kslow wakes up every 10 seconds making the mouse cursor

[Søren Holm]

Something happenend yesterday on my maverick-installation. Every 10 seconds kslow000 or kslow001 wakes up and hogs the cpu for a short while making the mouse freeze. It's only a short while but still. It happenens even if I am in console mode and have kdm and kde itself closed.

What is kslow anyway ?

On another computer I won this does not happen, so it could be hardware related. Disconnecting all USB-devices does not help.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: linux-image-2.6.35-14-generic 2.6.35-14.19
Regression: Yes
Reproducible: Yes
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-14.19-generic 2.6.35
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-14-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: amd64
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf0640000 irq 45'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC262'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0262,10cf0000,00100002 HDA:11c11040,11c10001,00100200'
   Controls : 28
   Simple ctrls : 17
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'Headset'/'Logitech Logitech USB Headset at usb-0000:00:1d.7-4.2, full speed'
   Mixer name : 'USB Mixer'
   Components : 'USB046d:0a0c'
   Controls : 6
   Simple ctrls : 2
Date: Thu Aug 5 10:02:13 2010
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=6aaf5bbe-894e-4d6a-a25b-2525d19bd771
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Alpha amd64 (20100729)
MachineType: FUJITSU SIEMENS LIFEBOOK E8110
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
 Socket 1:
   product info: "O2Micro", "SmartCardBus Reader", "V1.0", ""
   manfid: 0xffff, 0x0001
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
 Socket 1:
   5.0V 16-bit PC Card
   Subdevice 0 (function 0) [unbound]
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-14-generic root=UUID=89d48ce8-f46c-40f0-a2b2-c0cdbaff07cb ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=da_DK
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=da_DK.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.37
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: yes
SourcePackage: linux
dmi.bios.date: 12/21/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: FUJITSU // Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
dmi.bios.version: Version 1.19
dmi.board.name: FJNB1AF
dmi.board.vendor: FUJITSU
dmi.board.version: CP322567-02
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: FUJITSU SIEMENS
dmi.chassis.version: E8110
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnFUJITSU//PhoenixTechnologiesLtd.:bvrVersion1.19:bd12/21/2006:svnFUJITSUSIEMENS:pnLIFEBOOKE8110:pvr:rvnFUJITSU:rnFJNB1AF:rvrCP322567-02:cvnFUJITSUSIEMENS:ct10:cvrE8110:
dmi.product.name: LIFEBOOK E8110
dmi.sys.vendor: FUJITSU SIEMENS

[Søren Holm (sgh)]

Do anyone of you guys know what kslow001 is supposed to do ?

[Søren Holm (sgh)]

I can add that on a recen 2.6.36rc5 kernel kslow has been removed. So instead I see lines like this in top :

 PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
   10 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 5 0.0 1:11.50 kworker/0:1

[Maor (maor-gm)]

using linux-image-2.6.32-24-generic-pae on thinkpad T400 intel gpu, I've encounter the same issue mouse cursor movement become jerky.
Cpu usage of kslow is too high:
 1046 root 15 -5 0 0 0 S 13 0.0 0:03.94 kslowd000
 3692 root 15 -5 0 0 0 S 12 0.0 0:01.58 kslowd002
 3694 root 15 -5 0 0 0 S 11 0.0 0:00.32 kslowd001

I've found the following lkml thread http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/linux/kernel/1238374 discuss the same issue.

[Jonathan Corwin (j-corwin)]

I suffered the same, and installing the mainline version 2.6.36.999 stopped the freezes for me.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/MainlineBuilds
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/daily/current/

[Eric Drechsel (ericdrex)]

I think this is hardware specific, since I have the same chipset as Jonathan ( intel 855 GM). .36 kernel works for me too.

[wylow (wylow)]

Same problem.