endless stream of uevents related to Intel onboard graphics

[Alexander E. Patrakov]

On my Ubuntu system, udev, init and upstart-udev-bridge each eat around ~8% CPU. On my Gentoo system at home (that also has Intel graphics), udev eats nothing.

Here is the "udevadm monitor" output:

patrakov@patrakov-desktop:~$ udevadm monitor
monitor will print the received events for:
UDEV - the event which udev sends out after rule processing
KERNEL - the kernel uevent

KERNEL[1279711636.543757] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.545723] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.550036] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.556736] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.560277] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.562998] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.573643] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.575592] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.629531] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.631481] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.659774] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.661881] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.673441] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.675395] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.713191] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.715157] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.746274] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.748273] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.749674] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.753128] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.764809] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.766845] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.772156] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.774026] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.788969] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.792166] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.822973] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.824931] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
KERNEL[1279711636.828249] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
UDEV [1279711636.830143] change /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/drm/card0 (drm)
...and so on

So it looks like the graphics driver emits a useless uevent up to 200 times a second.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.32-23-generic 2.6.32-23.37
Regression: No
Reproducible: Yes
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-23.37-generic 2.6.32.15+drm33.5
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-23-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: patrakov 4856 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] Нет такого файла или каталога
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfdff8000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC888'
   Components : 'HDA:80862803,80860101,00100000 HDA:10ec0888,1458a002,00100001'
   Controls : 44
   Simple ctrls : 23
Date: Wed Jul 21 17:27:49 2010
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.

 tap0 no wireless extensions.
Lsusb:
 Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EG41MFT-US2H
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-23-generic root=UUID=e154a633-7199-47fb-b225-fbfcaf458ace ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=ru_RU.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.34.1
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
dmi.bios.date: 09/30/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Award Software International, Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F2
dmi.board.name: EG41MFT-US2H
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.board.version: x.x
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAwardSoftwareInternational,Inc.:bvrF2:bd09/30/2009:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnEG41MFT-US2H:pvr:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnEG41MFT-US2H:rvrx.x:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: EG41MFT-US2H
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

[Alexander E. Patrakov (patrakov-gmail)]

In 2.6.35-9-generic from kernel-ppa, the bug does not exist. So it needs to be fixed in lucid kernel only.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Alexander,

If you could also please test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

    [This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Alexander E. Patrakov (patrakov-gmail)]

Jeremy, as I already wrote, the bug is already fixed in later Ubuntu kernels from the kernel PPA. Are you sure, given this fact, that you still want me to test the latest self-compiled kernel? What would such testing achieve?

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu development release http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Fuujuhi (fuujuhi)]

Hello,

I also suffer from this problem. It's on a DELL E6500, same graphic card (Intel Serie 4 stuff but rev07), using the i915 driver.
In the past I could tame the daemon with a "service udev stop" or something, but now, at least with the latest 2.6.32.28, that does not work anymore (there is still KERNEL event showing up with "udevadm monitor").

This is very annoying because I suspect that this bug interfers with my wireless USB keyboard/mouse (losing some click event/keypress). I can't tell for sure of course (could be wireless interference, grrrr!), but these interferences also occur after few days of suspend, so this might be related.

Anyway, I'm open to any proposal, willing to test any kernel... but as long as it remains on Lucid. This is my machine for daily work and I can't upgrade it easily (nor am I willing to).