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Issue Details (XML | Word | Printable)

Key: VWR-5574
Type: Bug Bug
Status: Open Open
Priority: Critical Critical
Assignee: WorkingOnIt Linden
Reporter: Sciamachy Moran
Votes: 57
Watchers: 18
Operations

If you were logged in you would be able to see more operations.
1. Second Life Viewer - VWR

CPU load sticking at 100% on both cores of Core2Duo (Mac *and* PC) computers

Created: 12/Mar/08 05:09 AM   Updated: 30/Oct/09 05:33 PM
Component/s: Crashes, Performance
Affects Version/s: 1.21 Public Nightly, 1.20 Release Candidate, 1.20, 1.19.1 Release Candidate, 1.19.0.5, 1.21 Release Candidate, 1.22 Release Candidate, Snowglobe 1.1, 1.23
Fix Version/s: None

File Attachments: None
Image Attachments:

1. 1 Second Life (CPU and memory usage).png
(1.14 MB)

2. CPU Usage History-01.png
(25 kB)

3. CPU Usage History-02.png
(25 kB)

4. CPU Usage History-03.png
(18 kB)

5. CPU Usage History-04.png
(18 kB)

6. CPU Usage History-05.png
(18 kB)

7. CPU Usage History-06.png
(18 kB)

8. CPU Usage History-07.png
(18 kB)

9. CPU Usage History-08.png
(20 kB)

10. CPU Usage History-09.png
(20 kB)

11. CPU Usage History-10.png
(18 kB)

12. Cpu when sl is minimized (one core go down, the other is stuck to 100).JPG
(81 kB)

13. Cpu when sl is running (one core is stuck to 100, it never did before).JPG
(110 kB)

14. nothing loading.jpg
(231 kB)

15. Picture 10.png
(32 kB)

16. screenshot-1.jpg
(70 kB)

17. something loading.jpg
(234 kB)

18. test of my CPU and (GPU).png
(1.01 MB)
Environment:
OSX 10.5.2, Intel Core2Duo 2GHz, 2GB RAM, Radeon X1600 graphics card, iMac from early 2007;

Also:
Vista x64, Intel Core2Duo (E8200) 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, NVidia GeForce 7950GT (512MB)
Issue Links:
Duplicate
 
Relates

Linden Lab Issue ID: DEV-15352


 Description  « Hide
Key to this bug is a setting in the NVIDIA controlpanel (3D settings): "Threaded optimization".

If you suffer from this bug, add your SL viewer to the list in the "Program settings" tab, and turn it off.
Don't change the global setting, or other programs will suffer.

=======

Repro: Switch "Threaded optimization" on (global or for the SL viewer only) It may not reproduce on all machines.

=======

Symptoms:

After login, as soon as all textures in the scene have loaded, one extra CPU-core is loaded 100%, doing absolutely nothing.

=======

Possible root-cause:

Even the first CPU-core (the one SL is running on) is loaded to 100% if the texture-pipeline is idle.
When there are new textures to load, SL's core-usage drops to 66 - 88%. This does not show any difference in frame-rate.
Unfortunately, turning the NVIDIA setting off does not solve this part of the problem.

=======

Thank you again, Bailey Dharnen

=======

Original summary:

Soon after login, CPU usage climbs to around 100% on both cores - this happens in WindLight & Normal. Streaming music becomes stop-start as does any interaction with the Mac. Client often crashes on shutdown, and a couple of times I've had the Grey Blind of Death.



 All   Comments   Change History      Sort Order: Ascending order - Click to sort in descending order
Sciamachy Moran added a comment - 19/Mar/08 08:57 AM
It also happens on 2.4GHz Core2Duo MacBookPro, but doesn't happen in 1.18.* - only 1.19.5 & Windlight.

Bridie Linden added a comment - 31/Mar/08 08:09 PM
What else is running when this happens? See also https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-5623 for issue on quit + crash.

Bitterly Sweet added a comment - 02/Apr/08 02:56 PM
Ive had it happen on cummere mayo's desktop when i visited her. with NOTHING else but the core operating sytem running.

her specks are

1.19.1 on cp 32 bit home

gig ram
duel amd 3200 pro
nividia geforce 6100 card


Sciamachy Moran added a comment - 02/Apr/08 04:02 PM
Bridie - I'm running generally nothing but iTunes, a few menu tools like Quicksilver, Soundsource & whatnot. In 1.18.5(3) there's not problem though - generally it hovers around 40-60% on both cores, usually swapping between them which is the most used. In 1.19.5, the same set of programs ends up with the cores maxed out & unable to do anything meaningful unless I quit SL.

Alasen Chaparral added a comment - 08/Apr/08 07:10 AM
I've seen the same issue with 1.19.5 and the Dazzle viewer on my 2.4Ghz MBP with 2G RAM. Usually the only other thing I have running is Adium and/or Firefox. Reverted back to Nicolaz Viewer (1.18.5(3), essentially) and it runs like a dream (using a workaround for my nVidia 8600M GT card, but that's another can of worms entirely).

What can we do to help resolve this?


Moon Metty added a comment - 06/May/08 08:14 PM
There seem to be a lot of reports about SL using 100% of CPU time, so I might as well post here.

My system also suffers from it:

Second Life 1.19.1 (4) Apr 2 2008 11:59:37 (Second Life Release)

You are at 251730.9, 246600.3, 27.3 in Neptune located at sim3415.agni.lindenlab.com (216.82.21.150:13001)
Second Life Server 1.21.1.86182

CPU: Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2401 MHz)
Memory: 2048 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 7600 GS/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 2.1.2
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.14956 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.13_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 2790/318934 (0.9%)
Viewer Digest: bb2966f6-cf81-a0de-1e21-dcd21f05428a

My windows xp is freshly installed, with up to date drivers, my fans are dustfree.

The betagrid client and the RC have the same problem.
Some people claim this is the way it is supposed to be, other people don't have the bug at all
Dan Linden told me a single core CPU can be expected to use 100%, but a dual core should not.

============

Here's what I found out:

CPU usage is not 100% all of the time. This is a list of things that can cause the usage go down to "normal" level:

-Moving the camera.
-Opening the map and looking at an unrendered area.
-Teleport into a new region.
-Putting on a different outfit.
-Looking at a picture-changer which loads an uncached texture at regular intervals.

As soon as there is nothing new to load in the current view, the CPU goes back to using 100%.
This means that the higher the graphics setting, the longer it takes to load everything, and the longer it takes for the CPU to switch to 100%. Of course the "normal" usage is higher then. Also, it takes longer to render a crowded scene, so CPU usage stays normal longer. If you want to reproduce this bug, go to an empty sim, and put on simlple clothing!

So my guess is, When there is nothing new in the view to render, the client is partly idle. But instead of giving the spare time back to the operating system, it starts a barbeque on the processor.

Ugly bug! Please fix.


Torley Linden added a comment - 07/May/08 09:49 AM
Moon! And anyone else who'd like to try this... OK, this sounds so frustrating, but it's interesting that Moon noted:

" CPU usage is not 100% all of the time. This is a list of things that can cause the usage go down to "normal" level: "

Are you able to record a movie, or take pictures of your Fast Timers breakdown? I know your system is going to be taxed, but it's important to diagnose what might be causing this, whether it's a huge spike in a certain type of graphics rendering or another source. By clicking on Fast Timers bars to expand them, then saving snapshots and attaching them here, we may be able to figure out specific causes.

Help on how to do that is here:

» http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Debug_Help#How_do_I_get_my_Fast_Timers_results.3F

Please, if you can, provide this info so we have further details.


Moon Metty added a comment - 07/May/08 09:28 PM
Hi again

After a long day of searching and reinstalling things look better at my end now. I was very curious if my new installation had any effect on the behaviour of the SL viewer.

So I went to an empty sim at the end of the world and opened my taskmanager, looking at a single graph.
Soon the usage was 99%. I made a screenshot of the taskmanager showing these actions:

1) opening the map on an unrendered area.
2) closing the map.
3) putting on a different outfit.
4) the outfit has fully loaded.

The picture is pretty clear. If there is nothing new to load, the core is maxed out.
What is the client doing? Well, at that empty sim my framerate went up to 130!
Quite impressive, and very unnecessary

Is there an option to limit framerate? If so, where? If not, me wanna!


Moon Metty added a comment - 08/May/08 10:56 PM
Hi Torley,

Those fast timers sure are fast @_@. But very informative.

I made 2 screenshots, they show that the extra load on the core is pure "occlusion read".
Also note the framerate is the same (by chance exactly the same). Framerate does go up at the lower graphics setting, I managed to get 183 fps today. But these screenshots are made on the "high" graphics setting.

===========

Hey Sciamachi,

Do you recognize any of this, or is your problem something totally different?


Court Goodman added a comment - 16/Jun/08 05:14 PM
VWR-6912 was closed claiming a duplicate of this one, even though Im on a 8-core machine, so assuming the problem underneath is the same. I was getting good performance until this latest RC release. Now the 100% core freeze is back.

Second Life 1.20.10 (89467) Jun 10 2008 18:10:17 (Second Life Release Candidate)

You are at 280681.2, 304576.2, 28.2 in Kerberos located at sim5259.agni.lindenlab.com (8.2.33.6:13002)
Second Life Server 1.22.3.89352

CPU: 8 x i386 (Unknown) (3000 MHz)
Memory: 6144 MB
OS Version: Darwin 9.3.0 Darwin Kernel Version 9.3.0: Fri May 23 00:49:16 PDT 2008; root:xnu-1228.5.18~1/RELEASE_I386 i386
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT OpenGL Engine
OpenGL Version: 2.0 NVIDIA-1.5.28
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.15938 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.13_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 22/7602 (0.3%)


Court Goodman added a comment - 16/Jun/08 05:56 PM - edited
Regarding "100% core freeze" On my machine, when monitoring the CPU cores, What happens is an entire system lockup for 3-5 seconds and the CPU meter (as shown in the image above – Picture10.png) shows one core max'd at 100% with the others at a very low %, around 2-5% usage.

While this behavior was more consistent in past releases, i'll find it hard to reporoduce at this time (sorry about that), but it tends to happen when theres a high amount of processing happeneing, such as a large prim count, scripts etc. I'll log findings when/if it happens again.


Steve Linden added a comment - 16/Jun/08 06:12 PM
As near as I can tell, this is a request for http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewer_Frame_Sync which is on our radar and should be coming in the reasonably near future.
Note: When you put SL in the background we do sleep for 40 ms per frame. The amount can be overridden with the command line arg:
-set BackgroundYieldTime miliseconds
Note: You can force SL to always sleep a certain number of ms per frame with the command line arg:
-set YieldTime miliseconds

Court Goodman added a comment - 18/Jun/08 09:11 AM - edited
After a couple days of usage, i noticed a pattern of freezing... It seems to happen around the first few minutes of use. My system will lock up with the colored busy-pinwheel icon for 5-10 seconds as it appears to be catching up (a moving avatar re-renders on other side of sim, etc). After an almost-intermittent 5-8 cycles of that behavior, everything seems to run ok.

Me again... seems to happen whern theres a lot of object processing going on, but not sure what type, probably rendering, maybe script.... Once its done tho, its done and the lockups stop


Walker Moore added a comment - 27/Jul/08 08:09 AM - edited
This is preventing me using SL at times because I'm not prepared to have both of my cores at 100% load all the time.

Problem is: It's very intermittent. Sometimes both cores are at 100% constantly. Sometimes they're only at 100% for a minute. Sometimes they're never at 100% at all. I have to keep shutting down SL and restarting it in the hope I get lucky the next time.

Also, this isn't soley a Mac issue. I'm on a PC. And this is no longer a 1.19.x issue. Comments now indicate 1.20.x are affected, which is my experience.

There are so many Jira entries open about 100% dual-core CPU load that it would be helpful if they were merged. I wonder if the severity of this issue is being underestimated because the Jira entries are so fragmented. I don't know about anybody else, but I'm desperate for this to be resolved. As far as I'm personally concerned, it's a showstopper that's preventing me staying logged in. I value my CPU more than Second Life, you see.

CPU: Intel Pentium III/Pentium III Xeon (0.25 micron process) with external L2 cache (2666 MHz)
Memory: 4094 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (Build 6001)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 7950 GT/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 2.1.2

That's Vista x64, and a Core2Duo E8200 (2.66GHz) processor.


Moon Metty added a comment - 17/Aug/08 03:06 PM - edited
I have a feeling this bug(s) could be fixed soon.
Start by reproducing the idle-texture-pipeline-bug in 1.20.15 (92456):

-Make a box and add this script:

// This script tries to load random non-existant textures
default
{
state_entry()

{ llSetTimerEvent(0.5); }

timer()

{ llSetTexture("5748decc-" + (string)(1000 + (integer)llFrand(8999)) + "-461c-9a36-a35a221fe21f", 0); }

}

-Take the box and go to 2000m height, where you have a clear view.
-Monitor your CPU-usage and your framerate.
-Soon the SL-viewer will use all of the core's available time. (Total CPU-usage 50% on a dual core machine)
-Attach the box as a HUD (rezzing or wearing it will work too, as long as it is in view)

Depending on your graphics setting, you will see something like this (dual-core):

Low: CPU from 60% to 40% FPS from 100 to 58
Mid: CPU from 50% to 34% FPS from 94 to 62
High: CPU from 50% to 36% FPS from 51 to 51
Ultra: CPU from 50% to 40% FPS from 41 to 41

-Detach the HUD and CPU-usage returns to 50% (if there are no new textures in the scene)

=======

Maybe the next steps are not reproducable by everyone, but is does for me every time in 1.20.15 (92456):

-Use the recommended graphics setting
-Detach the hud
-Relog
-With no textures to load, one core enters an "angry" state, using 100% of available time
-Attaching the hud makes the angry state go away
-see "CPU Usage History-01.png"

-Attach the hud
-Relog
-With the hud attached the angry state is suppressed
-Detach the hud
-The viewer enters the angry state
-Attach the hud
-Things have calmed down again
-see "CPU Usage History-02.png"

=======

In 1.21.0 (94415) all this looks different. The idle-texture-pipeline-bug is still present, but for me (and not for many others) the viewer is angry all of the time. Total CPU-usage is 86% without the hud.

However, adjusting the debugsetting "YieldTime" has a big effect now. (Note: changing the value needs a restart)
Please look at "CPU Usage History-03.png" to "CPU Usage History-10.png"
As you can see, the viewer causes one core to use a lot of kernel-time (the red lines). Increasing YieldTime makes this go away.
Framerate only starts to drop at higher values of YieldTime.

=======

Wearing the hud, and with YieldTime at 4 ms , 1.21.0 (94415) is running SL better than ever before for me.

=======

CPU: Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2401 MHz)
Memory: 2048 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 7600 GS/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 2.1.2
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.17403 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.13_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 1/49482 (0.0%)

Up to date video drivers (the older driver did exactly the same).


Moon Metty added a comment - 21/Aug/08 06:14 PM
There is definitely a big improvement in the Second Life 1.21.0 (94829) Aug 20 2008 23:45:42 (Second Life Public Nightly) viewer.
It doesn't get angry at all, with the YieldTime-setting at -1 (default).

I believe the idle-texture-pipeline causes the core to use all available time for everyone. Some people get a higher framerate in return, but not me.
I can only test on my system ...


Walker Moore added a comment - 15/Sep/08 04:05 AM
I'm afraid I'm seeing no improvement in the latest RC (1.21.2 (96080)).

Using the same specs I mentioned above.


Mo Noel added a comment - 27/Sep/08 12:23 PM
Moons fix does not work for me (MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, GeForce 8600M GT)

The Mac uses 100% of one core with system process (the red color in the load monitor)
It freezes total.

For me it seems it is more likely to happen if you are not alone, but have an other avatar near.
It happens randomly but when it starts to happen, it often happens soon again after relog.

I am using SL 1.20.15 - but it happnes with differnt versions as well.


Kontor Jenkins added a comment - 08/Oct/08 04:49 PM - edited
The same problem here. Getting 100% load of my second core, no matter if Advanced/Rendering/Run Multiple Threads is enabled.

Second Life 1.22.5 (107013) Dec 31 2008 13:30:40 (Second Life Release Candidate)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2394 MHz)
Memory: 4094 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 2, v.113 (Build 6002) 64bit, SP1, Windows 7 beta x86 and x64
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 9600 GT/PCI/SSE2 and GeForce 7900 GS
OpenGL Version: 2.1.2
Drivers 181.20, 180.48, 178.24, 178.13, 175.19

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.16.4 OpenSSL/0.9.7c zlib/1.2.3
J2C Decoder Version: KDU
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.20897 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.13_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 335/98078 (0.3%)


Sugarcult Dagger added a comment - 12/Oct/08 06:40 PM
i've been having this problem for a bit now, but i tried something that i can't figure why it works, i run multiple avs, 2 most of the time but sometimes 3 or 4, and what i would do is when i had 2 on i gave each av its own core but today i tried them on core 0 and nothing on core 1, and what happened was not the usual racing to 100% usage, everything stayed at around 50 to 60% usage and stayed that way even when i put a 3rd av on core 0,every thing seems stable and i've just let things run for about 20 or so hours now and usage is at 50% with one window minimized i just maximized the 2 windows and usage only jumped to 56%, they r idle just standing around but that never made a diff when things shot up to 100% and only a relog would solve the problem 4 a bit, so u might try it.

Second Life 1.21.6 (98973) Oct 8 2008 18:07:30 (Second Life Public Nightly)
Release Notes

You are at 201430.3, 265777.5, 623.9 in The Wastelands located at sim5823.agni.lindenlab.com (8.2.35.125:13002)
Second Life Server 1.24.9.98659
Release Notes

CPU: Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2399 MHz)
Memory: 3326 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (Build 6001)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 8600 GTS/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 2.1.2

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.16.4 OpenSSL/0.9.7c zlib/1.2.3
J2C Decoder Version: KDU
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.18771 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.13_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 1558/828391 (0.2%)


Zorena Deckard added a comment - 31/Oct/08 10:47 PM
Add me to this list as well. I finally get a rig that can handle SL and it insists on eating my CPU alive.

Mo Noel added a comment - 20/Nov/08 11:10 PM - edited
I am more and more frustrated on using SL ... (((((((((
A total freezing computer - you can do nothing but shuffle the mouse and wait 10 seconds, hoping it will not freeze right away again after that 10 seconds... - it is no fun at all ...
and no hint I ever got helped. ...

bluezy Bleac added a comment - 21/Nov/08 12:56 AM
I agree with Mo, the problem is greatly helped with the workaround using the OpenGL Profiler, but it isn't fixed, and the quality of the picture is not as good as it should be. Please, work on this?

Mo Noel added a comment - 21/Nov/08 01:07 AM
As I told, no workarround ever worked for me.

With me, freezing happens (almost) only when I am not alone.
And it happens more likely when I edit items - even more likely if they are attachments - or if I use the cam (which I do when I edit).
And it happens so very very often - sometimes all the time I am not alone.


Moon Metty added a comment - 08/Jan/09 06:24 PM
I guess I'm lucky. My second core doesn't get stuck on 100% very often, and when it does a simple teleport solves the problem.

Yesterday it happened twice though, and both times I had just relogged for clearing the cache. (I don't do that often)

The effect of the first core taking 100% when there are no textures to load is ever present.

=======

Second Life 1.22.6 (107310) Jan 7 2009 11:14:50 (Second Life Public Nightly)
You are at 251721.4, 246592.9, 406.5 in Neptune located at sim4319.agni.lindenlab.com (63.210.157.223:13001)
Second Life Server 1.24.10.106829

CPU: Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2401 MHz)
Memory: 2048 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 7600 GS/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 2.1.2

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.16.4 OpenSSL/0.9.7c zlib/1.2.3
J2C Decoder Version: KDU
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.20884 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.13_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 63/191621 (0.0%)


maverick offcourse added a comment - 09/Jan/09 03:21 AM - edited
Some versions ago i started having serious troubles with sl on my new laptop. When i launch sl after some seconds or a minute, one of the core of my cpu goes stuck to 100%, the other work normally. It never happened before, when i used sl until now in worst conditions i used only 50% of my cpu ressource. This bug is critical bc when i minimize the sl viewer the first core go down, the second core stay stuck to 100%. My pc becomes useless for other aplications.
Actually i use the sl release candidate version, but it happens also with the normal (1.21) and SLim compatible one. I had no problems in the 1.19

my cpu/memory/videocard are: cpu intel core 2 duo T9300, 4 giga ddr2 ram, nvidia 8600M GT (acer laptop aspire 5920g)

os: windows vista

you can look my screenshots here: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-11442 or among the others in this page


maverick offcourse added a comment - 09/Jan/09 03:44 AM - edited
today i tried the onrez viewer, just bc it is still based on the 1.19 engine. I have no problems with that viewer..
i remembered well when i said that this bug starts from the 1.21 or 1.20 version
it solved aso another problem that i usually have : at the startup often sl block completely my pc and i have to reset it.
this doesnt happen with the 1.19 onrez viewer.
luckily i can use that now.. i really hope you in lindens lab can do something bc in few words i cant use sl anymore that way.

Moon Metty added a comment - 09/Jan/09 08:42 PM - edited
I still think I'm lucky, but I suffer from the bug more than I was aware of.
That gave me a chance to hunt a little more ... I'll save the best for last.

=======

-Clearing cache did not seem to matter, the 2nd core went to 100% very often, soon after login and without clearing cache.
-Having a SL UI window open on login seems to increase the chance of this bug. (The window must be opened before you log in, this includes camera control)
-Running photoshop or other programs also increased the chance. I was running 1 MSN, 6 Firefox and 1 photoshop when it reproduced most of the time, but with only the taskmanager and the SL-client (with no open UI-windows) the bug was still present over half of the logins.

=======

-Sometimes the 2nd core is freed by the HUD described above.
-Sometimes it is freed by minimizing the client or activating another application on the taskbar.
-Sometimes the core was still stuck after setting affinity to one core in the taskmanager.
-Teleporting always helped me out.

=======

-The first core always takes more power when there are no textures to load, regardless of the 2nd core being stuck.

=======

Logging in and out over and over again is a slow process, so it is hard to be sure about when the bug kicks in.
However, I found a way around it! (on my system at least, lol)

-Set affinity to one core while you are in the login-screen (Task-manager, Processes-tab, right-click) [Edit: As it turns out, this triggers VWR-25, it's not a solution at all!]

Result: The second core doesn't get stuck. What's more, for the first time ever, the first core does not take 100% without textures to load!

Changing back to two cores when in-world spoils it all ... Sometimes the 2nd core gets stuck again, and the idle pipeline-bug is guaranteed.


maverick offcourse added a comment - 10/Jan/09 01:02 PM - edited
I have to correct what i said before:
"Right Moon, this happens also to me.. if i deactivate one core for the sl process, i have no problems of heat and crashes"
in effect i just noticed that if i deactivate the second core for the sl process, the first one go stuck to 100% after some time... it stays at 100% also when i minimize the window, my laptop becomes hot, and i'm having the same troubles i had before if i want to use other applications...

Moon Metty added a comment - 10/Jan/09 01:44 PM
Alrighty Maverick

I'm afraid I've just found more trouble ...

Setting affinity to one core in the login-screen causes VWR-25 , it's why the core uses less power.
Frame-rate looks jerky, the statistics-window (ctrl-shift-1) shows a cloud of points around the normal frame-rate, and a very narrow band around 8 fps.
The fast timers (ctrl-shift-9) show spikes of exactly 100 ms in a random subcategory of the render-section.


maverick offcourse added a comment - 10/Jan/09 01:56 PM
right now i'm having a more stable behaviour, but sl is always slower than the 1.19 version.
what interests me it's the behaviour in minimized mode, bc i use a lot of applications at the same time while working in sl.. maybe the affinity setting can help me to go on while lindens find a solution to that issue.
lol i had less troubles with my old laptop

Celierra Darling added a comment - 10/Jan/09 02:36 PM
@ Moon Metty: I've seen ~100ms spikes/blips before, but (at least in my case) I suspected overheating problems. The spikes still existed sporatically (one per few seconds) with both cores available, and setting affinity to one core increased the frequency of the spikes; thus, suspicion was cast on the extra thermal stress of maxing out a single core, causing the CPU's thermal management to kick in.

I haven't gone in and done some real thermal replumbing, though, so I don't know if my theory is correct.


Moon Metty added a comment - 12/Jan/09 02:52 PM
Thank you Celierra,

The spikes only occur when I set to affinity to one core in the login screen. When I do it while I'm logged in everything is "normal".

=======

What is the 2nd core doing when VWR-5574 is active?
What is the 1st core doing when there are no textures to load?

We really need to find out ...


maverick offcourse added a comment - 29/Jan/09 03:14 PM
my problem seems solved in the last rc viewer:
Second Life 1.22.7 (108773) Jan 23 2009 19:27:16 (Second Life Release Candidate)
the second core is no more stuck to 100%,
in minimized mode the cpu usage is lower than 10%

maverick offcourse added a comment - 31/Jan/09 09:22 AM
after 2 days of correct behaviour now also the new rc viewer goes stuck to 100%

Moon Metty added a comment - 31/Jan/09 09:43 AM
For me the RC6 and RC7 seemed to be worse ...
Activating another application did not free up the core, I had to teleport every time I logged in.

I tried installing the viewer several times to see if it would vary per installation.
But no, it all looks very random. And very frustrating.


maverick offcourse added a comment - 31/Jan/09 10:05 AM
anyway, i found a way to start always secondlife on the first core only.
i created a special shortcut to start it that way
if you re interested in it i can send it to you still checking if it works good, but it seems ok

Walker Moore added a comment - 03/Feb/09 05:42 PM
I give up.

This bug is never going to be fixed.

Pushing both cores of my dual-core CPU to a constant 100% was a showstopper for me when I first commented seven months ago, and it's still a showstopper for me today.

It is completely unacceptable for the viewer to put users' CPUs under this kind of continual stress, given that so many spend hours in the game every day. Quite obviously it is detrimental to their systems.

GTA:IV doesn't put as much continual stress on my CPU as the Second Life viewer, and if that isn't a wake-up call to the developers supposedly addressing this bug then god knows how else we can get the gravity of it across to them.

As I've decided to stop watching this issue because I no longer log-in to SL, I suppose I should acknowledge its first anniversary one month in advance.


maverick offcourse added a comment - 08/Feb/09 02:37 AM - edited
yeah... when my sister run her avi, at the following login i have not the second cpu stuck to 100%..
when i relog again the cpu goes stuck.. that's incredible.
i should login only after my sister login lol
Linden labs.. what re you doing there??

Naythan Blaisdale added a comment - 24/Mar/09 11:18 PM
Under normal operation of SL, Dual core CPU Dell XPS 1530 laptop (T7500 2.2 GHz CPU) with 8600 M GT video card, 4 GB RAM, running Vista Home Premium Edition is observed to have both processors hit 100% CPU sustained, which cause sever performance degradation. Video settings are already at medium with a draw distance at 64 m and particles limited to 1024. Issue is still observed.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2194 MHz)
Memory: 3582 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (Build 6001)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 8600M GT/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 2.1

Maverick, can you include instructions on how to run SL viewer on one core?


Yann Dufaux added a comment - 28/Mar/09 12:17 PM
Second Life 1.22.11 (113941) Mar 6 2009 12:50:02 (Second Life Release)
Release Notes

You are at 154131.9, 237203.6, 34.0 in Liberta located at sim7573.agni.lindenlab.com (216.82.36.181:13001)
Second Life Server 1.25.6.113484
Release Notes

CPU: Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2304 MHz)
Memory: 2048 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 8600 GT/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 3.0.0

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.16.4 OpenSSL/0.9.7c zlib/1.2.3
J2C Decoder Version: KDU
Audio Driver Version: FMOD version 3.740000
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.22773 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.13_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 2480/1785405 (0.1%)

i have noticed the same trouble , but my second life use 500mo of memory in my hard disck, because i have only 2048go of physical memory


Mal Bonetto added a comment - 21/Apr/09 07:17 AM
Dell Vostro 1500
CPU: Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2194 MHz)
Memory: 3070 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (Build 6001)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 8600M GT/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 2.1.2

All latest viewers release and release candidate locking both cores at 100% only cure I can find is going back to using Viewer 1.21.6 (99587) Oct 14 2008.

If i am forced to upgrade this viewer and get the 100% locked on both cores problem again it is the end of SL for me.


Sugarcult Dagger added a comment - 21/Apr/09 04:00 PM - edited
Mal have you tried to set your affinity to just one core, for some reason it works for me as a workaround and if that core starts to go up i switch to the other core and it will go back down, now i don't know if this is still the case but when i contacted support about this problem the answer was SL dose not support 2 core processors, now this might have changed as it was a while back,something to think about. i think it would be worth a try before you might leave SL. oh yeah it keeps my core at about 50 to 65%.

Samslam Haggwood added a comment - 22/Apr/09 03:05 AM
as over 60% of new PC come with a dual core Processor if SL dose not work with them it would just show a lack of forsight on SL part i to am getting this isue and Run with a AMD athlon(tm) 64x2 dual core processor 6000+, 4.00 GB Ram,2 X Nivida Geforce 8600 GT and windows Vista ultimate would be nice if some one from SL could comment on the isue

Loki Ball added a comment - 22/Apr/09 03:24 AM - edited
I've had the issues and have reported it more than once and even discussed it in LIVE CHAT....

my basic specs...

CPU: AMD (Unknown model) (2611 MHz)
Memory: 3070 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows Vista (Build 6000)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 8800 GS/PCI/SSE2/3DNOW!
OpenGL Version: 3.0.0

Now to the lindens... I do not have to be running ANY thing else for this to max out both cores. Im not running anything else in the background, no music, no movies, not downloading anything regardless of what you may feel. Its happened for over a year if not two years. I've gone through a couple of computers, and they all had good specs. When I test my system on your compatability page... which was given to me in live chat.. I'm above whats needed.

In Life chat it was suggested to me a couple times that it was because my inventory was too large. I couldn't load all of my inventory apparently and it would truncate, and thus continue to keep my cores running? That was the gist of what I was getting. So this duo core problem was explained to me in a way to indicate by deleting or getting rid of my inventory would help... Well several thousand items less in my inventory did not fix the problem. If it is an inventory issue then that needs fixed to or you should be telling people not to shop for so much stuff. That obviously isn't gonna happen because then people would not shop as much, so its in your best interest to not tell people it could be an inventory issue.

Bottom line is I'm confused. The few times I've inquired I've heard various responses as to what it could be, and in the end I was told to cut down my inventory.. Keep in mind I've spent money on those items. Of course it didn't help but it was worth a try right? NO it wasn't worth the try.

I've set my affinity to one core as well, and when I do that it ends up spiking also at 100%.

There is a severe issue that seems to be minimized and continues to fall back on the user once again from the lab. Instead of trying to come up with excuses as to what it is, find the real reason and fix. Its fine to ask questions as to what takes place but I think this jira is crap. Since I started having this issue this basic topic has been closed down and moved tons of times. And AVOIDED by LL. I say avoided because you jockey all the topics somewhere else or claim its something else when it isn't..

I'll break it down simply... SL IS USING BOTH CORES AT 100% WITHOUT RUNNING ANYTHING ELSE> ITS HAPPENING BECAUSE OF SOMETHING IN SL. FIX IT.

What about setting under advanced>rendering>run multiple threads to active, and disable object object occlusion?


Sugarcult Dagger added a comment - 22/Apr/09 12:06 PM
Second Life 1.23.0 (117724) Apr 17 2009 21:19:23 (Second Life Public Nightly)
Release Notes

Built with MSVC version 1400

You are at 201183.5, 266134.3, 71.9 in Bloodmoss Swamp located at sim2886.agni.lindenlab.com (216.82.19.129:12035)
Second Life Server 1.26.2.117266
Release Notes

CPU: Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2399 MHz)
Memory: 3326 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (Build 6001)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 8600 GTS/PCI/SSE2 SLI activated along with PhysX, latest drivers installed
OpenGL Version: 3.0.0

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.18.1 OpenSSL/0.9.8j zlib/1.2.3
J2C Decoder Version: KDU
Audio Driver Version: FMOD version 3.740000
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.23372 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.21_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 0/1241 (0.0%)

this is what i'm running where using the single core is working, also the reason the support comment about not supporting 2 cores stuck in my mind, is at the time i was running multiple av's , one on core 0 and one on core1 , doing what they said i should, running each as a single core and it was'nt fixing the problem, so now i will run up to 2 avs on a single core before i use the other one,for the moment, for now, it works with the set up above and i'm not saying it will not spike for a bit at times at 100%, i might have been a bit unclear on that but that is when i swap to the unused core and it will drop back to 50-65%, now if i forget to set the affinity to one core then my task manager or whatever program i'm using to watch CPU usage will show a 100% use on each core, until i set things to one core again and i have no idea how long i'll luck out and this will keep working and right now it looks like luck. and i'm not saying it will work, or fix anything for others but if you have gone as far as u can to fix this, can't hurt to try if you have'nt yet.


Bailey Dharnen added a comment - 18/Jun/09 09:56 PM
I had problems with one core sticking to 100% on my quadcore. The problem seems to have gone away after setting "Threaded optimization" to OFF In my Nvidia control panel under 3d settings.

SL 1.22 and 1.23
Intel QX9650
Nvidia GTX280
Vista SP1 SP2, Win7 RC


Moon Metty added a comment - 25/Jun/09 08:02 AM - edited
Thank you very much Bailey!

The setting "threaded optimization" has three choices:

-Auto (default on my machine)
-On
-Off

Changing the setting requires a restart of the SL viewer to have an effect.
During the testing the frame-rate was always the same, unless SL was not in focus, or unless the scene changed by teleporting.

=======

Threaded optimization off:

-At the login-screen the viewer uses around 20% of total CPU time.
-Logged in, with textures loading SL uses 35%.
-When there are no textures loading the viewer uses 50%.
-SL not in focus: (textures loading doesn't seem to matter now) 13%
-The 2nd core never sticks to 100%.

Threaded optimization on:

-The login-screen uses around 55%.
-After login, as long as there are textures loading, SL uses 35%.
-When the texture-pipeline is idle for the first time, CPU usage goes up to 95 to 100%.
-When textures are loading the usage drops to about 80%.
-SL not in focus: 13%
-SL back in focus: CPU jumps back to 100%.
-After a teleport the CPU usage remains at the high level.

=======

Threaded optimization auto:

This acts like the setting was "on" until you get SL out of focus or teleport. After that it acts like the setting was "off".

=======

So, turning this setting off is a workaround to get rid of the 2nd core getting stuck, and it's a great clue to finally fix this horrible bug.
The first core still gets full load when the texture-pipeline is idle though, with no effect on frame-rate whatsoever.

=======

Second Life 1.23.4 (123908) Jun 11 2009 15:16:56 (Second Life Release)
Built with MSVC version 1400

You are at 180352.0, 254080.0, 40.7 in Snark located at sim3007.aditi.lindenlab.com (216.82.49.219:13001)
Second Life Beta Server 1.27.0.125251

CPU: Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2401 MHz)
Memory: 2048 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 7600 GS/PCI/SSE2
Windows Graphics Driver Version: 6.14.0011.6921
OpenGL Version: 2.1.2

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.18.1 OpenSSL/0.9.8j zlib/1.2.3
J2C Decoder Version: KDU
Audio Driver Version: FMOD version 3.740000
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.24905 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.21_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 1/18225 (0.0%)


AnnMarie Otoole added a comment - 07/Jul/09 03:56 PM
I FOUND A SOLUTION FOR MY COMPUTER FREEZING AND CRASHING.

Symptoms were freezes lasting from a fraction of a second, to a minute or two, to long enough to get logged out of SL.

During freezes even the computer clock would freeze - at the end of a day it could be 15 minutes slow.

If you have these symptoms I suggest you have the same problem I had = the graphics chip is over heating. On overheat it is stopping the whole computer. Presumably this is also distorting the CPU duty cycle monitoring process.

On upgrading to a much better cooling on the graphics board, my average duty cycle running TWO SL simultaneously is only only 50% out of focus and 75% with SL in focus. Prior to updating the cooling just one SL would flat line at 100%.


Rebel Television added a comment - 12/Aug/09 02:36 AM
Disabling threaded optimization had no effect. Still having this issue with my Intel Q6600 quad.

Domchi Underwood added a comment - 12/Aug/09 05:19 AM
Just for the record, NVIDIA workaround with threaded optimization helped me on my Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 and GTS 8800.

Domchi Underwood added a comment - 08/Oct/09 12:32 PM
As I said in the previous comment, workaround helped, but when I run two clients at the same time it happens on the one I run last. It doesn't happen every time, and it might be connected to playing video on the other screen (Media Player Classic Homecinema) in fullscreen.

Moon Metty added a comment - 18/Oct/09 05:38 PM
I recently replaced my graphics card with a ENGTS250DK.

Both bug and workaround behave the same, except for one thing: The second core doesn't use 100% anymore, but something like 25% instead.
Still 25% too much, but luckily we have a workaround now, and the internal jira is back on track.


Peggy Unplugged added a comment - 27/Oct/09 06:09 AM
I'm running Windows 7 Professional for Second Life and when running SL viewer the CPU usage goes straight up-to 100% (90%-100%) (Task Manager). When using Windows XP it used to be less than that and worked fine. This seems to be happening on RC, Snowglobe and other third-party viewers.

Can someone please explain why its going to 100% for CPU usage when running SL viewer?
Do I need to upgrade to 64-bit or ram etc?

Any help would be great, thanks!

My system specs
-------------------------------
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+ 2.20 GHz
2GB Ram
32-bit OS
Windows 7 Professional
-------------------------------
-------------------------------
CPU: AMD (Unknown model) (2210 MHz)
Memory: 2047 MB
OS Version: Professional (Build 7600)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 9500 GT/PCI/SSE2/3DNOW!
Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.16.0011.9107
OpenGL Version: 3.2.0


Luke Mommsen added a comment - 30/Oct/09 03:17 PM
I'm having the exact same issue. Athlon 64 X2 4400+ and a GeForce 9800GT 512mb, Windows 7 RC.

This topic seems to have gone stagnant in progress.. Is there any word on how this is going? It's pretty ridiculous that I have to have my draw distance at 24m for SL to even consider being responsive. And that's only in the less densely primmed areas.

Just to note though, the threaded optimization work around does help a little. With it turned on as usual, even 24m is too much.