CPU spikes at rest causing the mouse to move in jerks and starts. (lemmy.ca)

submitted 5 days ago by Adderbox76@lemmy.ca to c/techsupport@lemmy.world

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Need some advice.

I've been consistently upgrading my old desktop for a long time now; knowing full well that someday it would just not be uppgradable anymore and it wouuld hit it's upper limit.

I'm hoping it's not doing it now, right when computer memory is getting ridiculous. And I don't have the money for a new one.

A couple of days back, My mouse (any mouse) would move in fits and starts. It takes a split second to start moving, and when it does, it's already on the other side of the screen.

This SEEMS to be related to oncee every second, my CPU is "Spiking"; jumping from 40 to 50% to 0-5% ever second like clockwork. I don't know if one is causing the other, just that they correlate to each other. Typing is similar effected; it'll hiccup every second or so.

System Monitor shows nothing unsual. The majority of the resource usage is from Wayland (I'm on Manjaro), with nothing else taking up resources.

Any advvice on what kind of reports I can run to get a sense of what'ss happening, hardware wise?

I've rolled back the most recent update to no effect. I booted up a USB stick version, and had the same problem. So I'm sure it's a hardware issue. I tried various mice and keyboarrds, various dongles, etc... I suspect a power supply issue, but I don't want to spend the money on a new 750 watt PSU without confirming it. And the only other PSU I have in my house right now isn't powerful enough to boot all the hardware I've got installed.

Help please. This desktop is where most oof my work is accomplished (video editing, graphic dessign and 3D modelling) which is completely impossibel with a jerky mouse.

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[-] brzv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 days ago

do you have a second monitor connected, but in standby?

[-] in_my_honest_opinion@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

What OS?

If you've recently upgraded stuff I would power off the machine and reseat the RAM and all cables.

Also when's the last time you checked the thermal paste under your heatsink?

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 days ago

Nothing that has been recently upgraded. Last upgrade was the when I installed new RAM 2 years ago.

[-] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 days ago

Are these mice all wireless? Or have you tried wired?

Asking because I've experienced something similar with wireless mice. It's caused by external interference in the 2.4GHz spectrum.

[-] just_another_person@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

Check dmesg for errors. Report back.

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

dmesgg posted: (Edited to clean it up)

[ 2958.891985] NVRM: GPU 0000:01:00.0: PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations module parameter is set. System Power Management attempted without driver procfs suspend interface. Please refer to the 'Configuring Power Management Support' section in the driver README.

[ 2958.892004] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PM: pci_pm_suspend(): nv_pmops_suspend [nvidia] returns -5

[ 2958.892647] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PM: dpm_run_callback(): pci_pm_suspend returns -5

[ 2958.892661] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PM: failed to suspend async: error -5

[ 2958.914133] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Synchronizing SCSI cache

[ 2958.914134] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache

[ 2958.914214] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Synchronizing SCSI cache

[ 2959.095302] PM: Some devices failed to suspend, or early wake event detected

[ 2959.095899] rtlwifi: rtlwifi: wireless switch is on

[ 2959.198925] ata6: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)

[ 2959.198971] ata4: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)

[ 2959.199015] ata5: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)

[ 2959.340791] usb 4-2: reset full-speed USB device number 2 using ohci-pci

[ 2959.347379] usb 1-1: reset full-speed USB device number 4 using ohci-pci

[ 2960.680797] Bluetooth: hci0: command 0xfc20 tx timeout

[ 2960.680830] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: download fw command failed (-110)

[ 2960.682885] Bluetooth: hci1: unexpected event for opcode 0xfc20

[ 2960.683184] OOM killer enabled.

[ 2960.683191] Restarting tasks ... done.

[ 2960.685177] random: crng reseeded on system resumption

[ 2960.685186] PM: suspend exit

[ 2960.744103] Bluetooth: hci1: RTL: examining hci_ver=06 hci_rev=0e2f lmp_ver=06 lmp_subver=a041

[ 2960.794398] Generic FE-GE Realtek PHY r8169-0-200:00: attached PHY driver (mii_bus:phy_addr=r8169-0-200:00, irq=MAC)

[ 2960.980858] r8169 0000:02:00.0 enp2s0: Link is Down

[ 2961.076932] Bluetooth: hci1: RTL: examining hci_ver=06 hci_rev=000a lmp_ver=06 lmp_subver=8821

[ 2961.078903] Bluetooth: hci1: RTL: rom_version status=0 version=1

[ 2961.080916] Bluetooth: hci1: RTL: btrtl_initialize: key id 0

[ 2961.080927] Bluetooth: hci1: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8821a_fw.bin

[ 2961.081266] Bluetooth: hci1: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8821a_config.bin

[ 2961.081297] Bluetooth: hci1: RTL: cfg_sz 10, total sz 17438

[ 2961.940974] Bluetooth: hci1: RTL: fw version 0x0e2fa041

[ 2962.080210] Bluetooth: MGMT ver 1.23

[ 2963.452055] r8169 0000:02:00.0 enp2s0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx

[ 3024.508246] usb 4-2: reset full-speed USB device number 2 using ohci-pci

[ 3033.432024] Bluetooth: hci1: Opcode 0x0402 failed: -110

[ 3033.432041] Bluetooth: hci1: command 0x0402 tx timeout

   ~ 

[-] just_another_person@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Your PSU is too weak. All your devices are struggling to keep power, and the onboard power management is turning all your interfaces on and off.

Easiest test would be to remove the GPU and use on-board graphics if you have that option. If not, try underclocking your GPU, and use your BIOS to underclock your memory and turn off everything else you aren't using.

If you're not using SATA, disable it.

It's a stretch, but might get you some stability. Otherwise, I'd get a bigger PSU, because the GPU you're running seems to be a power hog.

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 days ago

PSU is 750. Heck, with the exception of the GPU it's the second most expensive part in the old girl. I upgraded it a few years back when I installed a more powerful fan for cooling.

its been more than enough for this setup for the last few years since then. Which basically confirms my suspicion that the PSU has crapped the bed.

Thanks for the assist.

[-] just_another_person@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

If your CMOS utilities have it, go check the voltages.

You can also run through some of these and see if you can catch anything acting weird: https://www.baeldung.com/linux/power-supply-psu-information

Also, check the nvidia-smi output and see if anything looks weird there. Check out this cheat sheet.

You should be able to run something like: nvidia-smi --query-gpu=power.draw --format=csv --loop-ms=1000 and get some readings

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 days ago

You're amazing. Thanks.

this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026

11 points (100.0% liked)

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