[ubuntu-uk] Xorg high CPU usage

[Pete Smout]

On 06/03/12 18:15, Grant Phillips-Sewell wrote:
> On Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:07:08 +0000
> Pete Smout wrote:
>
>> On 05/03/12 21:10, Pete Smout wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> For about a week now my laptop (ubuntu 10.04 LTS fully updated) has
>>> been freezing up for approx 30 secs, with gkrellm and top showing
>>> xorg using 100% cpu usage?
>>> There seems to be no pattern to what programs I am using, everything
>>> from open office to clementine to smplayer or thunderbird, not at
>>> any certain time of day or day of the week, or even weather using
>>> the inbuilt screen or external one.
>>>
>>> My understanding (admittedly limited) is that xorg is the bit that
>>> works the display (screen). Has anyone else come across this?
>>>
>>> For reference the laptop specs are:
>>>
>>> Acer Aspire 5720
>>> Intel T5250 Dual core processor
>>> Ram 2.0 gb
>>> Internal graphics (intel)
>>> Internal sound (intel)
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for any ideas
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> Pete
>>>
>>>
>> just for reference my xorg.conf:
>>
>> Section "Device"
>> 	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
>> 	Driver		"fbdev"
>> EndSection
>
> Might want to look into that bit.
>
> You should have a specific Xorg "driver" for your onboard Intel
> graphics chip.
>
> Run the following command to find out your graphics chip:
>   lspci
>
> Look for the line that has VGA on it.
>
> If it does indeed say something about an Intel chip, then make sure you
> have the following package installed:
>   xserver-xorg-video-intel
>
> (That package deals with all i8xx and i9xx chips)
>
> Once that's installed, remove the xorg.conf file and restart X.
>
> You can restart X by going to a terminal (NOT a terminal window...
> press CTRL+ALT+F2 and log in) and then run:
>   sudo service lightdm restart
>
> (Or just reboot... up to you.)
>
> Grant.
>
Hi Grant,

Thanks for your reply, the lspci command produces (relevant lines only I 
hope)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 
Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 
Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

Synaptic shows xserver-xorg-video-intel is installed (reinstalled for 
good measure) moved the xorg.conf file to my documents folder and 
rebooted, opened t-bird to reply to you and the machine 'greyed out' for 
approx 20 secs with gkrellm showing xorg as using 100% CPU! Please note 
that last time it happened was with clementine running, when playback 
stopped mid song so I cannot blame t-bird!

As an aside but possibly related?! when I open a tty shell (ctrl-alt-f1) 
log in it tells me 'Your CPU appears to be lacking expected security 
protections. Please check your BIOS settings, for more information 
please run /usr/bin/check-bios-nx --verbose which produces

smouty at smouty-laptop:~$ /usr/bin/check-bios-nx --verbose
This CPU is family 6, model 15, and has NX capabilities but is unable to
use these protective features because the BIOS is configured to disable
the capability.  Please enable this in your BIOS.  For more details, see:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/CPUFeatures

I am unable to find any related settings in BIOS, if this is unrelated 
to my original question please ignore it and I will do further research

Regards

Pete