100% Cpu usage constant due to /usr/bin/x

[chazbroam]

Setting up a family member's recycled computer with Salix 14.1 XFCE on an HP Pavilion a647c, recently upgraded the RAM to 1GB, and the Graphics Card to a Radeon HD 3450 (was an Intel 82845G Brookdale-G onboard). But I digress...

As soon as I installed Salix, I noticed that X was was running full-on near or at 100% all the time. I thought it was due to the cheap Intel onboard graphics, but with the new Radeon HD 3450, it still occurs. I've tried to run the different kernels: 1) huge-smp, 2) huge, 3) generic-smp, and 4) generic. I searched Google, and I don't know what else to do. Is there a kernel setting that I need to change (make menuconfig)? Is this a bug? Should I go get a newer/older kernel?

I'm all ears. Tell me what to do. I'll do it.

Thanks.

[gapan]

This is very strange. You say this is with Xfce. Here's a few things you can try:

1. Try a simpler window manager and see if it's the same. JWM would be a good choice for that. You can switch from the GDM login screen after you install it.
2. Try enabling (or disabling) the compositor in Xfce.
3. Try starting in init 3. At the LILO prompt hit the TAB key and type "Salix 3". Log in and check CPU usage (in text mode). Then startx and check again.

Also, does it happen as soon as you log in, or after some time?

[chazbroam]

1. Try a simpler window manager and see if it's the same. JWM would be a good choice for that. You can switch from the GDM login screen after you install it.

Tried JWM & OpenBox without LXDE, both report the same with Htop and conky. Although, Top doesn't say 100% CPU, but rather around 30%.

2. Try enabling (or disabling) the compositor in Xfce.

Check & double checked.

3. Try starting in init 3. At the LILO prompt hit the TAB key and type "Salix 3". Log in and check CPU usage (in text mode). Then startx and check again.

THIS IS WEIRD! Startx will not start correctly. Instead it takes a minute waiting saying something about timeout for Xauthority file locking (repeats that message 3 times), then almost starts going graphical, but instead it just goes black screen. Typing Control+ALT+F1 shows the terminal trying to startx, but it keeps saying "no protocol specified .." repeating this forever after, until Control+Alt+Z kills it.

Also, does it happen as soon as you log in, or after some time?

How do I tell what it's doing before I log in? Init 3/4 you have to login first even in Control+alt+f2 -f6 (it still makes you login first. After I log in (in init 3), Htop reports its at 100% CPU usage immediately even if I'm not running X, but just for running Htop.

Something to note: This message always shows up whether I use init 3 or 4 on the first screen before you log in (i see it by typing Control+alt+f1):
"darkstar login: Timeout reached while waiting for return value
Could not receive return value from daemon process."

[gapan]

THIS IS WEIRD! Startx will not start correctly. Instead it takes a minute waiting saying something about timeout for Xauthority file locking (repeats that message 3 times), then almost starts going graphical, but instead it just goes black screen. Typing Control+ALT+F1 shows the terminal trying to startx, but it keeps saying "no protocol specified .." repeating this forever after, until Control+Alt+Z kills it.

OK, but you're not answering to what I asked. Run htop before you run startx. What happens?

Also, this makes me think... when you installed Salix, did you reuse the /home partition of a previous installation? That you possibly used with another distribution?

How do I tell what it's doing before I log in?

I'm not asking you to check anything before you log in. Do you get 100% CPU right after you log in, or after some time, like a minute or maybe 10 minutes or...?

Something to note: This message always shows up whether I use init 3 or 4 on the first screen before you log in (i see it by typing Control+alt+f1):
"darkstar login: Timeout reached while waiting for return value
Could not receive return value from daemon process."

I don't know where this comes from. You'll have to post more lines...

[maximus]

chazbroam wrote:Something to note: This message always shows up whether I use init 3 or 4 on the first screen before you log in (i see it by typing Control+alt+f1):
"darkstar login: Timeout reached while waiting for return value
Could not receive return value from daemon process."

This appears to be caused by the "avahidaemon" service. I had the same message come up on tty1, although as far as I can tell it hasn't caused any problems at all. After disabling the daemon and restarting, this message was gone.

[chazbroam]

THIS IS WEIRD! Startx will not start correctly. Instead it takes a minute waiting saying something about timeout for Xauthority file locking (repeats that message 3 times), then almost starts going graphical, but instead it just goes black screen. Typing Control+ALT+F1 shows the terminal trying to startx, but it keeps saying "no protocol specified .." repeating this forever after, until Control+Alt+Z kills it.

OK, but you're not answering to what I asked. Run htop before you run startx. What happens?

Ok. Sorry. When I run Salix in init 3 mode, after logging in, I run Htop and Htop says ITSELF is taking 100% of the CPU. Although, when I stop Htop, and switch to Top, Top says it only is using 30% of the CPU (which is still a bit much). It's a 32bit Pentium 4 (2.4Ghz), with 1gb of RAM. It shouldn't be that weighed down already.

Also, this makes me think... when you installed Salix, did you reuse the /home partition of a previous installation? That you possibly used with another distribution?

Nope. No other distro I had would run via LiveCD mode enough that I could install it. Tried kubuntu before (with the old Intel Graphics) and it barely booted to a usable screen. Which is why I opted for Salix 14.1 Xfce (Openbox might have been to foreign for the family member).

How do I tell what it's doing before I log in?

I'm not asking you to check anything before you log in. Do you get 100% CPU right after you log in, or after some time, like a minute or maybe 10 minutes or...?

Just as soon as Htop runs, it reports itself is running at 100% CPU.

Something to note: This message always shows up whether I use init 3 or 4 on the first screen before you log in (i see it by typing Control+alt+f1):
"darkstar login: Timeout reached while waiting for return value
Could not receive return value from daemon process."

This appears to be caused by the "avahidaemon" service. I had the same message come up on tty1, although as far as I can tell it hasn't caused any problems at all. After disabling the daemon and restarting, this message was gone.

Could this avahidaemon be clogging up the works? Is this what's really making things use my CPU to the max?

[gapan]

Ok. Sorry. When I run Salix in init 3 mode, after logging in, I run Htop and Htop says ITSELF is taking 100% of the CPU. Although, when I stop Htop, and switch to Top, Top says it only is using 30% of the CPU (which is still a bit much). It's a 32bit Pentium 4 (2.4Ghz), with 1gb of RAM. It shouldn't be that weighed down already.

OK, this shows that you have a more general problem. With nothing running your CPU should be close to 0%. It might be some incompatibility with your PC, or it could be that you have a hardware fault.

An idea you can try. Not sure if it will work. When booting, in the LILO screen hit the TAB key. Now type "Salix acpi=off". See what happens. Also try "Salix acpi=force" and "Salix acpi_osi=".

And about avahi: you can disable the avahi service from the services tool in the system menu. Or by running "sudo servicesetup" from a terminal. But I don't think that it has anything to do with your problem.

[chazbroam]

An idea you can try. Not sure if it will work. When booting, in the LILO screen hit the TAB key. Now type "Salix acpi=off". See what happens. Also try "Salix acpi=force" and "Salix acpi_osi=".

Tried them all: 1) acpi=force, 2)acpi=off, and 3)acpi_osi= .

I have been having trouble with the dang PC turning off incorrectly, too, so I've already been messing with lilo.conf's append function and tweaking those exact acpi tweaks. Thought this was an unrelated issue. Never thought that these two problems might be linked. The system will shutdown with a clunk inside the machine (and say it shutdown), but the screen stays on, and the machine lights stay on. When this had Windows XP, it shut off without fail. Is there a way to still use APM versus ACPI instead?

Sorry to diverge into something else, if these problems are completely unrelated.

[icaroperseo]

I am not an expert but it seems to be a problem with ASPM (PCIe Active State Power Management). In short: a problematic BIOS https://lwn.net/Articles/449448/

The following, does not the trick?

Code: Select all

pcie_aspm=off

More info:

Code: Select all

pcie_aspm=      [PCIE] Forcibly enable or disable PCIe Active State Power
          Management.
  off     Disable ASPM.
  force   Enable ASPM even on devices that claim not to support it.
          WARNING: Forcing ASPM on may cause system lockups.

Source: http://redsymbol.net/linux-kernel-boot-parameters/3.10/

I hope you find it useful. Good luck!

[chazbroam]

I am not an expert but it seems to be a problem with ASPM (PCIe Active State Power Management). In short: a problematic BIOS https://lwn.net/Articles/449448/

The following, does not the trick?

Code: Select all

pcie_aspm=off

Actually, This did help me, but it did not solve The High CPU usage problem. It solved another problem. There is this PCI Bridge that uses PCI Express, so I made the lilo append also say "pcie_aspm=force", which got rid of some errors from dmesg.

Thank you for that.

But I am still getting 100% CPU usage all the time. The Load Averages looks like this:
1.64,1.18,0.68. When the screensaver loads (simple screensaver, no opengl in use) it has moments of slowdowns in it's animation/execution.

also to note, avahi has been removed.
Also, Startx in init 3 still fails to run X. Only GDM can start the GUI.