Xorg HIGH CPU usage, overheating and wifi loss killer combo

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#1

1 minute ago, when messing with kernels and nVidia drivers I get 260.19 drivers running in the desktop kernel, I will hibernate that session for as long as it continue to work. But the problem persists. Below, the bugs.

I’m experiencing an annoying double bug killer combo.

Soft:

  • OpenSuse 11.3 (kernel 2.6.34.7-0.4, both desktop and default)
  • Xorg 7.5 (I think, the one which comes with the distro)
  • nVidia binary 173.14.28 (nVidia GFX-01 package)

In an Acer 5520G wich comes with:

  • AMD Turion X2 TL-58 (1.9Ghz.)
  • 2GB RAM DDR2 800
  • nVidia 8400M
  • Atheros 5001-like wi-fi

Issues:

Xorg decided to take down my CPU, so it uses ridiculous amounts of CPU time for no known reason. I do the following:

  • Log in session*]Open System Monitor to see what happens*]Xorg uses about 2% CPU (nice)]Move Mouse -> Xorg CPU usage rise up to 41% (alarms go off)]Stop moving mouse, try with touchpad -> Xorg does the same*]Start using the computer as usual (mail + documents + broswser) -> Xorg CPU usage doesn’t go lower than 35%, peaks about 55%*]Open 2 browsers (Opera and Firefox, for the record) -> Xorg uses as much as 95% CPU

This makes the CPU to overheat considerably (~85-90°C).

There is a bug in the wireless driver which makes it to somewhat disable the wifi card if the computer overheats too long (more than 1 minute).

So, after using the computer, lets say, 5 minutes or even less, it overheats and I loose wifi connectivity.

OpenSuse still thinks the wifi card is up and running and tries to reconnect without luck. The only ways to recover conectivity are: complete shutdown of the computer or sleep-wakeup.

I’ll loose connectivity as many times a day as I let the computer overheats, and that will happen as many times as I forgot to turn on powersave mode and Xorg will eat my processor until it overheats, which happens very quickly.

As you may imagine this is a real annoying killer combo, because since Xorg eats as many CPU as it can, the computer runs pretty slow, and in powersave mode (processor goes down to 800Mhz.) it’s almost impossible to use.

This didn’t happen in such a bad way (but it happened nonetheless) nVidia 256.XX drivers. With newer 260.19 drivers plasma crashes miserably after logging in and computer is unsuitable for work (as you already guessed).

My problem is to solve this two bugs: Xorg excessive CPU usage and wifi disabling when computer overheats. Also, making nVidia 260.19 drivers to work will be great.

I already tried several things, including recently killing Xorg when installed some version from Xorg repository replacing opensuse default version. It was a little headache to roll back and making Xorg up and running again.

Anyway, I’m open to suggestions, I’ll try everything I can manage to understand I will provide more information if required, but since I don’t have much free time, don’t expect answers too soon.

Thanks in advance,
Anibal

ps: with plasma-desktop dead and nVidia 260.19 drivers, Xorg behaves more nicely, not surpassing 11% which is quiet better than 95%.

#2

So I am not sure what you are looking for as it has been said that KDE 4.5 & nVidia 260.19 have a problem together. What I wanted to say was about your CPU. You did hear that CPU speed control was removed from KDE in 4.5, right? You are now working based on a YaST-power module setting, which may be full speed ahead. If you use KDE 4.5, I suggest to install yast-power, if not already installed. When run, you have only found choices (as I remember) Default, Balanced, Low Latency (Read High speed/heat) & Energy Saving. I suggest using Balanced or Energy Saving to see if the CPU heat goes down any. This is a separate issue from the nVidia driver.

Thank You,

#3

Daniel, thanks for your answer.

I have KDE 4.4.4 as far as I know, and the nVidia problem is with that version too, it seems.

I’m currently using the yast-power module to choose the energy saving mode from the options, but it is pretty sub-optimal, since Xorg takes up a lot of CPU power and the computer is unusably slow. The CPU is cooler, though.

Greets,
Anibal

#4

I’d think that 8xxx GPUs would use the GFX-2 packages, isn’t it so? IINM the GFX-01 is for older FX cards, but I never paid much attention to that. In Yast the package description for GXF-01 is:

NVIDIA graphics driver kernel module for GeForceFX GPUs

While for GXF-02 is:

NVIDIA graphics driver kernel module for GeForce 6xxx and newer GPUs

I’m running a GeForce 7300 in 11.1 and a Geforce 8xxx (laptop onboard video) in 11.2 with the GXF-02 packages, no issues.

#5

Didn’t know that, thanks. I’ve an atom 410 running 11.3 that doesn’t lower the cpu freq when idle. Will see if it does with Yast.

#6

Hi,

install a new kernel from:
Index of /repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/openSUSE_11.3
There are a lot of changes on drivers. Maybe your wifi-connection would run better.

Download the newest 260 driver from Nvidia website and install it.
It is worth a try, because it couldn’t get much more bad on your system.

#7

Correction: it’s a GeForce Go 6150.

#8

the 260 driver is the correct choise.

#9

Thanks for all the answers!

About the drivers: despite the description the 173.XX series of drivers supports GF 8XXX series of GPUs, so the driver works. Very suboptimal, but the computer is usable.

Installing the driver from the nVidia website, would be different than the repository one? It’s supposed to be the exact same version, so I won’t expect any differences, except that the manually installed one will definitely be a lot more difficult to uninstall than the repository one.

About the kernel: Is it safe to install a new kernel from outside the main repositories? I’ll probably try just out of desperation, but I will search how to undo the modifications (ie. the installed new kernel) before proceeding because it won’t be nice to get stuck in a kernel panic…

Greets,
Anibal

#10

Installing a newer kernel is not going to solve this IMHO. The repo presented is bleeding edge.

One thing to at least try is removing the plasma config files. That would take out plasma conflicts.
Another one is to install LXDE and see if the temperature problem exists in LXDE.

#11

Good news, I installed the lastest kernel update and it works well with nVidia 260.19.XX driver, so part of the problem is now solved: Xorg uses up to 15% CPU power. That should be enough as to make overheating a lot less frequent.

Problem solved? I don’t know, but tomorrow I’ll use the notebook a lot more than today so I’ll have a better understanding about at what extent the problem disappeared (or not).

Anyway, I installed LXDE and will use it to check Xorg CPU usage if something awful happens in KDE.

Greets,

#12

Now that everything seemed to work acceptably well, VirtualBox doesn’t starts. Afeter googling the problem, it appears to be something bad with the last nVidia Driver… anyway since I need VirtualBox occasionally now I think I could uninstall nVidia, install noveau, use noveau, uninstall noveau, reinstall nVidia. A bit annoying, but if I must do that 2 times a month until nVidia rolls and update, I think anything will be cool…

#13

On 10/28/2010 02:06 PM, ado2007 wrote:
>
> Now that everything seemed to work acceptably well, VirtualBox doesn’t
> starts. Afeter googling the problem, it appears to be something bad with
> the last nVidia Driver… anyway since I need VirtualBox occasionally
> now I think I could uninstall nVidia, install noveau, use noveau,
> uninstall noveau, reinstall nVidia. A bit annoying, but if I must do
> that 2 times a month until nVidia rolls and update, I think anything
> will be cool…

Read through the thread with subject “NVIDIA 260.19 Issues”. In a
nutshell, you can roll back to the previous nvidia driver. It’ll take a
manual compile, but you’ll only have to do it after a kernel update, not
a couple times a month…

–
Kevin Miller
Juneau, Alaska
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
In a recent poll, seven out of ten hard drives preferred Linux.