[ubuntu-uk] Xorg high CPU usage <Solved>

[Pete Smout]

On 08/03/12 19:05, Pete Smout wrote:
> On 08/03/12 17:13, Pete Smout wrote:
>> On 07/03/12 17:03, Pete Smout wrote:
>>> On 07/03/12 16:43, Pete Smout wrote:
>>>> On 07/03/12 11:46, Neil Greenwood wrote:
>>>>> On Mar 7, 2012 10:50 AM, "Grant Phillips-Sewell"
>>>>> <dcglug at cornwall-it.co.uk
>>>>> <mailto:dcglug at cornwall-it.co.uk>>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> >
>>>>> > On Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:45:23 +0000
>>>>> > Pete Smout wrote:
>>>>> >
>>>>> > > On 06/03/12 18:15, Grant Phillips-Sewell wrote:
>>>>> > > > On Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:07:08 +0000
>>>>> > > > Pete Smout wrote:
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > >> On 05/03/12 21:10, Pete Smout wrote:
>>>>> > > >>> Hi,
>>>>> > > >>>
>>>>> > > >>> For about a week now my laptop (ubuntu 10.04 LTS fully
>>>>> updated)
>>>>> > > >>> has been freezing up for approx 30 secs, with gkrellm and top
>>>>> > > >>> showing xorg using 100% cpu usage?
>>>>> > > >>> There seems to be no pattern to what programs I am using,
>>>>> > > >>> everything from open office to clementine to smplayer or
>>>>> > > >>> thunderbird, not at any certain time of day or day of the
>>>>> week,
>>>>> > > >>> or even weather using the inbuilt screen or external one.
>>>>> > > >>>
>>>>> > > >>> My understanding (admittedly limited) is that xorg is the bit
>>>>> that
>>>>> > > >>> works the display (screen). Has anyone else come across this?
>>>>> > > >>>
>>>>> > > >>> For reference the laptop specs are:
>>>>> > > >>>
>>>>> > > >>> Acer Aspire 5720
>>>>> > > >>> Intel T5250 Dual core processor
>>>>> > > >>> Ram 2.0 gb
>>>>> > > >>> Internal graphics (intel)
>>>>> > > >>> Internal sound (intel)
>>>>> > > >>>
>>>>> > > >>> Thanks in advance for any ideas
>>>>> > > >>>
>>>>> > > >>> Regards
>>>>> > > >>>
>>>>> > > >>> Pete
>>>>> > > >>>
>>>>> > > >>>
>>>>> > > >> just for reference my xorg.conf:
>>>>> > > >>
>>>>> > > >> Section "Device"
>>>>> > > >> Identifier "Configured Video Device"
>>>>> > > >> Driver "fbdev"
>>>>> > > >> EndSection
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > Might want to look into that bit.
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > You should have a specific Xorg "driver" for your onboard Intel
>>>>> > > > graphics chip.
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > Run the following command to find out your graphics chip:
>>>>> > > > lspci
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > Look for the line that has VGA on it.
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > If it does indeed say something about an Intel chip, then make
>>>>> sure
>>>>> > > > you have the following package installed:
>>>>> > > > xserver-xorg-video-intel
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > (That package deals with all i8xx and i9xx chips)
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > Once that's installed, remove the xorg.conf file and restart X.
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > You can restart X by going to a terminal (NOT a terminal
>>>>> window...
>>>>> > > > press CTRL+ALT+F2 and log in) and then run:
>>>>> > > > sudo service lightdm restart
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > (Or just reboot... up to you.)
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > Grant.
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > Hi Grant,
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > Thanks for your reply, the lspci command produces (relevant lines
>>>>> > > only I hope)
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile
>>>>> > > GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
>>>>> > > 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960
>>>>> > > Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > Synaptic shows xserver-xorg-video-intel is installed (reinstalled
>>>>> for
>>>>> > > good measure) moved the xorg.conf file to my documents folder and
>>>>> > > rebooted, opened t-bird to reply to you and the machine 'greyed
>>>>> out'
>>>>> > > for approx 20 secs with gkrellm showing xorg as using 100% CPU!
>>>>> > > Please note that last time it happened was with clementine
>>>>> running,
>>>>> > > when playback stopped mid song so I cannot blame t-bird!
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > As an aside but possibly related?! when I open a tty shell
>>>>> > > (ctrl-alt-f1) log in it tells me 'Your CPU appears to be lacking
>>>>> > > expected security protections. Please check your BIOS settings,
>>>>> for
>>>>> > > more information please run /usr/bin/check-bios-nx --verbose which
>>>>> > > produces
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > smouty at smouty-laptop:~$ /usr/bin/check-bios-nx --verbose
>>>>> > > This CPU is family 6, model 15, and has NX capabilities but is
>>>>> unable
>>>>> > > to use these protective features because the BIOS is configured to
>>>>> > > disable the capability. Please enable this in your BIOS. For more
>>>>> > > details, see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/CPUFeatures
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > I am unable to find any related settings in BIOS, if this is
>>>>> > > unrelated to my original question please ignore it and I will do
>>>>> > > further research
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > Regards
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > Pete
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Hi Pete,
>>>>> >
>>>>> > That is interesting, about your CPU security extensions, but I do
>>>>> not
>>>>> > believe it is related to this.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Your original post showed that your xorg.conf file was using
>>>>> "fbdev" as
>>>>> > the graphics driver - this *should* work on most machines and so
>>>>> it is
>>>>> > useful as a "fall back" if all else fails. The fbdev driver means
>>>>> that
>>>>> > the CPU is doing all the graphics donkey-work rather than the GPU.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Essentially all I suggested was that you ensure you have the correct
>>>>> > xorg driver available (which you do) and you (re)move the xorg.conf
>>>>> > file so that xorg regenerates it (or creates on on-the-fly) when you
>>>>> > reboot... which you've done.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > It is still entirely possible that xorg is still using fbdev, so you
>>>>> > may want to re-instate your xorg.conf file but edit the "fbdev"
>>>>> entry
>>>>> > to say "intel" instead.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks trying that, so far so good no issues to report!
>>>>
>>>>> > Essentially, as I understand it, if there is an xorg.conf file
>>>>> present
>>>>> > then XOrg will use it; if there is no xorg.conf file then XOrg will
>>>>> try
>>>>> > to detect what's going on and make up a configuration on-the-fly.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Since the on-the-fly thing doesn't seem to be working for you, let's
>>>>> > try *making* it use the Intel driver by having an xorg.conf file
>>>>> that
>>>>> > specifies to use the Intel driver and nothing else.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I hope that makes sense.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Grant.
>>>>>
>>>>> As well as the xorg.conf file, there is also the
>>>>> /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ directory that should be checked to see if
>>>>> it has an override for the auto generated file.
>>>>>
>>>>> Neil.
>>>>>
>>>>> P.S. Sorry for the brevity, this is typed on my phone.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I am unable to locate /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d directory see terminal
>>>> output:
>>>>
>>>> smouty at smouty-laptop:~$ cd /usr/share/X11
>>>> smouty at smouty-laptop:/usr/share/X11$ ls
>>>> locale rgb.txt XErrorDB xkb XKeysymDB xman.help
>>>> smouty at smouty-laptop:/usr/share/X11$
>>>>
>>>> Although this has found (for me at least) XErrorDB which shows lots of
>>>> errors far too numerous to list here (will put in pastebin if needed),
>>>> but the file name to me suggests that it is the Data Base of all
>>>> possible errors as there is no time / date next to the output.
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>>
>>>> Pete
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Spoke too soon, just happened again this time firefox, oh well keep
>>> looking I spose.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> Pete
>>>
>>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have had no luck with this issue, I am now certainly running the intel
>> driver as far as I can tell. None of the x logs viewed in 'Log File
>> Viewer' tell me anything I can understand or see as an obvious error,
>> and I am now at a loss of where to look next!
>>
>> Any ideas anyone?
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Pete
>>
>>
> Hi,
>
> Right I think I might be onto something! Having left top running on tty1
> whilst going about other things, I have noticed that Firefox starts the
> xorg problem so on a friends advice I have regressed Firefox to a
> previous version by:
> mv ~/.mozilla/firefox ~/.mozilla/firefox_old
> and then started Firefox again now using 10.02 (firefox not buntu!).
> There is a PPA from mozilla called firefox stable, if this is the fix
> then I will upgrade Firefox using the PPA.
>
> Can anyone shed any light as to why the Firefox in the standard repo's
> could cause this?
>
> Has it happened to anyone else?
>
> Good job I am not new to Ubuntu as this would have put me off an
> otherwise great distro!
>
> Fingers crossed,
>
> Pete
>
>
Hi.

For anyone who has a similar issue I can report a success! Moving the 
.mozilla/firefox file has worked! Laptop in use all day and not faded to 
grey once! Why this affected the whole system even if firefox wasn't 
running I have not worked out, but at least it is fixed!

Regards

Pete.