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[Solved] Xorg 120% CPU

Hi, everyone,

I have noticed recently that my system became a little laggy. Then I saw that Xorg was using up to 120% of CPU.

I am using xfce as desktop environment.
Xorg version is "X.Org X Server 1.20.4" with AMDGPU driver, and kernel is "5.0.10-1-ck-bulldozer".

Xorg.0.log shows no warnings nor errors.

This is the only configuration that I had set manually:

20-radeon.conf
Code: [Select]
Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Radeon HD 7970"
    Driver      "amdgpu"
    Option      "AccelMethod" "glamor"  
EndSection

Hardware is:
CPU: AMD FX 4100 (4 cores enabled)
GPU: Radeon 7970
RAM: 8 GB

If you need more information I will be happy to provide it.
Thank you in advance.

Re: Xorg 120% CPU

Reply #1 –
Update: I installed mate (without uninstalling xfce) and tested it.

There is no longer an issue with CPU usage. Therefore the problem must be with XFCE settings.

Thanks anyway

Re: Xorg 120% CPU

Reply #2 –
Do you have an older kernel (4.19, lts, 4.20)  you can check if you get the same results? 
How do you monitor cpu usage and how can it go over 100%   Is this an amd-ucode overclocking feature?

From a task manager htop or xfce4-taskmanager you should be able to see which process uses so much cpu by ordering process by cpu-usage.  You should run the taskmanager as root to see root process or by other users.  If you can and report back which process is using so much power it would help I think for the artix-team to locate the problem.
Are you sure that Xorg is using it all?

Re: Xorg 120% CPU

Reply #3 –
Hi again.

I tried with a LTS kernel as you suggested. In my case it was 4.19.36-1-lts.

With XFCE, Xorg was using more than 100% according to top and htop. Here the screenshot.


Here again with the tree view


I tested again on kernel 5.0.10-1-ck-bulldozer and it was still high, but not as usual. It was around 65% this time.


Here the tree view



With MATE, Xorg never passes 10% according to top and htop. I tested with both kernels.

Regarding ucode updates. I have run dmesg and I got this
Code: [Select]
 microcode: CPU0: patch_level=0x06000629
microcode: CPU1: patch_level=0x06000629
microcode: CPU2: patch_level=0x06000629
microcode: CPU3: patch_level=0x06000629
microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.2.
microcode: CPU3: new patch_level=0x0600063e
microcode: CPU0: new patch_level=0x0600063e
x86/CPU: CPU features have changed after loading microcode, but might not take effect.
x86/CPU: Please consider either early loading through initrd/built-in or a potential BIOS update

There are no new BIOS updates available for my old ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS, so I usually ignore that message.

My system hardware is:
Code: [Select]
H/W path         Device      Class          Description
=======================================================
                             system         System Product Name (To Be Filled By O.E.M.)
/0                           bus            M5A78L-M LX PLUS
/0/0                         memory         64KiB BIOS
/0/4                         processor      AMD FX(tm)-4100 Quad-Core Processor
/0/4/5                       memory         192KiB L1 cache
/0/4/6                       memory         4MiB L2 cache
/0/4/7                       memory         8MiB L3 cache
/0/2c                        memory         8GiB System Memory
/0/2c/0                      memory         4GiB DIMM Synchronous 1600 MHz (0.6 ns)
/0/2c/1                      memory         4GiB DIMM Synchronous 1600 MHz (0.6 ns)
/0/100                       bridge         RS780 Host Bridge
/0/100/2                     bridge         RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (ext gfx port 0)
/0/100/2/0                   display        Tahiti XT [Radeon HD 7970/8970 OEM / R9 280X]
/0/100/2/0.1                 multimedia     Tahiti HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 7870 XT / 7950/7970]
/0/100/4                     bridge         RS780/RS880 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 0)
/0/100/4/0       enp2s0      network        RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
/0/100/9                     bridge         RS780/RS880 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 4)
/0/100/9/0                   bus            VL80x xHCI USB 3.0 Controller
/0/100/9/0/0     usb2        bus            xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/9/0/0/1               bus            USB2.0 Hub
/0/100/9/0/1     usb3        bus            xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/11                    storage        SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [IDE mode]
/0/100/12                    bus            SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
/0/100/12/1      usb5        bus            OHCI PCI host controller
/0/100/12.1                  bus            SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
/0/100/12.1/1    usb6        bus            OHCI PCI host controller
/0/100/12.1/1/1              input          Usb Mouse
/0/100/12.1/1/3              communication  Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
/0/100/12.2                  bus            SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
/0/100/12.2/1    usb1        bus            EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/12.2/1/3              printer        MP280 series
/0/100/13                    bus            SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
/0/100/13/1      usb7        bus            OHCI PCI host controller
/0/100/13.1                  bus            SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
/0/100/13.1/1    usb8        bus            OHCI PCI host controller
/0/100/13.2                  bus            SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
/0/100/13.2/1    usb4        bus            EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/14                    bus            SBx00 SMBus Controller
/0/100/14.1                  storage        SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 IDE Controller
/0/100/14.2                  multimedia     SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
/0/100/14.3                  bridge         SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
/0/100/14.4                  bridge         SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
/0/100/14.5                  bus            SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
/0/100/14.5/1    usb9        bus            OHCI PCI host controller
/0/101                       bridge         Family 15h Processor Function 0
/0/102                       bridge         Family 15h Processor Function 1
/0/103                       bridge         Family 15h Processor Function 2
/0/104                       bridge         Family 15h Processor Function 3
/0/105                       bridge         Family 15h Processor Function 4
/0/106                       bridge         Family 15h Processor Function 5
/0/1             scsi2       storage        
/0/1/0.0.0       /dev/sda    disk           2TB WDC WD20EARS-22M
/0/1/0.0.0/1     /dev/sda1   volume         1863GiB EXT4 volume
/0/2             scsi3       storage        
/0/2/0.0.0       /dev/sdb    disk           160GB WDC WD1600AABS-6
/0/2/0.0.0/1     /dev/sdb1   volume         149GiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/3             scsi4       storage        
/0/3/0.0.0       /dev/sdc    disk           1TB ST1000DM003-1CH1
/0/3/0.0.0/1     /dev/sdc1   volume         4126MiB Linux swap volume
/0/3/0.0.0/2     /dev/sdc2   volume         93GiB EXT4 volume
/0/3/0.0.0/3     /dev/sdc3   volume         833GiB EXT4 volume
/0/5             scsi1       storage        
/0/5/0.1.0       /dev/cdrom  disk           DVD RW AD-7260S

Feel free to ask for any further information. Thanks.

Re: Xorg 120% CPU

Reply #4 –
Lightdm seems to have a high score of causing the problem, but why wouldn't it cause the same for mate, which I assume you also start with lightdm.  There seems to be many references to lightdm greeter scheme/theme.  But it could also be some theme script for gtk, screenlocker, etc.  Something is trying to set something and can't, so it causes an infinite loop of retrying the same thing.  Any AUR theme pkgs you have used on xfce?  
There is some reference to using a second monitor and xorg trying to set the 1st or second (in case you are, check on this).  I think that would be seen in tasks as seat0 and seat1.

Coincidentally I use the same conkies, cpumonitor and process monitor, usually when the system is idling they are the ones using most cpu (0.15-0.20%).  Xorg is not on the list of top 10 but on ram it is using about 60MB.
Since there haven't been any better guesses and you are probably eager to get back to xfce, after switching around gtk desktop themes and see if it drops, I would try switching from lightdm to lxdm or sddm, just to see if this is the source of the problem.  I have been happily using no-DM for quite a while and don't miss a thing.  When openbox starts up with xinit conky shows about 140-150MB.

Re: Xorg 120% CPU

Reply #5 –
I have found the misbehaving process.   8)

It was XFCE panel calculator plugin
Code: [Select]
https://goodies.xfce.org/projects/panel-plugins/xfce4-calculator-plugin

I installed it because it was very handy for quick and dirty calculations.

When I remove it from the panel, Xorg returns to a CPU usage of maximum 11%.

I might try it again in the future, but I will build it manually instead of using the one in AUR.

Thank you for your help.

Let us hope this helps someone else.

An important piece of advice: Because of the high CPU problem, the computer was getting very hot.
It is worth noting that the highest temperature was in the GPU. So watch out if you run into a problem like this.
It could cost you money because of a melted card.