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2010.2; X11 spikes cpu utilization to 100%


Guest bryant805
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Guest bryant805

Hello Experts..

 

I recently got a new laptop (HP EliteBook 8540p); 4GB, Intel i7 vPro (quad-core). I'm running 2010.2 (2.6.33.7-server-2mnb #1 SMP) and was quite happy until recently I have experienced issues with the system freezing and/or becoming unresponsive while running minimal workloads and performing normal research via internet browsing.

 

When this occurs, the system locks me out completely and the only work around is to -- gulp --, power cycle the system :puter:

 

At first, I had know idea why the system was locking up, but I was able to ssh into the system while it was locked and " top " revealed " X " was taking 100% of the cpu. Whenever this occurs, no matter what process I kill, nothing will change the locked/frozen state of the system.

 

The only constant, or seems to be constant, is that this occurs when a browser is running. It doesn't matter if you are actively browsing or if the browser is just idle running in the background.

 

As far as browsers are concerned, I have had this happen with both Chromium & Firefox.

 

If it helps, I have graphics via nVidia NVS 5100M for notebooks

 

Any ideas???

 

:help:

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Guest bryant805

You need to be running a 64 bit kernel. Try running a 64 bit desktop kernel instead of the server kernel you have now.

I was wondering about that.. Perhaps, I will give it a try. I wont be able to rebuild things for about another week or so, but I will give it a shot and post the results...

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I'm not sure it's the kernel. You should be OK running a 32 bit distro as far as I'm aware. Just it'll work better with 4GB of RAM with a 64 bit kernel. As a desktop you're better off as 32 bit.

 

I've had this before with X spiking, and I could only get into my system with SSH and restart X. Failing that, another safe way than the power button is:

 

ALT-SYSRQ R S E I U B

 

will safely save everything that's required to disk and reboot. Press each key in sequence. However, some updates might fix your problem, or it might be something to do with your display driver.

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Guest bryant805

Thanks..

I'll give the key sequence a try. I am curious how things will perform under the 64-bit kernel. At any rate since I am not able to rebuild at the moment, I have installed the latest drivers that I downloaded from nvidia's site. While I am waiting to rebuild, I will see if the newer drivers have any effect.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest bryant805

Just wanted to provide a brief update...

 

Because I wasn't able to rebuild right away; I ran with the nVidia drivers for a week and didn't experience any issues. When I finally got a chance to rebuild, I did experience 1 freeze immediately after installing the 2010.2 64-Bit distro. Also, while the system was frozen, I tried the key sequenced mentioned above ALT-SYSRQ R S E I U B but it did not seem to work.

 

After a hard reboot (power cycle), I was able to download and install the nVidia drivers and have not had any issues since. Long story short, the issue seems to be related to the default driver(s) selected during install.

 

I am now running 2.6.33.7-desktop-2mnb #1 SMP x86_64. It has been a week now with a pretty heavy workload and no issues... So far so good... :thumbs:

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As it followed between 32 bit and 64 bit versions, and installing the nvidia drivers, it seems whichever driver chosen during install was causing your problem. Glad you got it sorted out :)

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