ksoftirqd/0 eats CPU and battery

[Guest XQC]

This happened to me across all firmwares so far and I don't know what triggers it...

From time to time, like every 2-3 hours I notice that the UI becomes sluggish and reaction of apps is quite slow.

When I check the cpu with OSmonitor or top, I notice that the process ksoftirqd/0 causes the cpu to go crazy (100% at 1GHz).

What I have found out so far:

- It only happens when Wifi is on

- It keeps staying at 100% until I turn Wifi off for a second and then on again - ksoftirqd/0 returns to normal

This happens about twice or three times a day. Like I said, I can't figure out what exactly ksoftirqd causes to run amok when Wifi is turned on.

Needless to say that when I don't check the device, the battery gets low at an alarming rate.

I googled about ksoftirq and it's a known issue in the linux world, but apparently no one came up with a solution.

But on the other hand no one else seems to have a problem with that on their SGS

Should I consider that the problem may lie in the hardware?

[Guest Compuse]

The constant switching of my wifi(on and off) gave me minor problems too, at that moment even unfixable with a cold reboot... =/

[Guest DistortedLoop]

ksoftirqd is the "kernel soft interrupt request daemon".

It's like the middleman between the hardware drivers and the system/apps. If it's going crazy, it's some app or driver slamming the handler with requests. Pretty low level stuff, and far from my area of expertise.

If messing with WiFi addresses the issue, it might suggest there's a problem with the WiFi driver or some app that is trying to use WiFi.

I've not experienced, or at least not noticed, this issue with any of the three ROMs I've used, so I don't think it's a driver issue, probably some rogue application. Process of elimination probably the only way to resolve this.

EDIT: Google search doesn't show this as a big problem with multiple Android devices, so it's probably not a bug in Android itself. If it's no a rogue app, then it's probably an issue with Samsung drivers (?). Couldn't hurt to file a bug report with Google and Samsung each - worst they can do is point the finger at the other and close the bug report - best they could do is actually fix it for future versions.

Edited July 27, 2010 by DistortedLoop

[Guest XQC]

hey distortedloop,

thanks for your input!

well, i managed to pin down the problem a little bit more...

just now ksoftirqd/0 fired up the cpu and I watched the log, if there is something weird going on.

And I noticed that every 5 lines or so this message keeps appearing:

07/29/2010 12:21:11 [ERROR] wpa_supplicant(3076) wpa_driver_priv_driver_cmd failed

I left it like this for about 5 minutes, but the message didn't disappear until I switched wifi off for a second and then on again.

The error disappears and cpu usage gets back to normal.

I'm not a linux pro, but there seems to be an issue with wpa. Maybe it has sth to do with the router? I use a WRTGL54 from Linksys with Tomato firmware. Maybe there's some incompatibility.

I'll see what I can find on google, but maybe you guys know sth too.

Edited July 29, 2010 by XQC

[Guest ^nighthawk^]

This is one that definetly needs reporting in the community to the people that can maybe get it back to SGS Devs to fix.

It does eat the battery incredibly.

[Guest DistortedLoop]

And I noticed that every 5 lines or so this message keeps appearing:

07/29/2010 12:21:11 [ERROR] wpa_supplicant(3076) wpa_driver_priv_driver_cmd failed

I left it like this for about 5 minutes, but the message didn't disappear until I switched wifi off for a second and then on again.

The error disappears and cpu usage gets back to normal.

I'm not a linux pro, but there seems to be an issue with wpa. Maybe it has sth to do with the router? I use a WRTGL54 from Linksys with Tomato firmware. Maybe there's some incompatibility.

I'll see what I can find on google, but maybe you guys know sth too.

[Guest drait]

hey distortedloop,

thanks for your input!

well, i managed to pin down the problem a little bit more...

just now ksoftirqd/0 fired up the cpu and I watched the log, if there is something weird going on.

And I noticed that every 5 lines or so this message keeps appearing:

07/29/2010 12:21:11 [ERROR] wpa_supplicant(3076) wpa_driver_priv_driver_cmd failed

I left it like this for about 5 minutes, but the message didn't disappear until I switched wifi off for a second and then on again.

The error disappears and cpu usage gets back to normal.

I'm not a linux pro, but there seems to be an issue with wpa. Maybe it has sth to do with the router? I use a WRTGL54 from Linksys with Tomato firmware. Maybe there's some incompatibility.

I'll see what I can find on google, but maybe you guys know sth too.

I just ran into this very same thing on my Captivate last night. Also connected to my Linksys WRT54GL using WPA. I noticed the lag was to the point where I couldn't even unlock the screen, but had it connected via usb so in adb shell I saw the load average spike to over 15, with ksoftirqd as the culprit. I didn't get a logcat though, but the circumstances appear to have been fairly similar to yours.

[Guest intheb0x]

anyone else still having this issue?

im currently having this issue on my htc evo 4g, so its not phone brand specific.

im also not using wifi what so ever....

never turn it on or use it.

[Guest deeoo]

Same issue here. Sgs connecting through wpa. Android 2.1

[Guest dardano]

Same issue here. Samsung Galaxy S / Android 2.3.6.

Edited April 19, 2012 by dardano