100% CPU usage with no open programs

[Sedric Pieretti]

Installed htop to view processes and CPU usage.

Both CPUS are maxed out at 100% even though no programs are open and no processes seem to be using anything even close to what would total 100% for both CPUs.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: elementary OS 0.3
Package: elementary-desktop 1.349+393~ubuntu0.3.1 [origin: LP-PPA-elementary-os-daily]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-33.58-generic 3.13.11.4
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-33-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.3
Architecture: amd64
CrashDB: elementary_meta
CurrentDesktop: Pantheon
Date: Tue Aug 12 17:57:27 2014
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-08-12 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: elementary OS 0.3 "Freya" - Daily amd64 (20140810)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: elementary-meta
SuspiciousXErrors:

ThirdParty: True
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[swizzle (el-ferreira-deactivatedaccount)]

I can confirm this bug. I was browsing with chrome and suddenly the CPU went to 100%.
Even with all programs closed the CPU remains 100%.

[makabuka (makabuka)]

If it was just once after fresh install, than it possible was update-apt-xapian-index running first time

[mjpoetic (mjpoetic)]

I can also confirm this bug. Using an intel Quad Core i3 Sony Vaio and all 4 cores are running at (or very close to) 100% according to htop.

[Thomas Dufour (dufour-thomas)]

Same issue confirmed...100% CPU load according to htop or SysPeek with to few processes/apps running to reach 100%.

Hypothesis: issue related to display (only that in activity) with CPU including IGP ?

Solution that worked fine for me (done 24h ago):

Install the driver Intel Linux Graphics avilable at https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads
(take the .deb "Graphics Installer 1.0.6 for Ubuntu* 14.04, 64-bit")

Start installing and you will have an error...normal (distribution not supported). To be able to install it, edit the "lsb-release" text file in the "/etc" directory and change it to this:

DISTRIB_ID="Ubuntu"
DISTRIB_RELEASE=14.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=trusty
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 14.04"

Run the installer again and there won't be any error now...reboot...the CPU will go back to normal load

I hope that will be helpfull

[Thomas Dufour (dufour-thomas)]

just to add in attached file the .deb package mentioned in the comment above

[Derek Pockrandt (derekpock)]

Is this bug still present? I am unable to replicate the issue.

[Oliver Schmidt (oliver-schmidt7532)]

I can also confirm this bug. Running on kernel 3.16.0 with the amd catalyst driver gala is always using at least one of four cpus. On a live usb stick this doesn't happen, so I guess it's caused by the proprietary driver.
I can temporarily fix the cpu consumption by killing gala and restarting it again (made a keyboard shortcut for it). Doing this gala only needs 1-5% of the cpu (instead of 25-30%). I'm going to try Thomas' solution now and report back.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for elementary OS because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Lukas Nemec (lu-nemec)]

This bug affects me as well. I tried the above solution with intel graphics upgrade, but that didn't help. Only thing that hels is gala restart. This bug appears once you leave your PC powered on a few days. It happens always, not just sometimes.