kacpid, emerging firefox, and you..

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 6:46 pm

system specs:

Intel Celeron 2.7GHz w/ 400MHz FSB and 128k L2 cache
Gentoo Linux 2.6.18-r2 kernel (2.6.17 doesn't exhibit this issue)
512MB of RAM
ACPI support, fan, thermal, and processor drivers are in my kernel

situation:

every time I emerge something like Firefox, eventually kacpid will eat a lot of my CPU time, and it won't go away until I reboot the computer. Note that this computer ran Windows before, and even though it initially ran quiet in Windows and only ran loud when I was running ePSXe or UT99. Linux (up till this 2.6.18-r2 kernel) was running fast and loud (like ~4300 RPM) all the time. Emerging large programs using 2.6.17 and older kernels always worked without a problem.

I even emerged acpi and acpid, and have acpid running at startup, and even then it was taking up some of my CPU time, but not much.

How do I fix this? Thanks for all useful and helpful input.

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 7:53 pm

disable CPU throttling.

kode54 · Post by **kode54** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:59 am

Nice to know that Linux ACPI support is still somewhat broken. Revert to the older kernel? Search around the kernel archives to see if anything between 2.6.17 and 2.6.18 affects ACPI? (Oh yeah, and 2.6.18.3 appears to be the latest, so you can try that as well. Maybe after you revert, if kernel compiling is long enough to trigger the bug.)

(Wow chex it out, a Windows user who hasn't actively used Linux on a desktop machine for over a year offering advice. I rock. So tell me, is the stance on ACPI no longer that it's incomplete and that you should probably use APM support instead?)

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 2:08 am

what is your laptop again?

kevman · Post by **kevman** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 4:35 am

Don't run r kernels, their testing, pretty much. Lord knows why they end up in stable.

There's no real reason to run bleeding edge kernels unless you need some freatures not presented in 2.6.17.

Regardless, why do you throttle your celeron desktop? I'm guessing its to keep noise down. The celeron is not a hot running CPU; I'd check to see how hot it runs, it might be Ok to always run it at a lower fan speed. Those very same fans run the Prescott. Or get a new one.

My desktop has the exact same CPU, and the stock chiller keeps it at 118 degrees. Its overclocked to 3.2Ghz.

casualsax3 · Post by **casualsax3** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 6:06 am

Are you running a 686 kernel?

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 7:18 am

Funkyass: Remind me.. where in the kernel config do I disable CPU throttling?

Kode: The older kernel works...

Kevman: Thanks, I didn't know the r kernels were testing.

And I didn't even know I was throttling the CPU...

Casualsax: I don't see why I'm not running a 686 kernel..

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 10:27 am

adventure_of_link wrote:Funkyass: Remind me.. where in the kernel config do I disable CPU throttling?

Kode: The older kernel works...

Kevman: Thanks, I didn't know the r kernels were testing. And I didn't even know I was throttling the CPU...

Casualsax: I don't see why I'm not running a 686 kernel..

under power options.

disable IO APIC - in CPU settings.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 10:49 am

I don't see it..

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 10:58 am

Power Management -> CPU Frequency Scaling.

if its not there, then your CPU doesn't support it.

but do try disabling IO APIC support.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 11:23 am

CPU Frequency scaling isn't enabled

EDIT: I found the IO APIC option, I needed to enable the Local APIC Support on uniprocessors function to see it. Should I be enabling the Local APIC in the first place?

kevman · Post by **kevman** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:18 am

I meant the fan, actually. Sorry; no celerons support CPU throttling, except the ultra-low-power mobiles.

Get a quieter fan, and run the older kernel unless you need the newer one for something.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:10 am

All my stuff works regardless of kernel

I was upgrading in case there were new security fixes and the like

so I should just de-integrate (or moduleize) the fan driver?