3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

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ddalley
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3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by ddalley »

I am trying to troubleshoot a LM15 KDE install on a USB mem-stick that quite frequently has most of its CPU cores pegged at 100%. When this happens, the computer is unresponsive for 20, 40, 60 or more seconds. There seems to be some sort of tenuous connection with Internet browsers, but when I look at the process list, they are not pegged, therefore I don't know what is causing the CPUs to max out.

[img]http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/flzd8.jpg[/img]

There is a secondary related issue that has some sort of chuffing or buzzing noise come through the sound system. When this happens (the cores are pegged and I hear noise), there is file access going on.

Since this is also a Windows box, neither of these issues show up when running Windows.

How do I solve these two problems?
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ddalley
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Re: 3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by ddalley »

So, over 30 45 70 people don't have a clue as to how to troubleshoot this?

I must have an interesting problem... :(
Last edited by ddalley on Tue Oct 22, 2013 1:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ddalley
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Re: 3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by ddalley »

Another tidbit of info is that this is a USB 3 stick. It is not a slow one, either, and is very unlikely to be the cause of these issues.

What tools are available to find what may be maxing the cores?
The normal "monitor", shown above, can't do it.
MishaSherpa

Re: 3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by MishaSherpa »

Doesn't the alt-esc thing show you what's using CPU %?
ddalley
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Re: 3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by ddalley »

Please reread the top post. The chart shows the cores are pegged and the text indicates that no visible listed processes are doing it.

Now, when I just booted up again now, the cores were maxed out before I could even log onto the computer, so whatever is doing this is "early", not something that I am causing manually. The computer was non-responsive to the mouse, to even allow me to sign on.
MishaSherpa

Re: 3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by MishaSherpa »

OK. You said process LIST but I focused on your pic of generic CPU load
Malware maybe? Bios illness? Maybe Try ClamAV if you can get logged in enough?
Certainly seems unusual
I think mismatched ram stick can give weird symptoms too. Did you change anything recently?
ddalley
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Re: 3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by ddalley »

MishaSherpa wrote:OK. You said process LIST but I focused on your pic of generic CPU load
Malware maybe? Bios illness? Maybe Try ClamAV if you can get logged in enough?
This is a new (as in a few weeks old) install and it started doing this right from the beginning. Most other installs/sticks don't exhibit this behaviour. Right now, I am running Kubuntu and it is not happening. Other LM installs have done it, in the past, to lesser degrees, so I want to get to the bottom of this problem.
MishaSherpa wrote:Certainly seems unusual
I've gotten this far. :?
MishaSherpa wrote:I think mismatched ram stick can give weird symptoms too. Did you change anything recently?
I have no idea what a mismatched ram stick means. The OS partition was formatted in a 1024 multiple, so nothing there should affect things.

I can't think of anything that I may have done to cause something like this to start happening. The only thing that comes to mind is that it is a journaled file system.
MishaSherpa

Re: 3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by MishaSherpa »

mismatched ram sticks = ram in parallel slots of different speeds or capacities (not recommended).
If you think it only happens with Mint, maybe you can get a hold of an admin somehow. Sounds like a conflict between that hardware and something in Mint. You might want to add some detail about your hardware to your post. I hope you get it figured out! Glad Kubuntu is working for you.
ddalley
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Re: 3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by ddalley »

The system memory is fine. I run Linux off of USB flash drives.

I am posting here to get the attention of someone who knows what they are doing. :wink:
exploder
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Re: 3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by exploder »

I saw this behavior when using the open source ATI drivers with my ATI 5770 graphics card. Switching to the proprietary drivers resolved the problem for me. Your hardware specs would be really helpful...
ddalley
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Re: 3 out of 4 cores are pegged frequently

Post by ddalley »

xserver-xorg-video-radeon
xserver-xorg-video-r128
xf86-video-mach64
xserver-xorg-video-ati

These are installed.

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation H61 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 4 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Redwood LE [Radeon HD 5550/5570/5630/6390/6490/7570]
01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5000 Series]
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