Problem with Pegged CPU in Ubuntu 12.04

Z

Zygomatic

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
81
I have a server out in my workshop running ubuntu 12.04 that keeps getting these getty processes that peg out the CPU's to 100%. After I kill them in htop the cpu usage drops to about 2-3% under minimal load.



I have googled the problem quite a lot but haven't been able to find a fix that works for me. Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
Thank you for the reply, I really hoped that was what I was looking for. I ran the commands and then rebooted the server with my fingers crossed, but it was no go. I have a feeling it is some kind of log file that is getting too large, as described in the link you provided, I just can't seem to figure out which one. I'm really more of a hardware guy, Software always just gives me headaches :p.
 
You've really just only confirmed your CPU's are at 100% (overwhelmed) however we need to find out the processes that are eating your processors. Can you better sort / expand the 'htop' view or use a proper UNIX command like ps to help us see what's going on?
 
Well that should be easier to read, any other commands I should post output from?

Code: 
ps 1100 1096 1095 1086 1076
  PID TTY      STAT   TIME COMMAND
 1076 ?        Rs    13:32 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty4
 1086 ?        Rs    13:45 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty5
 1095 ?        Rs    13:33 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty2
 1096 ?        Rs    13:32 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty3
 1100 ?        Rs    13:37 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty6

EDIT: I ran strace -f -p (PID) after further googling recommended I do so, This was the output, over and over.
Code: 
read(0, "", 1)                          = 0
 
Last edited:
Found this with a quick google search -
http://askubuntu.com/questions/174710/sbin-getty-process-causing-100-cpu-utilization

Is this a local server? Do you see output on the other terminals (alt-f1 - alt-f6. alt-f7 should get you back into x-windows assuming it's running)?

According to the link it could be the tty being overwhelmed by logging output,
Code: 
...
I'd check your rsyslog configuration - by default, Ubuntu logs some syslog output to /dev/xconsole via /etc/rsyslogd.d/50-default.conf


one dude just removed the /dev/tty* links although I'm not sure I would recommend it..



Also, generally it's better to use
Code: 
ps -ef <pid>
or
Code: 
ps -ef|grep <name>
for a bit more info


edit: anything unusual in /var/log/messages or the output of dmesg?
 
Last edited:
I do not seem to have a /var/log/messeges file, and I didn't see anything in the dmesg output although it's kind of a lot to go through. I have since commented out all lines in the /etc/init/tty2.conf - tty6.conf files, and that works for now. All this has been done by SSH, I haven't had a chance to get in front of the machine in the past few days. I may try disconnecting my basic stamp or KVM from the server and see if that solves the issue. Also I'm not sure if I can CTRL-ALT-F2 - 6 on the machine with the conf files commented out :eek:

I'd really like to find a fix, since it's been so hard to find information on, maybe this will help someone else with the same problem
 
Ya, I don't think you'll be able to switch to another console if those are commented out.. but thats better then being able to but the processes taking up 100% cpu imo ;)

I also was poking around yesterday for info and you're right, there's hardly anything; what I did find was a few posts from a couple years ago that said it was a bug (ubuntu 9 I think?).

Just in case you haven't, have you done an apt-get update, apt-get upgrade and still the same issue?


ohh, fake edit:
I may try disconnecting my basic stamp or KVM from the server
Click to expand...

In one of the posts I found it was an issue with the KVM switch, like not responding to the polling correctly or something like that causing the 100% cpu usage.
 
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