High CPU usage when at least 1 feed is active (MacOS)

joerivlekken

Hello,

For over 2 years I have encountered high CPU usage when the feed module is active (see previous post https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/89338/permanent-cpu-usage-around-60-65-when-mail-calendar-feed-is-activated).

User @bohwaz managed to pinpoint is specifically to the feeds module (thank you for that!)

CPU is running permanently around 50 to 60% which makes the browser unusable on Mac (especially on battery)

Does anyone have more information or a cause?
Or at least where/how I can draw attention to file this as a real bug?

Thanks!

mib2berlin

@joerivlekken
Hi, we had several reports about this over the Years but no tester or developer could ever reproduce it.
I had the same issue adding one single feed, I could resolve it with removing and adding the feed.
I never got this issue again on 12 Vivaldi installs on different platforms.
Some users had the same issue with one or more mail accounts, I never had this with one to five accounts.
For a first test simply disable the Mail/Feed/Calendar client.

Cheers, mib

joerivlekken

@mib2berlin hi, I've been a Vivaldi user for years and I have had this bug continuously on my mac (M1 Pro).
It is perfectly predictable in my environment: the moment I disable the module the CPU drops immediately back to normal levels.

I also have a Windows 11 laptop nearby, I've tried to replicate it over there, the bug does not reoccur on that machine. Is there any debug log that I could extract that might help with this?

Thanks!

mib2berlin

@joerivlekken
Hm, the most users had this issue on Windows.
What do you meant with "perfectly predictable"?
Creating a new Vivaldi profile, leave all default, add a feed would the the first start point.
There are no debug logs or something to check.

mossman

As I've said many times on the forums, it is system specific and related simply to activation of the mail module - not, as far as I can tell, which accounts or feeds are connected.

I have a modern gaming laptop running Win11 and a desktop from 2010 running Win10 and both are affected (confirmed also for different user profiles with entirely different mail accounts).

I have another modern laptop running Win11 and an older laptop running Win10 where this doesn't happen. I also tested mail on another older Win10 laptop where it ran fine.

Both my affected machines use AMD CPUs and GPUs, and the three unaffected machines are Intel with on-board graphics - but I've been assured by other users that they have seen it with Intel chips and it's just an odd coincidence for me. I tried disabling hardware acceleration in case it had to do with the additional graphics cards but that made no difference. I've reinstalled Vivaldi (also standalone test copies) and set up different user profiles, all to no effect.

Edit: I admin all but one of the machines (a work laptop) so the installed software and set-up is more or less the same on the other four, barring the Win10 / Win11 differences.

Edit 2: I also briefly ran Vivaldi with mail on a 2010 netbook with Linux - considering how very underpowered that thing was, mail ran remarkably well. That used an Intel Celeron and on-board graphics.

Therefore my gut feeling is still that it must be hardware / firmware related...

joerivlekken

@mib2berlin my apologies, I meant perfectly predictable with my profile. I've tried with an all new unconfigured profile (only 1 feed activated) and here the issue does not occur.

So this might only be related to my profile then, I have installed/uninstalled Vivaldi multiple times over the years trying to get rid of this.

What would be the best solution in this case? Erase my entire Vivaldi profile? (I assume the moment it syncs back online it will import some faulty settings?)

Thanks!

mib2berlin

@joerivlekken
Then your profile is as old as your first Vivaldi install, reinstall doesn't change anything to the user profile and it should not.
Check Help > About for your profile path.
Move the folder "Default" to a save place.
At next start Vivaldi create a new profile, start sync.
Many things are not synced but it is possible to copy it over from your old profile.

joerivlekken

@mib2berlin I have removed the entire Vivaldi folder above it, I had to reconfigure all my settings but this indeed seem to have done the job!

I now have a few feeds enabled and my CPU stays at normal levels. So I guess there was some very old data in my personal profile folder that caused this behaviour.

Thank you VERY MUCH for your help with this. If this would occur again I will update the thread again.

Have a good weekend!

mib2berlin

@joerivlekken
I am glad it work for you but it is also a bit of work to get it work as you like.
In my old Windows days we simply reinstall the whole system, always worked.

A good weekend for you too, mib