or a work around for this problem. I know that that there are users that have Ubuntu 10.04 with 3 Gigs or more of RAM and they don't have this problem.

• Same question asked on Launchpad for reference.