From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Feb 21 18:03:41 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C7AE1106564A for ; Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:03:41 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank@esperance-linux.co.uk) Received: from mailout.zetnet.co.uk (mailout.zetnet.co.uk [194.247.47.231]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 58B7E8FC2F for ; Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:03:41 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank@esperance-linux.co.uk) Received: from irwell.zetnet.co.uk ([194.247.47.48] helo=zetnet.co.uk) by mailout.zetnet.co.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.63) (envelope-from ) id 1LawCP-0001Ky-69; Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:03:37 +0000 Received: from melon.esperance-linux.co.uk (54-144.adsl.zetnet.co.uk [194.247.54.144]) by zetnet.co.uk (8.14.1/8.14.1/Debian-9) with ESMTP id n1LI3aGJ001370; Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:03:36 GMT Received: by melon.esperance-linux.co.uk (Postfix, from userid 1001) id 4DD1BFCA4DB; Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:03:31 +0000 (GMT) Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:03:31 +0000 From: Frank Shute To: mojo fms Message-ID: <20090221180331.GB71010@melon.esperance-linux.co.uk> Mail-Followup-To: mojo fms , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i X-Face: *}~{PHnDTzvXPe'wl_-f%!@+r5; VLhb':*DsX%wEOPg\fDrXWQJf|2\,92"DdS%63t*BHDyQ|OWo@Gfjcd72eaN!4%NE{0]p)ihQ1MyFNtWL X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 6.4-RELEASE-p2 i386 X-Organisation: 'http://www.shute.org.uk/' X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.1.7 (zetnet.co.uk [194.247.46.1]); Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:03:36 +0000 (GMT) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Top returning 0.0% cpu usage X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Frank Shute List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:03:42 -0000 On Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 01:07:54PM -0800, mojo fms wrote: > > What would cause top to report back 0.0% cpu usage across the top row? It > shows the minmal adverage and max correctly and seems to show the correct > amount for the processes. How about showing us the lines of top that seem to be a problem? I think you are reading the load averages which have a different meaning than "current cpu usage". They are the load averages over 1, 5 & 15 mins respectively. ie: the average number of processes *running* (processes spend most of their time "idle". RUN in the State column of top shows when a process is actually using the cpu). If your machine is virtually idle then the 1 minute load average will be 0 or close to 0 and is normal. If you've just turned on your machine or it's been sitting idle for 15 mins then the other load averages will also be 0. E.g: On this machine doing not a lot: last pid: 96158; load averages: 0.00, 0.04, 0.05 up 1+23:50:42 17:41:46 (7.1 RELEASE) > > Copyright (c) 1992-2009 The FreeBSD Project. > Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 > The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. > FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation. > FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE #0: Thu Jan 1 14:37:25 UTC 2009 > root@logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC > Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0 > CPU: Intel Pentium III (996.77-MHz 686-class CPU) > Origin = "GenuineIntel" Id = 0x68a Stepping = 10 [snip] Regards, -- Frank Contact info: http://www.shute.org.uk/misc/contact.html