compiz cpu usage explodes when VirtualBox is started

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July 24th, 2016
dean.w.schulze

compiz cpu usage explodes when VirtualBox is started

Running Ubuntu 15.10 with VirtualBox 5.1.2 and a Win10 guest OS. When I start VirtualBox (just VB, not the guest OS) compiz cpu usage goes over 150% and stays there for several minutes. When running the Win10 guest it is typically 160% with short bursts below 40% but then back to over 150%.

It looks like compiz is defective. I understand compiz is part of Unity. Do I need to switch desktops to get rid of compiz, or is there a fix for it?

Thanks.
July 24th, 2016
bapoumba

Re: compiz cpu usage explodes when VirtualBox is started

Thread moved to Virtualisation.
Your question may be better suited here.
July 26th, 2016
MAFoElffen

Re: compiz cpu usage explodes when VirtualBox is started

I'm a but confused.by your percentages. One hundred percent of one CPU would be complete CPU utilization. How did you figure results of 150%. One and a half CPU's? As you explained this, this is happening on your host right?

Just before you start VirtualBox, open a terminal and do this

Code:

ps -eo pcpu,pid,user,args | sort -k 1 -r | head -n 5 >> ~/Documents/result.txt

Start VirtualBox.. Then while it is running, go back to the terminal and run this again

Code:

ps -eo pcpu,pid,user,args | sort -k 1 -r | head -n 5 >> ~/Documents/result.txt

Then post the contents of the file here, within code tags.
July 26th, 2016
izznogooood

Re: compiz cpu usage explodes when VirtualBox is started

Tip:
How many CPU Core's did you allocate to this Virtual machine?
I have "8" Core's but i typically only allocate 1 or 2 (2 if its windows10 and I am working in it). Depending on what i use it for. If I'm testing a new system I might go as high as 4 but this drags my hole system down.
If you allocate halv or more it will significantly slow your machine!
--------------------

And I'm not sure what you mean by Compiz CPU%? Did you use "glances" or something simulere to see Compiz drawing that much power.

(PS: Depending what monitoring system you have 150% might not be bad, as glances will show 100% pr CPU. Meaning I often when converting or other CPU specific jobs have a load of 600%+)

And last but not least, is your system up to date? And is 5.1.2 in the ubuntu repositories?
July 27th, 2016
dean.w.schulze

Re: compiz cpu usage explodes when VirtualBox is started

I have 8 cores and I allocate 3 CPUs to the guest OS. I determine CPU usage from top. I noticed that compiz stays very high (> 150%) when playing an mp4 video. I can understand that, but I can't understand why it is so high when I run VirtualBox.

I'll create the log file you suggested above and post it this evening.
July 29th, 2016
dean.w.schulze

Re: compiz cpu usage explodes when VirtualBox is started

The results are below, but those commands didn't capture much of anything about compiz. I ran the second command several times including once when compiz was using 280% CPU, but it didn't add anything to the file about compiz.

Code:

%CPU PID USER COMMAND 5.3 7833 dean /opt/google/chrome/chrome --type=renderer --force-fieldtrials=*UMA-Population-Restrict/normal/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-1-Percent/group_18/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-10-Percent/group_01/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-100-Percent/group_01/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-20-Percent/group_02/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-5-Percent/group_05/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-50-Percent/group_01/*UMA_CheckStates/NoChecks/ --primordial-pipe-token=27E8A3ED4532D45A02D72392753C656B --lang=en-US --enable-offline-auto-reload --enable-offline-auto-reload-visible-only --enable-pinch --num-raster-threads=4 --content-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553 --video-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553 --disable-accelerated-video-decode --disable-webrtc-hw-encoding --disable-gpu-compositing --mojo-channel-token=19759DD49EDF9E544524BC23CAD13FA6 --mojo-application-channel-token=E8DB0E073CFE711F6168C79DA484F7A8 --channel=7279.22.161339948 --v8-natives-passed-by-fd --v8-snapshot-passed-by-fd 2.8 7279 dean /opt/google/chrome/chrome 2.1 831 root /usr/bin/X -core :0 -seat seat0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch 11.5 1604 dean compiz %CPU PID USER COMMAND 85.3 11024 dean /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBox --comment Win10Guest --startvm cfb9bf58-1908-47ad-a3db-3e6e6d66b1e0 --no-startvm-errormsgbox 5.3 7833 dean /opt/google/chrome/chrome --type=renderer --force-fieldtrials=*UMA-Population-Restrict/normal/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-1-Percent/group_18/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-10-Percent/group_01/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-100-Percent/group_01/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-20-Percent/group_02/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-5-Percent/group_05/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-50-Percent/group_01/*UMA_CheckStates/NoChecks/ --primordial-pipe-token=27E8A3ED4532D45A02D72392753C656B --lang=en-US --enable-offline-auto-reload --enable-offline-auto-reload-visible-only --enable-pinch --num-raster-threads=4 --content-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553 --video-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553 --disable-accelerated-video-decode --disable-webrtc-hw-encoding --disable-gpu-compositing --mojo-channel-token=19759DD49EDF9E544524BC23CAD13FA6 --mojo-application-channel-token=E8DB0E073CFE711F6168C79DA484F7A8 --channel=7279.22.161339948 --v8-natives-passed-by-fd --v8-snapshot-passed-by-fd 2.8 7279 dean /opt/google/chrome/chrome 2.1 831 root /usr/bin/X -core :0 -seat seat0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch %CPU PID USER COMMAND 5.3 7833 dean /opt/google/chrome/chrome --type=renderer --force-fieldtrials=*UMA-Population-Restrict/normal/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-1-Percent/group_18/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-10-Percent/group_01/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-100-Percent/group_01/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-20-Percent/group_02/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-5-Percent/group_05/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-50-Percent/group_01/*UMA_CheckStates/NoChecks/ --primordial-pipe-token=27E8A3ED4532D45A02D72392753C656B --lang=en-US --enable-offline-auto-reload --enable-offline-auto-reload-visible-only --enable-pinch --num-raster-threads=4 --content-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553 --video-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553 --disable-accelerated-video-decode --disable-webrtc-hw-encoding --disable-gpu-compositing --mojo-channel-token=19759DD49EDF9E544524BC23CAD13FA6 --mojo-application-channel-token=E8DB0E073CFE711F6168C79DA484F7A8 --channel=7279.22.161339948 --v8-natives-passed-by-fd --v8-snapshot-passed-by-fd 2.7 7279 dean /opt/google/chrome/chrome 2.1 831 root /usr/bin/X -core :0 -seat seat0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch 125 11024 dean /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBox --comment Win10Guest --startvm cfb9bf58-1908-47ad-a3db-3e6e6d66b1e0 --no-startvm-errormsgbox %CPU PID USER COMMAND 89.7 11024 dean /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBox --comment Win10Guest --startvm cfb9bf58-1908-47ad-a3db-3e6e6d66b1e0 --no-startvm-errormsgbox 5.3 7833 dean /opt/google/chrome/chrome --type=renderer --force-fieldtrials=*UMA-Population-Restrict/normal/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-1-Percent/group_18/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-10-Percent/group_01/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-100-Percent/group_01/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-20-Percent/group_02/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-5-Percent/group_05/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-50-Percent/group_01/*UMA_CheckStates/NoChecks/ --primordial-pipe-token=27E8A3ED4532D45A02D72392753C656B --lang=en-US --enable-offline-auto-reload --enable-offline-auto-reload-visible-only --enable-pinch --num-raster-threads=4 --content-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553 --video-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553 --disable-accelerated-video-decode --disable-webrtc-hw-encoding --disable-gpu-compositing --mojo-channel-token=19759DD49EDF9E544524BC23CAD13FA6 --mojo-application-channel-token=E8DB0E073CFE711F6168C79DA484F7A8 --channel=7279.22.161339948 --v8-natives-passed-by-fd --v8-snapshot-passed-by-fd 2.7 7279 dean /opt/google/chrome/chrome 2.1 831 root /usr/bin/X -core :0 -seat seat0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch %CPU PID USER COMMAND 5.3 7833 dean /opt/google/chrome/chrome --type=renderer --force-fieldtrials=*UMA-Population-Restrict/normal/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-1-Percent/group_18/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-10-Percent/group_01/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-100-Percent/group_01/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-20-Percent/group_02/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-5-Percent/group_05/*UMA-Uniformity-Trial-50-Percent/group_01/*UMA_CheckStates/NoChecks/ --primordial-pipe-token=27E8A3ED4532D45A02D72392753C656B --lang=en-US --enable-offline-auto-reload --enable-offline-auto-reload-visible-only --enable-pinch --num-raster-threads=4 --content-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553 --video-image-texture-target=3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553,3553 --disable-accelerated-video-decode --disable-webrtc-hw-encoding --disable-gpu-compositing --mojo-channel-token=19759DD49EDF9E544524BC23CAD13FA6 --mojo-application-channel-token=E8DB0E073CFE711F6168C79DA484F7A8 --channel=7279.22.161339948 --v8-natives-passed-by-fd --v8-snapshot-passed-by-fd 4.0 11187 dean /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBox 2.7 7279 dean /opt/google/chrome/chrome 2.1 831 root /usr/bin/X -core :0 -seat seat0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch
July 29th, 2016
mc4man

Re: compiz cpu usage explodes when VirtualBox is started

I'd probably install sysstat, then monitor compiz for a bit & see.
Could go like -
get the pid

Code:

ps axu |grep compiz |grep -v grep

monitor for x number of reports x sec apart, below examples 6 reports 10 sec apart, XXXX is pid #

Code:

pidstat -h -r -u -v -p XXXX 10 6 | tee ~/compiz1.log

(- you can set # of reports & time to suit, you can also do multiple pids at once, comma separated, e.g. XXXX,XXXX
Your terminal needs to be wide for this set of options, man pidstat to see.
July 30th, 2016
MAFoElffen

Re: compiz cpu usage explodes when VirtualBox is started

The story I saw from your output was:

Compiz was not taking the biggest slice as you described. Chrome takes up a major slice of your cpu. And while VirtualBox is starting,... %expliitive!!!% <-- I had to say that as censored when I saw how much VirtualBox was using when starting!!!

I see that a surprise. Around 90% CPU to start? It releases after, and Chrom returns as the major resource user, but that seems like a lot of resources to initialize.
July 16th, 2017
benjamin-c-burns

Re: compiz cpu usage explodes when VirtualBox is started

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAFoElffen

I'm a but confused.by your percentages. One hundred percent of one CPU would be complete CPU utilization. How did you figure results of 150%. One and a half CPU's? As you explained this, this is happening on your host right?

Just before you start VirtualBox, open a terminal and do this

Code:

ps -eo pcpu,pid,user,args | sort -k 1 -r | head -n 5 >> ~/Documents/result.txt

Start VirtualBox.. Then while it is running, go back to the terminal and run this again

Code:

ps -eo pcpu,pid,user,args | sort -k 1 -r | head -n 5 >> ~/Documents/result.txt

Then post the contents of the file here, within code tags.

I think you wanted

Code:

ps -eo pcpu,pid,user,args | sort -k 1 -n -r | head -n 5

Note the "-n" added to the "sort" command.

Better yet, ditch sort altogether and let ps do the work.

Code:

ps -eo pcpu,pid,user,args --sort -pcpu | head -n 5