high and fluctuating cpu usage

[GoogleCodeExporter]

cpu usage jumping from 3 to 7 to 14 with LCD Miscellany 0.4.5.1
both x86 and x64 exes are behaving the same
os is win7 ultimate x64

terminating the app drops cpu usage back down to 0

i originally used 0.4.5.1 on xp and got a steady 0% cpu usage

Original issue reported on code.google.com by john.bor...@gmail.com on 16 Aug 2010 at 8:34

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Odd.  Is it failing to report some values, or is it leaking memory?

Original comment by mattme...@gmail.com on 16 Aug 2010 at 10:40

[GoogleCodeExporter]

memory seems ok. im a bit of a nub when it comes to diagnosing these things.
i looked at task manager and watched the memory usage counter, it seems steady 
at 6000k
flipping through lcdmisc screens adds a bit more memory, but thats expected.

as for values, everything checks out, besides utorrent not running so 'not 
connected to utorrent' and no media playback apps are running.

let me know if theres better ways i can diagnose this, it feels like a problem 
im reporting because im the only one getting it.

Original comment by john.bor...@gmail.com on 17 Aug 2010 at 6:06

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[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

2mins after the above post the memory increased to 8192k, and it now stable at 
that, during that time i wasn't interacting with lcdmisc, just was typing the 
comment.

Original comment by john.bor...@gmail.com on 17 Aug 2010 at 6:08

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Sorry I'm late getting back to you.  So it sounds like it has nothing to do 
with the issue I thought it might.   You could try running "LODCTR /R" from a 
command prompt (With admin privileges) and see if it helps.  It rebuilds 
performance counters (Or something like that).  I don't think it'll fix your 
problem, but can't hurt trying.

In general, LCD Miscellany shouldn't go above 1% on any modern PC (There are 
exceptions to this, depending on the screen, but definitely sounds like 
something's wrong).  Does this happen at all screens?  If it's just the status 
screen, it's most likely the hard drive temperature code or video card mem 
usage (If you're using it).  If it's all screen, it's probably performance 
counters.

Original comment by mattme...@gmail.com on 22 Aug 2010 at 2:36

[GoogleCodeExporter]

interesting. it runs >1% on all screens except clipboard viewer, of which i 
currently have nothing in the clipboard. i tried LODCTR /R, it did clear it but 
made no change to lcdmisc.
i'll package the folder im running it from, there may be a setting i've carried 
over thats throwing it off.
its being run from:
C:\Program Files\Logitech\GamePanel Software\Applets

Original comment by john.bor...@gmail.com on 22 Aug 2010 at 11:52

Attachments:

• [LCD Miscellany 0.4.5.1.rar](https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-attachments/lcdmiscellany/issue-10/comment-6/LCD Miscellany 0.4.5.1.rar)

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ok, that makes the issue clearer.  For some reason, it's redrawing really 
slowly.  Clipboard is, I believe, the only page that doesn't redraw on a 
performance counter update, which happens about once a second (Calculator and 
text editor don't need to, but as they have a blinking cursor when you're using 
them, I don't bother with not drawing).

Are you using a product with a color LCD, or a black and white one?  My bet is 
you're using a color one, and for some reason, offscreen drawing with windows 
fonts is really slow.  If so, can switch to bitmap fonts, which don't use 
cleartype (Or any anti-aliasing, for that matter), but may fix the issue.  To 
do this, open up themes/default.txt, and delete the ",5" on the end of all 
big*Fonts, near the bottom (More text editing is needed than there should 
be...something I never got around to fixing).  IF you're using a black and 
white LCD, don't bother doing this, as you're already using bitmap fonts.

Original comment by mattme...@gmail.com on 22 Aug 2010 at 4:05

[GoogleCodeExporter]

using only one blue G15 with monochrome display.
i'll try messing with windows display settings, cleartype and so on
would be nice to work this out, though this whole time i've been running 
lcdmisc anyway, using upto 14% cpu, cause i cant live without it :p

Original comment by john.bor...@gmail.com on 22 Aug 2010 at 4:50

[GoogleCodeExporter]

did you try running from the folder i attached, was cpu usage normal?

Original comment by john.bor...@gmail.com on 22 Aug 2010 at 4:51

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ohh..that's curious.  I'm running it now, and CPU usage is most definitely not 
normal.  It's only 0-3 percent (With 1-2 being most common).  I'm running Vista 
on a Q6700.

For comparison, I normally run the debug build (Uses a lot more CPU on my code, 
no more CPU time on Microsoft's) rarely takes more than 0%.

Original comment by mattme...@gmail.com on 22 Aug 2010 at 4:56

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Oh...you pumped up the performance counter update rate.  Didn't notice (Wasn't 
looking at the screen).  Without that, uses the normal amount of CPU time - 
almost a solid 0.  May be some bug resulting in more work being done than 
necessary when the performance counter timer is modified.

Original comment by mattme...@gmail.com on 22 Aug 2010 at 5:07

[GoogleCodeExporter]

sure is a lot less, peculiar as i had the same update rate on xp and it just 
sat at 0. part of the reason i didnt state i had this in my settings, maybe 
should have sorry.

i do like it polling that fast though, maybe i'll halve it and try and find a 
compromise.

Original comment by john.bor...@gmail.com on 22 Aug 2010 at 5:13

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Nothing to apologize for.  Does seem like you're running into some bug.  Being 
able to adjust the primary internal counter was thrown in as a complete back, 
so not that surprising that things can go wrong with it.  Find it very odd that 
behavior is so different on Windows 7 than XP, though.  May look into it 
eventually, but no promises.  Haven't done much work on LCD Miscellany for 
quite a while.

Original comment by mattme...@gmail.com on 22 Aug 2010 at 5:19