search for: thinkpadkslowd

Found the problem. It's polling by drm_kms_helper, as detailed here: http://souriguha.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/how-to-solve-problem-with-thinkpadkslowd-kworker-on-linux-kernel-2-35-2-36/ Putting "N" or "0" in /sys/modules/drm_kms_helper/parameters/poll, or booting with the "drm_kms_helper.poll=0" kernel parameter, fixes the issue (and a few others, e.g. kworker threads consuming excessive CPU time). KMS polling seem...