I've got similar problem, under Feisty, but on desktop PC: hal uses all possible CPU. lsmod: binfmt_misc 11272 1 rfcomm 37788 0 l2cap 22404 5 rfcomm bluetooth 50788 4 rfcomm,l2cap speedstep_lib 4868 0 cpufreq_userspace 4116 0 cpufreq_stats 5508 0 cpufreq_powersave 1920 0 cpufreq_ondemand 7676 0 freq_table 4740 2 cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand cpufreq_conservative 6688 0 video 15364 0 sbs 14752 0 i2c_ec 4992 1 sbs button 6672 0 battery 9988 0 container 4480 0 ac 5124 0 asus_acpi 15896 0 ext2 64136 1 nls_iso8859_1 4224 2 nls_cp437 5888 2 vfat 12928 2 fat 52508 1 vfat dm_mod 56908 7 fuse 44564 0 w83627hf 25232 0 w83781d 31912 0 hwmon_vid 3200 2 w83627hf,w83781d eeprom 7440 0 i2c_isa 5376 2 w83627hf,w83781d lp 11460 0 ide_generic 1408 0 [permanent] ide_cd 31520 0 rsrc_nonstatic 13184 0 pcmcia_core 39568 1 rsrc_nonstatic sg 34460 0 sr_mod 16036 0 tsdev 7872 0 cdrom 36640 2 ide_cd,sr_mod sd_mod 21136 2 snd_via82xx 27672 2 snd_ac97_codec 93856 1 snd_via82xx ac97_bus 2304 1 snd_ac97_codec snd_mpu401_uart 8064 1 snd_via82xx snd_pcm_oss 42880 0 snd_pcm 75400 3 snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss snd_page_alloc 10120 2 snd_via82xx,snd_pcm snd_mixer_oss 16512 2 snd_pcm_oss tuner 60968 0 snd_seq_dummy 3844 0 snd_seq_oss 31232 0 parport_pc 34852 1 parport 35144 2 lp,parport_pc analog 11552 0 floppy 56804 0 cx8800 33932 1 snd_seq_midi 8704 0 snd_rawmidi 23680 2 snd_mpu401_uart,snd_seq_midi snd_seq_midi_event 7296 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi snd_seq 47728 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event gameport 14856 2 snd_via82xx,analog serio_raw 6916 0 cx88xx 66340 1 cx8800 snd_timer 21508 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq snd_seq_device 8204 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq ir_common 30340 1 cx88xx nvidia 4710708 22 psmouse 37512 0 i2c_viapro 8980 0 i2c_algo_bit 7944 1 cx88xx rtc 12080 0 pcspkr 2816 0 pata_via 11652 3 video_buf 24964 2 cx8800,cx88xx tveeprom 14992 1 cx88xx i2c_core 21520 11 i2c_ec,w83627hf,w83781d,eeprom,i2c_isa,tuner,cx88xx,nvidia,i2c_viapro,i2c_algo_bit,tveeprom via_agp 9984 1 snd 51716 13 snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device agpgart 32048 2 nvidia,via_agp compat_ioctl32 1536 1 cx8800 btcx_risc 5128 2 cx8800,cx88xx soundcore 7520 2 snd videodev 27264 3 cx8800,cx88xx v4l2_common 24448 3 tuner,cx8800,videodev v4l1_compat 14340 2 cx8800,videodev shpchp 37404 0 pci_hotplug 31288 1 shpchp ipv6 246496 174 evdev 10112 2 ext3 129800 1 jbd 53160 1 ext3 mbcache 8324 2 ext2,ext3 ide_disk 16000 7 pata_sil680 9732 0 ehci_hcd 31756 0 ata_generic 7940 0 uhci_hcd 22664 0 via_rhine 23432 0 mii 5760 1 via_rhine sata_via 10372 0 siimage 11648 0 [permanent] usbcore 130072 3 ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd generic 5508 0 [permanent] libata 107028 4 pata_via,pata_sil680,ata_generic,sata_via scsi_mod 139532 4 sg,sr_mod,sd_mod,libata raid10 23808 0 raid456 119824 0 xor 15496 1 raid456 raid1 22912 0 raid0 8704 0 multipath 8704 0 linear 6400 0 md_mod 75156 7 raid10,raid456,raid1,raid0,multipath,linear thermal 13704 0 processor 23084 1 thermal fan 4740 0 fbcon 41760 0 tileblit 2688 1 fbcon font 8448 1 fbcon bitblit 6016 1 fbcon softcursor 2432 1 bitblit vesafb 8068 0 capability 5000 0 commoncap 7424 1 capability lspci: 00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8374 P4X400 Host Controller/AGP Bridge (rev 82) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge 00:09.0 RAID bus controller: Silicon Image, Inc. PCI0680 Ultra ATA-133 Host Controller (rev 02) 00:0d.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder (rev 05) 00:0f.0 RAID bus controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (rev 80) 00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) 00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) 00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) 00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) 00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) 00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86) 00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South] 00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60) 00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] (rev a1) uname -a: Linux adamk 2.6.20-2-386 #3 Sat Dec 16 12:21:12 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux