PSoC Creator 2.1 processor hog?

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kemic_264446
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 Since installing PSoC Creator 2.1 I have noticed that it is less responsive then previous versions.

   

The mouse doesn't move about the screen smoothly, keyboard entry is a bit 'glitchy' with a noticeable stutter.

   

When Creator 2.1 is actually idle - the IDE open, a project loaded, but doing nothing at all it consumes between 4 and 10% of CPU time.  What on earth is Creator doing?

   

The system I'm running on is usually a fast and responsive machine. It is a Dell Lattitude with 8 GB of ram. It has 8 CPU cores and is normally a very responsive machine.

   

Anyone else seeing this?

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kemic_264446
Level 4
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 Some more information that might be relevant...

   

The project I have open is a 'bootloadable' project using the new 'bootloadable' component.

   

The component specifies a dependecy on the .hex file from another 'bootloader' project and the PSocCreator process is constnatly reading from this hex file. Surely that is unnecessary and just a process hog?

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Bob_Marlowe
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No similar experiences concerning keyboard / mouse / CPU-load. Something must have gone amiss with your installation. I would try to de-install creator, check behaveour (if bad, reset system back to a known, working state) and re-install Creator from download area.

   

 

   

Bob

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kemic_264446
Level 4
Level 4
First like received

 Thanks Bob,

   

 

   

Have you tried a project with the built in bootloadable component?

   

I did a bit of experimenting and found that if I do a 'clean' the issue goes away until the next time I do a 'build' again.

   

The PsocCreator.exe process is just constantly reading the .hex file referenced in the bootloadable component from disk over and over again. 

   

I will try some more experiments.....

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi Spiderkenny,

   

running Creator 2.1 on my laptop with a fraction of your horsepower and it runs just fine, no slow down noticed.

   

I am not using the bootloadable component but I cannot imagine that this makes a difference with processing needs. Can you check a project that does not include the bootloadable component and see if it is still slower? In case yes, Bob's recommendation to clean up and re-install is probably the most contructive (though painful) option.

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kemic_264446
Level 4
Level 4
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 The more I look at this, the more I am convinced it is a bug in the Bootloadable component.

   

Projects without that component do not exhibit this behaviour.

   

I ran the SysInternals (microsoft) 'ProcessMonitor' and it shows that the bootloader.hex file is being agressively read from disk over and over again. I imagine this comes from the 'bootloadable' component, but it could be from some internal file cacheing routine or lookahead or  doen other things, I guess.

   

I have created a small simple test project. It has just a bootloader and a bootloadable and nothing else and it exhibits this behaviour.

   

Depending on the disk subsystem in your particular PC you may not notice any degrading of behaviour, but with a process or task monitor you should be able to see the continous reads from the file.

   

I have attached the project 🙂

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Bob_Marlowe
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I'm not used to bootloadable projects, but when I try to build your submitted project, Creator 2.1 tells me that the .hex and .elf-files are missing which should reside in the same directory as your project does. Is there a path-mismatch or have those files been excluded from workspace generation?

   

 

   

Bob

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kemic_264446
Level 4
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 It is the depedency in the bootloadable project  - it will be in a different path on your machine than on mine.

   

Some steps to reproduce....

   

1. Build the 'Bootloader' project and note the path where it stores the HEX file.

   

2. 'Configure' the bootloadable component in the other project and click on the "dependencies" tab and enter the path to the hex file from 1.

   

Then build both projects and you should see the effect, if it's not just something in my own setup.

   

Here's a screen dump of Task Manager showing psoc_creator.exe being the number 1 consumer of "I/O Reads" even when idle.

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi SpiderKenny,

   

I've been using 2.1 Bootloader projects for quite sometime now and I didn't observe noticeble slowness when a BL project is used. My machine config is almost the same as that of your's with a i5 core and 4GB ram and I always see it as slow even when not using creator 😉 !!!. I've attached the images of taskmngr with an empty workspace,BL and non-BL projects n I do see a huge variation. Anyways worth investing more!

   

 

   

-srim

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kemic_264446
Level 4
Level 4
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 Hi srim,

   

Thanks for your input, but I couldn't see the images in your attachment?

   

Anyway, I'm glad to hear it's not just me being nutty!

   

 

   

-Kenny

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Bob_Marlowe
Level 10
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Confirmed!

   

I built a (your) bootloader project and I could notice the same behaveour.

   

But

   

I have a CPU-meter in the sidebar which does NOT show up any excess CPU-usage UNTIL I START the taskmanager. Then both (sidebar and taskmgr) show up 20-25 percent of CPU used up by Creator 2.1

   

Together with your informations I think you should at least enter the information into the 2.1 feedback thread. Post a link to this (current) thread as well, so Cypress has dot all infos to correct that issue.

   

 

   

Bob

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Your input has been registered and is under investigation by Cypress engineers.

   

Thank you for pointing it out and investing time for verification! We really appreciate the cooperation of all the forum members involved in trying out our new features.

   

Cheers, Robert

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Bob_Marlowe
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@Robert

   

Thanks for your feedback, makes us feel to have done something meaningful.

   

Bob

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Was there any resolution to this issue?

   

I have the same problem, with Creator hogging one CPU core on my notebook.

   

This happenes with or without the Bootloadable component, but is directly related to setting the application type to Bootloadable.

   

If I set the application type to Bootloadable then there is a spike of 80% CPU usage, then it settles at 25% CPU usage, which is one hyper threading core. Moving the cursor in the source editor is a pain as it moves 4 characters then pauses, then 4 chars, then pauses...

   

If I set the application type back to Normal then there is again a spike to 80% then it falls to 0% to 1% CPU usage.

   

This is repeatable.

   

Thank you,
Errol

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Bob_Marlowe
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Probably a minor error like this gets addressed in the next relaese of Creator.

   

 

   

Bob

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi Error, 

   

The issue is already addressed in the upcoming creator release. You have to wait for few more days to update to it.

   

-srim

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Bob_Marlowe
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What I'd said. And, Srim, his name is Errol (like Flynn) not ERROR! (smile)

   

 

   

Bob

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Anonymous
Not applicable

It seems to be fixed in SP1 too, which I installed last night...

   

I wish I could say that it is the first time I've been called "Error", but unfortunately I can't...

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