High CPU load and High Fan Speed

English Hardware
1

Hi,
Two weeks ago I have done a fresh install of openSUSE Leap 42.3, since I was still using oS 13.1. I have chosen KDE Plasma 5 as desktop environment and it worked almost flawlessly until today. This morning I have started the system as always. I was watching some episodes of a tv series, when I noticed that the CPU temperature was high (information given by a plasmoid found on the default install) and also the fan speed was high (due to the noise).
KSysGuard let me found that kwin_x11 was heavily using the CPU (it didn’t happened previously). So to gain more information about the problem, i installed Xfce and logged in with it. No kwin-x11, no unjustified CPU high load, but the fan is still working at maximum speed (the noise is very laud). If i log in with KDE5 the problem appear again.

sensors info:

hawake@HardyPhoenix:~> sensors
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Core 0:       +45.0°C  (high = +83.0°C, crit = +99.0°C)
Core 1:       +44.0°C  (high = +83.0°C, crit = +99.0°C)
Core 2:       +47.0°C  (high = +83.0°C, crit = +99.0°C)
Core 3:       +47.0°C  (high = +83.0°C, crit = +99.0°C)

atk0110-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
Vcore Voltage:       +0.86 V  (min =  +0.80 V, max =  +1.60 V)
 +3.3 Voltage:       +3.34 V  (min =  +2.97 V, max =  +3.63 V)
 +5 Voltage:         +5.04 V  (min =  +4.50 V, max =  +5.50 V)
 +12 Voltage:       +11.98 V  (min = +10.20 V, max = +13.80 V)
CPU FAN Speed:      3013 RPM  (min =  600 RPM, max = 7200 RPM)
CHASSIS1 FAN Speed: 1054 RPM  (min =  600 RPM, max = 7200 RPM)
CHASSIS2 FAN Speed: 1163 RPM  (min =  600 RPM, max = 7200 RPM)
POWER FAN Speed:       0 RPM  (min =  600 RPM, max = 7200 RPM)
CPU Temperature:     +53.0°C  (high = +60.0°C, crit = +95.0°C)
MB Temperature:      +42.0°C  (high = +45.0°C, crit = +75.0°C)

hawake@HardyPhoenix:~>

Hardware info: Intel Core i5 750, 8 GB of RAM, AMD Radeon HD5830 (using FOSS graphics driver since the new driver does not support this video card and the old one does not support this kernel).

What do you think about? How can i solve this problem?

Thanks in advance,

Bye
hawake

2

Given the “fresh install”, did you choose the default disk partitioning?

  • Btrfs system partition and XFS user partition.

[HR][/HR]There may be a system cron job running performing housekeeping tasks – please check.
Another favourite, is the KDE file indexer – it needs some time after the initial installation to setup the file indexes.
[HR][/HR]But, having possibly gone in the wrong direction:

What is your system showing when you use the following commands – the examples are on a laptop with AMD Aruba - Richland HD 8650G Dual Graphics:


 > lsmod | grep -i radeon
radeon               1597440  27 
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 radeon
drm_kms_helper        167936  1 radeon
ttm                   110592  1 radeon
drm                   397312  16 ttm,drm_kms_helper,radeon
 > 
 > zypper search --installed-only radeon
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

S | Name              | Summary                                                          | Type   
--+-------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------+--------
i | libdrm_radeon1    | Userspace interface for Kernel DRM services for AMD Radeon chips | package
i | libvdpau_radeonsi | XVMC state tracker for radeonsi                                  | package
 > 
 > zypper search --installed-only xf86
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

S  | Name                   | Summary                                                       | Type   
---+------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+--------
i  | libXxf86misc1          | XFree86-Misc X extension library                              | package
i  | libXxf86vm-devel       | Development files for the XFree86-VidMode X extension library | package
i  | libXxf86vm1            | XFree86-VidMode X extension library                           | package
i  | libxcb-xf86dri0        | X11 XFree86-DRI Extension C library                           | package
i  | xf86-input-evdev       | Generic Linux input driver for the Xorg X server              | package
i  | xf86-input-joystick    | Joystick input driver for the Xorg X server                   | package
i  | xf86-input-keyboard    | Keyboard input driver for the Xorg X server                   | package
i  | xf86-input-libinput    | Libinput driver for the Xorg X server                         | package
i  | xf86-input-mouse       | Mouse input driver for the Xorg X server                      | package
i+ | xf86-input-synaptics   | Synaptics touchpad input driver for the Xorg X server         | package
i  | xf86-input-vmmouse     | VMware Mouse input driver for the Xorg X server               | package
i  | xf86-input-void        | Null input driver for the Xorg X server                       | package
i  | xf86-input-wacom       | Wacom input driver for the Xorg X server                      | package
i  | xf86-video-amdgpu      | AMDGPU video driver for the Xorg X server                     | package
i  | xf86-video-ati         | ATI video driver for the Xorg X server                        | package
i  | xf86-video-fbdev       | Framebuffer video driver for the Xorg X server                | package
i  | xf86-video-mach64      | ATI Mach64 series video driver for the Xorg X server          | package
i  | xf86-video-nouveau     | Accelerated Open Source driver for nVidia cards               | package
i  | xf86-video-r128        | ATI Rage 128 video driver for the Xorg X server               | package
i  | xf86-video-vesa        | Generic VESA video driver for the Xorg X server               | package
i  | xf86vidmodeproto-devel | The X11 Protocol: XFree86 Video Mode extension                | package
 >

Given your AMD graphics card, you shouldn’t have any other AMD related packages than the ones displayed above installed on your system.

3

Plasma 5 and abnormally high CPU / GPU utilisation is an often reported bug…

This is the “catch all” report if it’s non specific:

Generic High CPU Usage Rendering
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=378010

Feel free to add to it’s ever growing number of posts :wink:

4

I’m using a single EXT4 root partition (it includes /home).

I have disabled the file search using KDE System Settings. Are there other ways to do so?

This is the output i get:

hawake@HardyPhoenix:~> lsmod | grep -i radeon
radeon               1597440  0 
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 radeon
drm_kms_helper        167936  1 radeon
ttm                   110592  1 radeon
drm                   397312  3 ttm,drm_kms_helper,radeon
hawake@HardyPhoenix:~> zypper search --installed-only radeon
Caricamento dati del repository in corso...
Lettura dei pacchetti installati in corso...

S  | Nome                 | Sommario                                                                        | Tipo     
---+----------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------
i+ | libdrm_radeon1       | Interfaccia a livello utente per i servizi DRM del kernel per i chip AMD Radeon | pacchetto
i+ | libdrm_radeon1-32bit | Interfaccia a livello utente per i servizi DRM del kernel per i chip AMD Radeon | pacchetto
i+ | libvdpau_radeonsi    | XVMC state tracker for radeonsi                                                 | pacchetto
hawake@HardyPhoenix:~> zypper search --installed-only xf86
Caricamento dati del repository in corso...
Lettura dei pacchetti installati in corso...

S  | Nome                 | Sommario                                                   | Tipo     
---+----------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+----------
i+ | libXxf86misc1        | Libreria di estensione X XFree86-Misc                      | pacchetto
i+ | libXxf86vm1          | Libreria dell'estensione X XFree86-VidMode                 | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | libXxf86vm1-32bit    | Libreria dell'estensione X XFree86-VidMode                 | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-input-evdev     | Driver di input generico Linux per il server X Xorg        | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-input-joystick  | Driver di input per joystick per il server X Xorg          | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-input-keyboard  | Driver di input della tastiera per il server X Xorg        | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-input-libinput  | Driver libinput per il server X Xorg                       | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-input-mouse     | Driver di input per mouse per il server X Xorg             | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-input-synaptics | Driver di input del touchpad synaptic per il server X Xorg | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-input-vmmouse   | Driver di input del mouse VMware per il server X Xorg      | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-input-void      | Driver di input nullo per il server X Xorg                 | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-input-wacom     | Driver di input wacom per il server X Xorg                 | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-video-amdgpu    | Driver video AMDGPU per il server X Xorg                   | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-video-ati       | Driver video ATI per il server X Xorg                      | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-video-fbdev     | Driver video Framebuffer per il server X Xorg              | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-video-mach64    | Driver video ATI serie Mach64 per il server X Xorg         | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-video-r128      | Driver video ATI Rage 128 per il server X Xorg             | pacchetto                                                                                 
i+ | xf86-video-vesa      | Driver video generico VESA per il server X Xorg            | pacchetto                                                                                 
hawake@HardyPhoenix:~>

That’s very sad, since KDE Plasma 5 is out there since quite a while now. :frowning: On openSUSE Leap 42.2, I didn’t had this problem. That’s very strange.

Thanks for your help,

Bye
hawake

5

So, given an out-of-the-box AMD Radeon kernel driver and a HD 5830, either Juniper or Cypress chipset, graphics hardware, paired with a 4-core 2.66 GHz CPU, it seems that, this issue is possibly, given that, the fan noise issue arises after possibly an hour or so of HD graphics viewing, as follows:

The hardware is about 7 or 8 years old and, at the time it was introduced, it was high-end (needs at least a 600 or 700 W power supply) – the AMD HD 5830 graphic cards support multiple screens and have a maximum resolution of 2560x1600 display points.

Apart from software issues, why does high-end hardware, after a year or so, begin to run “hot”?

  • Answer: dust.

Please open the hardware case and and vacuum any collected dust in the interior of the case – paying special attention to the CPU and graphic card fans and, the power supply fan(s) and, the ribs of any heat-sinks on the mainboard.

6

No dust, I have already cleaned everything inside my case and I remember you that sensors, as you can see above, find a normal temperature (between 49° C and 53 ° C). The day before installing openSUSE Leap 42.3, I was still using oS 13.1 which didn’t had this problem. Furthermore, I made another test: I have installed Windows 7 on the second Hard Disk, and everything works flawlessly as with previous versions of openSUSE. It is a software problem, maybe related to some Qt5 components as they say here .

Next thing to try: run a live distro from USB drive.

Thanks for help,

Bye
hawake

7

Hi
You could try my systemd radeon power proflie package to set the card to low, that should make a difference;

Package Build;
https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/home:malcolmlewis:openSUSE_General/systemd-radeon-power_profile


zypper in http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/malcolmlewis:/openSUSE_General/openSUSE_Leap_42.3/noarch/systemd-radeon-power_profile-0.1-2.1.noarch.rpm

systemctl start radeon-power_profile.service
systemctl status radeon-power_profile.service
systemctl enable radeon-power_profile.service
8

Hi, I have tried it but nothing changed. The issue concern CPU’s FAN usage.

Thanks,

Bye
hawake

9

Hi
Does the system support pwmconfig? Run as root user and see if you get control…

10

This is what i get in a terminal window:

# pwmconfig 
# pwmconfig revision 6243 (2014-03-20)
This program will search your sensors for pulse width modulation (pwm)
controls, and test each one to see if it controls a fan on
your motherboard. Note that many motherboards do not have pwm
circuitry installed, even if your sensor chip supports pwm.

We will attempt to briefly stop each fan using the pwm controls.
The program will attempt to restore each fan to full speed
after testing. However, it is ** very important ** that you
physically verify that the fans have been to full speed
after the program has completed.

/usr/sbin/pwmconfig: There are no pwm-capable sensor modules installed
#

.

Thanks,

Bye
hawake

11

Hi
Did you run sensors-detect (as root user), if not can you run that command and see if it picks a different sensor (eg it87).

12

Hi,
Yes i run it. The sensors listed in previous posts are those that sensors-detect automatically detected in my system.

I have read on the KDE’s bugreport posted previously in this thread, that the bug seems fixed in last version of KDE. Do you know if it will be backported to the 5.8 branch?

Thanks,

Bye
hawake

P.S. I’m using Xfce as workaround, and the Fan speed is normal.

13

After some more tests, i found problems with Xfce too. In that case just the fan speed was high, while the CPU load was normal.

So i tried doing a fresh install of openSUSE Leap 15.0 with KDE, it almost solved the problem. Disabling the file indexing feature fixed the problem.

The strange thing is that on my notebook (HP 630), same software configuration (openSUSE Leap 42.3 + KDE) worked flawlessly.

Thanks for help,

Bye
hawake