100% CPU when playing with or without crossfading

[claim]

Binary package hint: rhythmbox

CPU usage rises to 100% (one core fully occupied) for Rhythmbox, with or without crossfading enabled. When I stop the playing, the CPU usage comes back to normal, but then when I re-play it, it's again 100%. I have to restart the app to get it working normally, but I never know when I'm going to have to restart it again.

It's really pissing off especially when the cooler kicks in ;D so please let me know if I could help you doing some tests or something.

I've had this problem re-occuring for several months now; I can't quite even tell which version of rhythmbox it was back then.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Feb 14 20:48:03 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/rhythmbox
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Package: rhythmbox 0.12.5-0ubuntu5.2
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=pl_PL.UTF-8
 LANG=pl_PL.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-18.55-generic
SourcePackage: rhythmbox
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-18-generic i686

[Daniel K (sinani201)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please answer these questions:

* Is this reproducible?
* If so, what specific steps should we take to recreate this bug?

This will help us to find and resolve the problem.

[claim (claim-interia)]

Well, it is reproducible in the way that it re-occurs unfortunately - it's not like it's happened once or twice. How to recreate the bug? All I have to do is just play some mp3's. However, I seem to have no influence on when it goes to 100% on cpu. I think it usually happens after some time it's been playing.

Like I said, I've been experiencing this problem for quite a while. I hadn't reported it earlier, because I hoped it'd get fixed eventually :-) Yesterday, I made sure that it isn't related with crossfading or the shuffle being on or off.

I realise that my description is very vague, but I don't know actually what kind of information you might find helpful. Just please tell how I can get more data about the problem for you as I really want to help.

[Daniel K (sinani201)]

When the CPU usage goes to 100%, does it stay at 100% forever? That is, does it ever go back down to normal without pausing?

[claim (claim-interia)]

> When the CPU usage goes to 100%, does it stay at 100% forever? That is, does it ever go back down to normal without pausing?
Well, can't tell about forever - don't have that much time ;-) - but it does seem like it could stay at 100% forever.

One more observation: when I change the song manually (that is - when it's not changed automatically), it goes back to normal.

[Daniel K (sinani201)]

How much RAM do you have on your machine? While Ubuntu is built to run on low hardware specs, low RAM storage could contribute to the problem.

If this problem is bugging you, I would recommend switching to Songbird or Amarok temporarily if you would like to listen to music. I believe that your bug is valid, but I don't think that there is enough information present for a developer to fix it.

[claim (claim-interia)]

> How much RAM do you have on your machine? While Ubuntu is built to run on low hardware specs, low RAM storage could
> contribute to the problem.

2GB and the CPU is p8400 (2x2.26GHz)

> I believe that your bug is valid, but I don't think that there is enough information present for a developer to fix it.

Yeah, I agree.. That's why I asked for some hint on how I can get you more information about the problem. Anyway, thanks for your time!

[Virgil Brummond (uraharakisuke153)]

This bug effects me on Lucid AMD64. It is reproducible; Any time I play any song Rhythmbox shows up using 50% in top. I have two cores, AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+. I have tested both OGG and FLAC audio, and it effects both of them.

Version: 0.12.6git20100218

[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

I confirm that there's a huge performance problem with rhythmbox in Lucid Beta 1.

Playing music a song with RB permanently consumes 20-30% of my CPU with approximately 10% of my RAM according to top (I've 1Go of RAM).

I've disabled all plugins, crossfading and music library automatic update. This decreased the RAM usage of approximately 50%. But the CPU remains really high. Browsing Launchpad with Epiphany is not possible with RB playing, the CPU fan is constantly running.

[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

The problem also happens with Banshee. This happened also in Karmic Beta if I remember correctly and it was a pulseaudio problem. I highly suspect pulseaudio in this case too as the pa process is taking a lot of CPU.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Do you have rtp and/or combined enabled for pulse sinks?

e.g., install paprefs, and check System > Preferences > PulseAudio Preferences > Multicast/RTP, Simultaneous Output

[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

Le samedi 20 mars 2010 à 19:34 +0000, Daniel T Chen a écrit :
> Do you have rtp and/or combined enabled for pulse sinks?
>
> e.g., install paprefs, and check System > Preferences > PulseAudio
> Preferences > Multicast/RTP, Simultaneous Output

I've installed paprefs and everything is unchecked in any of the 4 tabs.
RTP and Combined are not enabled.

[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

I can confirm this bug on another computer. The CPU is a lot more powerful so the bug is less annoying but nonetheless present (taking 20% of the CPU when RB is playing)

[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

BTW, my test case is quite simple : browsing identi.ca website with Epiphany. When RB is playing, it's nearly impossible on all computers I have tested.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Please use apport-collect -p alsa-base 521871

[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ploum 1322 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0x44080000 irq 22'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981'
   Components : 'HDA:11d41981,11790311,00100200 HDA:11c13026,11790001,00100700'
   Controls : 13
   Simple ctrls : 11
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.22.1+dfsg-0ubuntu3
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=fr_BE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.25-generic
Tags: lucid
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

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[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Lionel, please file a separate bug report.

[Lionel Dricot (ploum-deactivatedaccount)]

Daniel > Is my problem different than the current one ? What should I put in this new bug report ?

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue that you reported is one that should be reproducible with the live environment of the Desktop CD of the development release - Oneiric Ocelot. It would help us greatly if you could test with it so we can work on getting it fixed in the next release of Ubuntu. You can find out more about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ . Thanks again and we appreciate your help.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for rhythmbox (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for alsa-driver (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]