Bug 444612 - KDE Connect (Microsoft Windows) makes PC go crazy
Summary: KDE Connect (Microsoft Windows) makes PC go crazy
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: kdeconnect
Classification: Applications
Component: windows-application (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: unspecified
Platform: Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows
: NOR critical
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: brute4s99
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2021-10-29 15:53 UTC by salvatore.augenti
Modified: 2021-12-26 17:08 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description salvatore.augenti 2021-10-29 15:53:38 UTC
SUMMARY
At some random point, the Event viewer starts being flooded with messages from igccservice (an Intel Graphics service) and HPSupportSolutionsFrameworkService, with more than 100 messages per second, those saying "PowerEvent handled succesfully by the service.". After investigating for a while, I discovered that as soon as I quit KDE Connect, the messages stop coming and the computer acts normally again, the CPU usage drops down to normal and temperatures go from 70/80°C to 45/50°C again in idle.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. None at all, just wait for it to happen
2. 
3. 

OBSERVED RESULT
CPU usage stays at 10+% and temperatures goes 20+°C higher than normal temps, all while idling

EXPECTED RESULT
Computer behaving normally while idling

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Windows: 11 22000.282
macOS: 
Linux/KDE Plasma: 
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 
KDE Frameworks Version: 
Qt Version: 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
It does this on Windows 10 too
Comment 1 Albert Vaca Cintora 2021-11-17 17:58:06 UTC
There's an still unknown bug in the battery plugin that causes this. As a workaround, can you try disabling the plugin and see if the issue disappears?
Comment 2 salvatore.augenti 2021-11-20 02:05:53 UTC
(In reply to Albert Vaca from comment #1)
> There's an still unknown bug in the battery plugin that causes this. As a
> workaround, can you try disabling the plugin and see if the issue disappears?

I disabled it and it seems to be working correctly, I'll keep you updated
Comment 3 Nicolas Fella 2021-12-18 13:54:43 UTC
We disabled the problematic plugin so recent builds should be fine. However it seems that you need to uninstall the old version first, otherwise the problematic file isn't removed
Comment 4 tremolo4 2021-12-18 23:24:22 UTC
I have had this bug for around 6 months now and until now I couldn't figure out what caused it. I almost bought a new charger because it only happens while plugged in to AC power. Today I finally found this reddit post [1] saying KDE Connect is the cause -- and indeed it is. The problem immediately stops when I stop KDE Connect.

For me, the increased CPU Usage made the system pretty much unusable until rebooting.

Oh man, I'm so glad I finally found out what the problem was. I must have spent dozens of hours trying out all sorts of different GPU drivers, because the NVIDIA and Intel driver processes were always the ones with the highest usage. Until recent driver versions, the igccservice didn't even exist or maybe just didn't trigger the PowerEvent event log entries, so I did not even have that clue.

> We disabled the problematic plugin so recent builds should be fine. However it seems that you need to uninstall the old version first, otherwise the problematic file isn't removed
I did reinstall KDE Connect today, from the Microsoft Store, and the problem still happens. So this doesn't seem to work for me?

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/HPOmen/comments/qgd2wm/igccservice_making_my_laptop_go_crazy/
Comment 5 tremolo4 2021-12-18 23:33:51 UTC
I'm obviously biased, but I feel like there might be other people in my situation who are tearing their hair out trying to figure out why random processes are using so much CPU for no apparent reason. It would be nice if there was some way to detect this bug and at least notify affected users that it is KDE Connect causing it. I like to think I'm usually good at tracking down problems like this, but this one was tough to figure out, because none of the clues point towards KDE Connect, as far as I know.

If you need any help debugging this, I'll try to assist any way I can.
Comment 6 Nicolas Fella 2021-12-18 23:35:40 UTC
> I did reinstall KDE Connect today, from the Microsoft Store, and the problem still happens. So this doesn't seem to work for me?

The Store upload was not update yet, only the manual downloads are fixed so far
Comment 7 tremolo4 2021-12-18 23:36:52 UTC
(In reply to Nicolas Fella from comment #6)
> > I did reinstall KDE Connect today, from the Microsoft Store, and the problem still happens. So this doesn't seem to work for me?
> 
> The Store upload was not update yet, only the manual downloads are fixed so
> far

I see, makes sense.

Ah, one more thing. I noticed that while this bug is happening, in the Windows lock screen, the battery/power icon in the bottom right is flickering a lot. Probably at the same frequency as the PowerEvent log entries. It sometimes affects the battery tray icon as well, but less often IIRC.
Comment 8 Nicolas Fella 2021-12-21 18:34:09 UTC
The store version has now been updated
Comment 9 tremolo4 2021-12-26 17:08:40 UTC
(In reply to Nicolas Fella from comment #8)
> The store version has now been updated

I can confirm that disabling the battery plugin prevents the issue.

I can also confirm that the new Store version has fully removed the battery plugin.