asterisk users - Dec 2004 - wcfxs causing constant CPU spikes

Hi All,

I have a problem (at least I think it's a problem) where the wcfxs
module causes constant CPU usage spikes. The card being used is a
Digium Wildcard TDM400P with 3 FXO modules and 1 FXS (TDM31B).

Monitoring my otherwise idle asterisk box (with top) I see once every
3-5 seconds hi (hardware interrupt) spike to 30%-40% and then drop
back to 0 again. This is the case wtih both asterisk stable and CVS
HEAD. I am running Fedora Core 2 (also tried with Fedora Core 3). I
have also tried installing a vanilla kernel as suggested previously on
the list, all with the same result. Unloading the wcfxs module fixes
the problem.

Is this normal for the wcfxs module or am I being paranoid?

First of all, from what I've read, you need to get rid of the stock
Fedora kernel -- RedHat's kernels seem to get a lot of negative
attention these days. Download a fresh one from www.kernel.org, and
re-complile. Here's some decent instructions: 
http://www.digitalhermit.com/linux/Kernel-Build-HOWTO.html#INTRO

There's more to this than that, but my advice would be to not even
bother until you've built a fresh kernel over the RedHat one. (check out
the list archives -- you're not the only one with this problem).

I'm right in the middle of something that may have a huge impact on all
the IRQ latency issues everyone's been having. Let me know if you're
interested in using your system as a guinea pig.

Cheers,

Jim.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com 
> [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of 
> Eric Bishop
> Sent: December 15, 2004 5:37 PM
> To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] wcfxs causing constant CPU spikes
> 
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> I have a problem (at least I think it's a problem) where the 
> wcfxs module causes constant CPU usage spikes. The card being 
> used is a Digium Wildcard TDM400P with 3 FXO modules and 1 
> FXS (TDM31B).
> 
> Monitoring my otherwise idle asterisk box (with top) I see 
> once every 3-5 seconds hi (hardware interrupt) spike to 
> 30%-40% and then drop back to 0 again. This is the case wtih 
> both asterisk stable and CVS HEAD. I am running Fedora Core 2 
> (also tried with Fedora Core 3). I have also tried installing 
> a vanilla kernel as suggested previously on the list, all 
> with the same result. Unloading the wcfxs module fixes the problem.
> 
> Is this normal for the wcfxs module or am I being paranoid? 
> _______________________________________________
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> UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>    
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

> I'm really discouraged at Digium's disinterest in this problem.  I
> understand they have limited resources with lots to do, but it only
> takes a minute to reply to my email to say either they are aware or
> not aware of the problem.
Digium are aware and have acknowledged the issue.

See my replies to your thread earlier this month:

http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/2004-December/075740.html
http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/2004-December/075996.html

Regards,

Richard

Andrew Kohlsmith wrote:
> On December 15, 2004 10:50 pm, Eric Bishop wrote:
> 
>>This is not fantastic tech support from Digium!
> 
> 
> You need to remember that mantis is "run" by a lot more people
than Digium
> employs.  The bug marshalls were likely just holding to the credo that the 
> bug tracker is for *asterisk* and not the hardware, which Digium is to 
> support.
Digium has their own internal bug tracker (using RT?) for hardware 
related stuff.

--Eric