I did more testing on my box. With the box in an idle state (~0% CPU load), I used a hitch-detection script (it prints a "hitch" error to stdout every time the system goes more than two seconds without scheduling the script) to try the following:
After sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop, and logging in at the text console (ctrl-alt-F1), the script still reported hitches, so the issue would not seem to be X-related. Still on the text console, /etc/init.d stopping apache2, ntop, mysql, ntpd, had no effect, I still saw hitches. Switching into single-user mode (sudo telinit 1, choose without networking) had no effect, I still saw hitches. During a hitch, tapping the ctrl key was enough to immediately wake the system back up (causing the hitch to be reported by the script). After restarting gdm, I tried uninstalling Sun VirtualBox, but I still saw hitches. I found an old Ubuntu 9.10 CD and booted up from that. No hitches detected after 30 minutes. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/669535 Title: desktop mysteriously freezes until keyboard or mouse input -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs