The latest Ubuntu 14 update has resulted in very high CPU usage. When I open a shell, compiz is a few % of CPU as reported by top. When I open an application, if the application is in focus, say sublime, emacs, gedit, the CPU goes above 25%, and even up to 90%. As soon as I put focus back on the shell, it drops to a few %. I have reinstalled the parallels driver (parallels 10.1.1). No change. lspci reports VGA compatible controller: Parallels, Inc. Accelerated Virtual Video Adapter. I noted in a previous post that the whole menubar was messed up until I turned off Parallels 3D acceleration. Is there some driver problem related to changes in compiz? Something that needs to be reset to keep it happy?
From further investigation, I suspect the problem may have already existed, and 3D acceleration covered it. Now that 3D acceleration is broken, it is slow. When 3D is enabled, the menu bar, dock, all messed up, can open windows, etc. At the login screen, all is ok. But once logged in, dead.
Ok, I found a solution after a lucky google search. 1) Turn off Parallels 3D 2) Boot 3) Shutdown 4) Turn on Parallels 3D 5) Boot For some reason you need to boot with no 3D followed by 3D
