Why is one core, then another, pegged at 100%?

[whebert]

I am watching my system monitor and while core 1,2,and 3 or 4 are at 7 to 15%, either 3 or 4 seem to alternate between 100% capacity. Seems like not very good resource allocation. Is there something I need to do?

FYI: I know absolutely nothing, and could not find a similar question in the forum, so am asking.

Thanks in advance.

System: Host: brr-MS-7599 Kernel: 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 13 Maya
Machine: Mobo: MSI model: 870U-G55 (MS-7599) version: 5.0 Bios: American Megatrends version: V25.2 date: 02/24/2011
CPU: Quad core AMD Phenom II X4 955 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm)
Clock Speeds: 1: 800.00 MHz 2: 800.00 MHz 3: 800.00 MHz 4: 3200.00 MHz
Graphics: Card-1: NVIDIA NV43 [GeForce 6600 GT]
Card-2: NVIDIA G92 [GeForce GTS 250]
X.Org: 1.11.3 drivers: nouveau (unloaded: vesa,fbdev) Resolution: 1920x1200@60.0hz, 1680x1050@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NV92 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.2
Audio: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA ver: 1.0.24
Network: Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller driver: r8169
IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 6c:62:6d:a7:86:76
Drives: HDD Total Size: 11002.2GB (23.8% used) 1: /dev/sda ST2000DL003 2000.4GB
2: /dev/sdb ST2000DL003 2000.4GB 3: /dev/sdc ST2000DL003 2000.4GB
4: /dev/sdd ST2000DL003 2000.4GB 5: /dev/sdf GoFlex_Desk 3000.6GB
Partition: ID: / size: 179G used: 44G (26%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 8.58GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 31.2C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 176 Uptime: 2:24 Memory: 1222.1/7979.1MB Client: Shell inxi: 1.7.33

[Jupiter_Spunk]

I would start with running top in a terminal.

Code: Select all

top

top will display all the applications currently using resources, as well as current usage for all your resources. Its possible something is getting stuck, then when it tries to switch it to a different core, it gets stuck there too.

But, thats where I would start. can be more helpful than system monitor, and often more accurate.