Help Desperately need your help on this issue

[salilsurendran]

Hey,
Have been asking this forever and I really need help for I have tried everything. My Droid Charge just spikes up in CPU usage to 100% and stays there forever never coming down. This usually happens when I am driving and using my GPS and also my bluetooth is connected to the car fm modulator. During this point of time I can't go into any other app to check which app is taking up the cpu cycles and kill it. My only option is to reboot. Can someone please let me know:
1. Is there any app that records cpu usage so that I can diagnose as to what is causing this problem. I don't need an app that tells me which app is using CPU at this point of time since I won't be able to run this app since my phone just freezes. So I need an app that records cpu usage rather that reports it right now.
2. If the above is not possible is there an app that can be used to kill the app that is taking up maximum cpu and something that can be triggered using a hardware switch(like a power button).
3. Will changing the kernel etc. help at all. Right now I am running 2.6.35.7-FP1. Can I flash a kernel without having reload all my apps and data?

 

[kraisydave]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. First you CPU problem is the use of mapping and gps. A better power balance may help. I would suggest rooting, ROM and possibly the PBJ kernel. It will greatly change the performance of the phone especially power management.

One of the hardest things on the phone is live real time mapping. Likely the second is wifi tethering depending on the app.

Hope that helps... at this time I cannot think of a cpu monitor, but they are out there.

Dave

 

[salilsurendran]

You are spot on. The issue is with GPS and then another issue is with signal switching(wifi -> 4g -> 3g etc.). I got some help from this post Desperately need your help on this issue - xda-developers. I do have Eclipse 2.0. If I do upgrade to the latest kernel version of PBJ will it just be a change in the background or will be an upgrade that will force me to reinstall all my apps again?

 

[kraisydave]

Glad you got the help you needed. Eclipse has been great for me also. I am finishing up a review video and "how to install" on eclipse shortly.

As for PBJ... Some people had some slow downs right when it first came out. It was fixed by imnuts just after I believe. I do not know anyone running PBJ over eclipse, but it should not cause you issues. It normally is just placed into the background via cwm. Everything in the front should stay the same.

I just flashed it over the same setup to test...you are good to go.
Eclipse 2.0 FP1 over stock kernel
to PBJ kernel - no data missing, all apps, all contacts etc...

I used a direct link for imnuts...
imnuts

 

[salilsurendran]

I just updated my kernel with PBJ0504. However, how do I figure out if the PBJ has installed correctly? My kernel version is still the same 2.6.35.7-FP1? Is this PBJ 0504?

 

[salilsurendran]

Also I want to overclock my CPU. I have the app 'System Tuner' that gives me two options 'SmartAssV2' and 'performance'. Can I use that app to overclock? What is a safe CPU speed to overclock to? 1.3 GHz?

 

[salilsurendran]

I installed PBJ kernel however, it hasn't helped with navigation. When my navigator is running and bluetooth is connected my CPU is at 100% and not responding to anything so I can't access anything. Anyway I am fairly sure that the reason my CPU is going to 100% is because it is navigating, connected to bluetooth and trying to switch networks (wifi -> 4g -> 3g etc.). If the switching happens smoothly I believe the phone will not freeze. Another issue would be that while I am driving my phone is switching towers and by the time it has switched to a new tower I have driven some distance and it's time to switch to another tower. This forces the navigation app to lag all the time and in trying to catch up push CPU to 100%.
There are two options:
1. Overclock the CPU in the hope that the higher CPU power will overcome these problems.
2. Find a way to switch signals smoothly.

 

[kraisydave]

Sorry, did not get to through all your questions yet, but wanted to warn you. If your phone is already at max which you can tell as you say it is 100%, is it hot or very hot on the back? Overclocking on something so demanding is sensitive with the potential to burn up your phone. Unlikely, but you could even pop the battery. They are chipped which helps to avoid this, but I do not know the max tolerance.
I also, as I am sure many do, have the same issue to a degree. I use google nav/maps usually also linked to my bluetooth. Sometimes I even listed to podcasts or music through the while doing this. But I do not get the slow down/freezing that you do.
First, what nav/mapping are you using? Next if google, I would bet this is not the only factor. You could have a hardware issue, but more likely is a rogue app. Do you have a lot of apps? It is typical that some poorly written/managed apps will put great strain on your spu at strange times even when not in use by you.
You could backup your apps and then either uninstall them followed by a reinstall one at a time to you find the issue. Or you can freeze all the apps and do the same. Just be careful to only freeze the apps devs suggest or you risk causing other issues. I do not have the list handy at the moment, but will look for it. You can google it.
Some other things --- I only use mapping on 3G. You could turn off 4G just during that time as it is not needed usually. This may lessen the demand on the phone.
Is the phone in a hot area? Are you in Arizona with the phone mounted right in the sun? Try to keep it cool if possible while still getting a GPS lock.
You could also uninstall updates from google maps. I have had trouble with some versions. Try to find one that works for you. The latest one is really messing up my nav as it always wants to reroute now even on a straight road with nothing else around that was the original road it told me to take.
Let me know... Good luck.

 

[salilsurendran]

I am pretty sure that the issue is with my phone trying to switch to 4g or switch between 4g towers. Today once again my phone was running at 100% CPU, and I was able to startup 'WatchDog Lite'(an app that lets you see what is consuming cpu). I saw that the maximum CPU was consumed by Android System Process and not any specific app. My phone was near frozen and very very slow. I switched off 4g and then switched it back again and my phone became responsive though was still at 100% and I could use the Google Nav app. After about 20 minutes of driving for the first time I realized that my phone was hot. I am thinking of using a navigation app like 'Copilot GPS' which has maps on the phone to see my phone lags again. Is there anything I can do so that my phone switches to 4g signals smoothly? I am in San Jose and I don't think the hot weather is causing issues.

 

[kraisydave]

No, not that I am aware of. I totally understand the need to use 4g whenever you can. But google nav does not need 4g to run smooth. I am running it on 3g only without issue. You could just turn off 4g while using nav. Just a thought...

 

[salilsurendran]

I tried switching off 4g and running on 3g. It is not an issue with that. The problem still occurs. It might be an issue where some of the apps are trying to sync up large amounts of data thereby pushing CPU usage or maybe some sort of a scanner scanning the SD card. I do use Juice Defender that periodically allows app to sync up and maybe that causes all apps to sync at the same time.

 

[kraisydave]

With that info it does sound like some application is your nemesis. One by one trial of removal till you find it. Just back up first so you can get them back with all their info.

 

[salilsurendran]

When I used 'System Tuner' to record what my system was doing and when my phone froze with 100% CPU usage. It showed that the highest CPU consuming process during that period was the 'Android System Process'. Not sure if an app was overutilizing CPU. Every system monitor says 'Android System Process' is overutilizing CPU but not what the process is doing(or trying to do)

 

[kraisydave]

Yep... sounds like a run away app. I have had it before also. Did you ROM and bring an app over from another setup vs downloading fresh from the market? And sometimes it is just an app is not friendly to your setup.

 

[salilsurendran]

I have been partially able to fix the problem. One I downloaded Copilot Live as a navigation app which uses offline maps instead of downloading maps on the fly like google nav. However, still my phone used to lag close to 20-30 seconds when I would go to my home screen and similarly when I went to my application lists. I was using Seepu so I could see that my CPU was at 100% all the time. This led me to believe that there might be an issue with my SDCard and hence I downloaded sdbooster https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...dbooster&hl=en .
I saw an amazing performance improvement after I set the cache size to 8192 mb and the lags all but disappeared. However, still when I am on my home screen it sometimes lags 5 seconds which is still infuriating. What the heck is it doing, is it reading apps from the disk?

 

[MaxBuck]

... sounds like a run away app.

Most Android device problems can probably be traced back to a similar issue.