High CPU Utilization

Hi,

I have an Ubuntu system (Gutsy) running a Win98SE guest. Over the past few versions of Parallels Desktop for Linux, I've noticed that instead of the VM using around 30-40% CPU on the host, it now uses 100% all the time even though Win98SE is idle, there are no USB devices plugged in, and the floppy and CD drives are disconnected from the VM. Sound is muted - no effect on CPU usage. Exiting the Parallels Tools doesn't affect the CPU usage.

Is there a way to reduce the CPU usage of the VM back to 30-40%?

Thanks,

Ed

 

Does my license purchase include "support"? Am I posting in the wrong place?

 

Hello Ed,

Could you please attach a screenshot of Windows Task Manager? I would like to see the full list of processes sorted by %CPU to find the reason for the excessive CPU usage.

I am sorry we do not always manage to answer promptly on the Forum. Please keep in mind that e-mail support and phone support are available as well.

Best regards,
Xenos

 

There is no Task Manager (Win98SE) and there is no Mac.

 

The "parallels-linux" process is running at almost 100% CPU all the time:

top - 10:23:42 up 8 days, 1:04, 29 users, load average: 2.16, 1.29, 0.58
Tasks: 172 total, 2 running, 169 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie
Cpu(s): 97.3%us, 2.7%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 1035636k total, 958540k used, 77096k free, 6336k buffers
Swap: 5036328k total, 679740k used, 4356588k free, 336524k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
6590 root 15 0 477m 325m 263m S 95.1 32.2 563:59.56 parallels-linux
6620 root 15 0 0 0 0 R 2.0 0.0 107:58.13 vm-rtc
22349 ed 15 0 418m 229m 21m S 1.3 22.7 68:10.98 firefox-bin
5666 root 15 0 247m 130m 5804 S 1.0 12.9 53:31.21 Xorg

 

Do you have com-port in Configuration Editor?
If you do, please remove it.
Does screen saver get enabled when VM is idle? Try disabling screen saver as well.

Best regards,
Xenos

 

What is "Configuration Editor"?

 

The screensaver is not running... this is when the VM is sitting idle after I close everything and just sit at the desktop.

 

There are no Serial or Parallel ports configured for the VM.

 

Ed, what is your processor type? Is it AMD?
Do you have virtualization support in your VM and on hardware level?

Best regards,
Xenos

 

Yes, it is an AMD Athlon XP 3200+.

Not sure... how do I check? Parallels used to run fine using only 30-40% CPU when VM was idle - same host PC hardware.

 

Hello Ed,

Please try setting Acceleration level to Normal in the Workstation Configuration Editor (click Edit button when you start or go to File -> Edit Configuration) -> Options -> VM Flags.

Best regards,
Xenos

 

Already tried that... it has no effect on the CPU usage.

 

Hello Ed,

Are you using the last Workstation build (2222)?

Best regards,
Xenos

 

Yes... version 2.2 build 2222.

 

Ed, thank you for the provided information. We are going to investigate the issue. I can not remember of similar cases with Workstation. Our QA will try to reproduce it.

Best regards,
Xenos

 

Okay... thanks for helping. I think the version that didn't exhibit the CPU problem was about 2 official "released" versions before the current build 2222. It was the "current version" for a long time before there was an update. That might be useful for comparison.

 

It's been a month now... any word on how to fix this problem?

 

It's approaching two months now...

 

Same problem in 2234. Is there a six?

Hi all,

I finally got Parallels Desktop to load, however, its moving at a glacial pace. And when I say Glacial, think 20+ minutes for a keystroke to register!

XP Pro Guest OS
Ubuntu 8.10 Host OS
2 gb memory
plenty of free space on HDD

Tastmgr says CPU is at 100%, however, when I check the system monitor within Ubuntu it doesn't appear to be anywhere near 100%.

I'm trying to kill as many processes that are running, but even that doesn't seem to free up any horsepower in the "Windows" CPU.

Suggestions?

Robert