CPU running at 95% during menial tasks. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Support
1

When I open almost any app, the CPU runs all the way up to 95%. Its a relatively new machine. I’ll paste all the hardware details below. Do you guys see any issues based on these details?

Thank you

manjaro                     
    description: Notebook
    product: LabTop (L4)
    vendor: Star Labs
    version: 1.0
    serial: 123456789
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: smbios-3.3.0 dmi-3.3.0 smp vsyscall32
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=notebook family=L4 sku=L4
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: LabTop
       vendor: Star Labs
       physical id: 0
       version: 1.0
       serial: 123456789
       slot: Default
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: coreboot
          physical id: 0
          version: CB_5
          date: 05/08/2021
          size: 1MiB
          capacity: 16MiB
          capabilities: pci pcmcia upgrade bootselect acpi
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-10110U CPU @ 2.10GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 4
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-10110U CPU @ 2.10GHz
          slot: CPU0
          size: 2604MHz
          capacity: 4100MHz
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 100MHz
          capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp x86-64 constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault invpcid_single ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp ibrs_enhanced tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid ept_ad fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp md_clear flush_l1d arch_capabilities cpufreq
          configuration: cores=2 enabledcores=2 threads=4
        *-cache:0
             description: L1 cache
             physical id: 6
             slot: CACHE1
             size: 64KiB
             capacity: 64KiB
             capabilities: internal instruction
             configuration: level=1
        *-cache:1
             description: L2 cache
             physical id: 7
             slot: CACHE2
             size: 512KiB
             capacity: 512KiB
             capabilities: internal unified
             configuration: level=2
        *-cache:2
             description: L3 cache
             physical id: 8
             slot: CACHE3
             size: 4MiB
             capacity: 4MiB
             capabilities: internal unified
             configuration: level=3
     *-cache
          description: L1 cache
          physical id: 5
          slot: CACHE1
          size: 64KiB
          capacity: 64KiB
          capabilities: internal data
          configuration: level=1
     *-memory
          description: System Memory
          physical id: 9
          slot: System board or motherboard
          size: 16GiB
        *-bank:0
             description: SODIMM DDR4 Synchronous 2667 MHz (0.4 ns)
             product: MT40A1G16KD-062E:E
             vendor: Micron
             physical id: 0
             serial: 00000000
             slot: Channel-0-DIMM-0
             size: 8GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 2667MHz (0.4ns)
        *-bank:1
             description: SODIMM DDR4 Synchronous 2667 MHz (0.4 ns)
             product: MT40A1G16KD-062E:E
             vendor: Micron
             physical id: 1
             serial: 00000000
             slot: Channel-1-DIMM-0
             size: 8GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 2667MHz (0.4ns)
     *-pci
          description: Host bridge
          product: Intel Corporation
          vendor: Intel Corporation
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
          version: 0c
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
          configuration: driver=skl_uncore
          resources: irq:0
        *-display
             description: VGA compatible controller
             product: CometLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics]
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             version: 02
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pciexpress msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
             configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
             resources: irq:136 memory:b0000000-b0ffffff memory:a0000000-afffffff ioport:1000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff
        *-generic:0 UNCLAIMED
             description: Signal processing controller
             product: Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Thermal Subsystem
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 4
             bus info: pci@0000:00:04.0
             version: 0c
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: msi pm cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: memory:9fa10000-9fa17fff
        *-generic:1 UNCLAIMED
             description: System peripheral
             product: Xeon E3-1200 v5/v6 / E3-1500 v5 / 6th/7th/8th Gen Core Processor Gaussian Mixture Model
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 8
             bus info: pci@0000:00:08.0
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: msi pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: memory:9fa24000-9fa24fff
        *-generic:2
             description: Signal processing controller
             product: Comet Lake Thermal Subsytem
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 12
             bus info: pci@0000:00:12.0
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=intel_pch_thermal latency=0
             resources: irq:16 memory:9fa25000-9fa25fff
        *-usb
             description: USB controller
             product: Comet Lake PCH-LP USB 3.1 xHCI Host Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 14
             bus info: pci@0000:00:14.0
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm msi xhci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=xhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:129 memory:9fa00000-9fa0ffff
           *-usbhost:0
                product: xHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 5.10.49-1-MANJARO xhci-hcd
                physical id: 0
                bus info: usb@1
                logical name: usb1
                version: 5.10
                capabilities: usb-2.00
                configuration: driver=hub slots=12 speed=480Mbit/s
              *-usb:0
                   description: Keyboard
                   product: YubiKey OTP+FIDO+CCID
                   vendor: Yubico
                   physical id: 2
                   bus info: usb@1:2
                   version: 5.43
                   capabilities: usb-2.00
                   configuration: driver=usbhid maxpower=30mA speed=12Mbit/s
              *-usb:1
                   description: MMC Host
                   product: USB2.0-CRW
                   vendor: Generic
                   physical id: 4
                   bus info: usb@1:4
                   logical name: mmc1
                   version: 39.60
                   serial: 20100201396000000
                   capabilities: usb-2.00
                   configuration: driver=rtsx_usb maxpower=500mA speed=480Mbit/s
              *-usb:2
                   description: Video
                   product: USB Camera
                   vendor: Generic
                   physical id: 7
                   bus info: usb@1:7
                   version: 0.01
                   serial: 200901010001
                   capabilities: usb-2.00
                   configuration: driver=uvcvideo maxpower=500mA speed=480Mbit/s
              *-usb:3
                   description: Bluetooth wireless interface
                   vendor: Intel Corp.
                   physical id: a
                   bus info: usb@1:a
                   version: 0.02
                   capabilities: bluetooth usb-2.01
                   configuration: driver=btusb maxpower=100mA speed=12Mbit/s
           *-usbhost:1
                product: xHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 5.10.49-1-MANJARO xhci-hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@2
                logical name: usb2
                version: 5.10
                capabilities: usb-3.10
                configuration: driver=hub slots=6 speed=10000Mbit/s
        *-memory UNCLAIMED
             description: RAM memory
             product: Comet Lake PCH-LP Shared SRAM
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 14.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:14.2
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz (30.3ns)
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: memory:9fa20000-9fa21fff memory:9fa26000-9fa26fff
        *-network
             description: Wireless interface
             product: Comet Lake PCH-LP CNVi WiFi
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 14.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:14.3
             logical name: wlp0s20f3
             version: 00
             serial: cc:d9:ac:ec:af:6d
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
             configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=5.10.49-1-MANJARO firmware=59.601f3a66.0 QuZ-a0-hr-b0-59.u ip=192.168.0.19 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
             resources: irq:16 memory:9fa18000-9fa1bfff
        *-serial:0
             description: Serial bus controller
             product: Serial IO I2C Host Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 15
             bus info: pci@0000:00:15.0
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=intel-lpss latency=0
             resources: irq:16 memory:9fa27000-9fa27fff
        *-serial:1
             description: Serial bus controller
             product: Comet Lake Serial IO I2C Host Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 15.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:15.1
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=intel-lpss latency=0
             resources: irq:17 memory:9fa28000-9fa28fff
        *-sata
             description: SATA controller
             product: Comet Lake SATA AHCI Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 17
             bus info: pci@0000:00:17.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: sata msi pm ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ahci latency=0
             resources: irq:123 memory:9fa22000-9fa23fff memory:9fa30000-9fa300ff ioport:1060(size=8) ioport:1068(size=4) ioport:1040(size=32) memory:9fa2f000-9fa2f7ff
        *-serial:2
             description: Serial bus controller
             product: Comet Lake Serial IO I2C Host Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 19
             bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0
             logical name: /dev/fb0
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list fb
             configuration: depth=32 driver=intel-lpss latency=0 mode=1920x1080 visual=truecolor xres=1920 yres=1080
             resources: iomemory:40-3f irq:32 memory:45e800000-45e800fff
        *-communication:0
             description: Communication controller
             product: Intel Corporation
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 19.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:19.2
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=intel-lpss latency=0
             resources: irq:34 memory:fe032000-fe032fff memory:9fa2a000-9fa2afff
        *-generic:3
             description: MMC Host
             product: Intel Corporation
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1a
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.0
             logical name: mmc0
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=sdhci-pci latency=0
             resources: irq:16 memory:9fa2b000-9fa2bfff
        *-pci
             description: PCI bridge
             product: Comet Lake PCI Express Root Port #9
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
             version: f0
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:122 memory:9f800000-9f8fffff
           *-nvme
                description: NVMe device
                product: PCIe SSD
                vendor: Phison Electronics Corporation
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
                logical name: /dev/nvme0
                version: ECFM12.5
                serial: DB0A078A096600027504
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: nvme pciexpress msix msi pm nvm_express bus_master cap_list
                configuration: driver=nvme latency=0 nqn=nqn.2014.08.org.nvmexpress:19871987DB0A078A096600027504PCIe SSD state=live
                resources: irq:16 memory:9f800000-9f803fff
              *-namespace
                   description: NVMe disk
                   physical id: 1
                   bus info: nvme@0:1
                   logical name: /dev/nvme0n1
                   size: 447GiB (480GB)
                   capabilities: gpt-1.00 partitioned partitioned:gpt
                   configuration: guid=e24998a8-f55d-2943-ae8e-3ac1e8b1281e logicalsectorsize=512 sectorsize=512 wwid=eui.6479a71122523034
                 *-volume:0
                      description: Windows FAT volume
                      vendor: mkfs.fat
                      physical id: 1
                      bus info: nvme@0:1,1
                      logical name: /dev/nvme0n1p1
                      logical name: /boot/efi
                      version: FAT32
                      serial: 3e1c-acb9
                      size: 297MiB
                      capacity: 299MiB
                      capabilities: boot fat initialized
                      configuration: FATs=2 filesystem=fat mount.fstype=vfat mount.options=rw,relatime,fmask=0077,dmask=0077,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro state=mounted
                 *-volume:1
                      description: EFI partition
                      physical id: 2
                      bus info: nvme@0:1,2
                      logical name: /dev/nvme0n1p2
                      serial: ad0526b1-7081-4ab0-81e3-705769c6be72
                      size: 429GiB
                      capacity: 429GiB
                      width: 512 bits
                      capabilities: encrypted luks initialized
                      configuration: bits=512 cipher=aes filesystem=luks hash=sha256 mode=xts-plain64 version=1
                 *-volume:2
                      description: EFI partition
                      physical id: 3
                      bus info: nvme@0:1,3
                      logical name: /dev/nvme0n1p3
                      serial: 82f7843b-7332-4082-9db8-68ffbf026f6b
                      size: 17GiB
                      capacity: 17GiB
                      width: 512 bits
                      capabilities: encrypted luks initialized
                      configuration: bits=512 cipher=aes filesystem=luks hash=sha256 mode=xts-plain64 version=1
        *-communication:1
             description: Communication controller
             product: Intel Corporation
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1e
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1e.0
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=intel-lpss latency=0
             resources: irq:20 memory:9fa2c000-9fa2cfff memory:9fa2d000-9fa2dfff
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: Comet Lake PCH-LP LPC Premium Controller/eSPI Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: isa bus_master
             configuration: latency=0
        *-multimedia
             description: Audio device
             product: Comet Lake PCH-LP cAVS
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=64
             resources: irq:137 memory:9fa1c000-9fa1ffff memory:9f900000-9f9fffff
        *-serial:3
             description: SMBus
             product: Comet Lake PCH-LP SMBus Host Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.4
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.4
             version: 00
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             configuration: driver=i801_smbus latency=0
             resources: irq:16 memory:9fa31000-9fa310ff ioport:efa0(size=32)
        *-serial:4
             description: Serial bus controller
             product: Comet Lake SPI (flash) Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.5
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.5
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: bus_master
             configuration: driver=intel-spi latency=0
             resources: irq:0 memory:fe010000-fe010fff
     *-pnp00:00
          product: Motherboard registers
          physical id: 1
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=system
     *-pnp00:01
          product: PnP device PNP0103
          physical id: 2
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=system
     *-pnp00:02
          product: Motherboard registers
          physical id: 3
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=system
     *-pnp00:03
          product: AT Real-Time Clock
          physical id: 6
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=rtc_cmos
     *-pnp00:04
          product: IBM Enhanced keyboard controller (101/2-key)
          physical id: 7
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=i8042 kbd
     *-pnp00:05
          product: PS/2 Port for PS/2-style Mice
          physical id: 8
          capabilities: pnp
          configuration: driver=i8042 aux
2

So, when you run a command like htop in a terminal, what does it show as the main culprits for using all your cpu?

I had a similar issue… in my case, my machine was not using graphic hardware acceleration, so instead of display tasks being processed by my GPU, my CPU was doing all the heavy lifting.

3

No! Yay! Yet another question completely and utterly answered! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

However, if you would like to know what is causing the high CPU usage, the output to:

ps aux --sort=-pcpu | head --lines=10

would be really appreciated…

:+1:

4

This sounds like it could be my issue. How would I go about switching some of the heavy lifting over to the GPU?

edit: it does seem like it is a graphical issue, heavy lifting in the terminal never seems to cause the fan to go nuts

5

I’m certainly no expert in the matter, but in my case, it was a matter of switching from the free open source “noveau” driver to the proprietary Nvidia one.

Can you post the output of

inxi -G
7 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CometLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics] driver: i915 v: kernel 
  Device-2: Realtek USB Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  Display: wayland server: X.org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: i915 
  note: n/a (using device driver) - try sudo/root unloaded: modesetting 
  failed: intel resolution: <missing: xdpyinfo> 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (CML GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.1.4

It is interesting that it says failed intel resolution. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

8

You mis-interpretated: is says

  • loaded: i915 (this driver is loaded)
  • unloaded: modesetting (it’s not using that one)
  • failed: intel (this one failed)
  • resolution: <missing: xdpyinfo> (so it could net get the graphics resolution you were using)
10

Oh ok, I see. What exactly is it that failed? Does it mean an intel driver failed?

11

The graphics driver named intel.
Another one named i915 got loaded though.
Looking at the source code (of inxi), it parses the first best Xorg log it can find (probably /var/log/Xorg.0.log) to get that information.

Possibly you’ll find more info in that log file.