Should TMG be taking 50% of cpu time

[Guest Michael Dietz]

I just got the utility procexp.exe from Microsoft. Running it shows that TMG v7.03 is using 50% of the cpu time. I am doing nothing with TMG right now, it is just sitting there and has been for the last 15 minutes.

 

Is this the normal process for TMG? It is using more time than the System Idle Process.

 

I am using a Pentium 4, 3.00 GHz, with 2 GB of ram.

 

Mike

[Jim Byram 0]

Go to the Task manager and make sure that you don't have a hidden Tmg7.exe process running.

 

On my system when Tmg7.exe is idleing, I can't see any CPU usage from it at all. The process is assigned 28,948k.

 

In hard testing, I sometimes get hidden Tmg7.exe processes left as residue. No one else has ever been able to replicate this. I can tell when my system starts bogging down and need to go to the Task Manager and kill them. Even one of those will push the CPU usage to the ceiling. I have never been able to replicate that behavior by repeating the things that I had been testing.

[Guest Michael Dietz]

Task Manager is showing tmg7.exe assigned to me, CPU is 49-50, memory is 21,796K. System Idle Process is taking the other 50-49 percent with an occasional 1-2 percent used by explorer and WUSB54GC (our satellite wireless process).

 

The main reason I got the procexp.exe utility was to be able to look deeper into problems with SVCHOST.

 

It shows tmg7.exe running with 47.73 cpu

It shows two additional TMG7.exe running with PID of 2600 and 3124 but zero time.

 

I killed them both with no change in the tmg7. It still is using 47.76.

 

However I have now lost the icon in the tray and there is no TMG window open. Task Manager shows that TMG is running but I have lost all visuals for it. That implies the two other tmg processes were the display and the tray icon.

 

Interesting.

 

A bit on how I started this 'experiment'. I started TMG and selected my project. It loaded. I then did nothing more with TMG. 15 minutes later I started the ProcExp with the results I gave in the first message.

 

Any other suggestions. I am happy to try to resolve this with you.

Mike

[Guest Michael Dietz]

This is getting more and more wierd.

 

I shut everything down and restarted. I then started TMG and loaded a project. I did nothing more to TMG.

 

I went to ProcExp and it show tmg using 50% and a second tmg running but with no time.

 

I went back to TMG and shut it down.

 

The second tmg disappeared from ProcExp but ProcExp is now showing TMG7 taking 46-50% of cpu.

 

I will try to get additional information on what ProcExp is finding but because I have just started with it I am completely in the dark on how to use it beyond the initial display. So it may take some time. Maybe this is the timing problem we have been having.

 

Mike

[Guest Michael Dietz]

Jim

I have attached to .txt files, one showing the DLLs being used by the phantom TMG and the other the handles being used.

 

The help file for ProcExp has the following intro:

 

The Process Explorer display consists of two sub-windows. The top always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window, which you can close, depends on the mode that Process Explorer is in: if it is in handle mode you will see the handles that the process selected in the top window has opened; if Process Explorer is in DLL mode you will see the DLLs and memory-mapped files that the process has loaded.

 

 

Hope this helps in pinning this down. Again there is no TMG application in TaskManager but the process tmg7.exe is using 50% of the cpu.

 

If there is anything you would like me to do please let me know.

 

Mike

tmg7_DLLS.txt

tmg7_Handles.txt

[Jim Byram 0]

Maybe this is the timing problem we have been having.

What timing problem?

[Guest Michael Dietz]

Maybe this is the timing problem we have been having.

What timing problem?

 

The C00005 error people have reported. There are several threads recently on it.

 

Anyway I will try to cause the TMG 50% to happen somehow. After my last message I shut the computer down and restarted and since then TMG is not hogging the system. So I will keep the ProcExp open and continually monitor it to try to pin down what actions caused it to do so.

 

Mike

[Jim Byram 0]

Using Process Explorer, I have the Tmg7.exe process using 0% CPU when idle and no remnant when closed.

 

Each C0000005 is unique and very context-specific. But very difficult to eliminate when you can't replicate it.

 

btw... Usually, when I have 'hidden' Tmg.exe processes, I can see them in the Task Manager. Occasionally, I will get one that doesn't show in the Task Manager but that's fairly rare.

Edited August 9, 2008 by Jim Byram

[Guest Michael Dietz]

Jim:

 

I have been monitoring performance, etc., trying to catch the "timing" problem again and the C00005 error. Finally after all these days I have some more information.

 

Everything has been running just fine up to about 30 minutes ago. I had my database and two other TMG databases open plus Windows Explorer. No problem. I opened a fourth TMG database and since then I have had the C000005 error at least six times. Nothing for days and all of a sudden multiple occurances. CPU time looks good, no problems.

 

So it seems the problem has to do with memory allocations, i.e., how it is spread among the programs.

 

Incidentally the fourth TMG database does have 75,000 people in it while the other three are 500, 500, and 3,000, small in comparison.

 

Hope this might shed some light on what is happening.

 

Thank you.

Mike

[Guest Michael Dietz]

Go to the Task manager and make sure that you don't have a hidden Tmg7.exe process running.

 

On my system when Tmg7.exe is idleing, I can't see any CPU usage from it at all. The process is assigned 28,948k.

 

In hard testing, I sometimes get hidden Tmg7.exe processes left as residue. No one else has ever been able to replicate this. I can tell when my system starts bogging down and need to go to the Task Manager and kill them. Even one of those will push the CPU usage to the ceiling. I have never been able to replicate that behavior by repeating the things that I had been testing.

 

Jim:

I have just now been able to create a hidden TMG7.exe process when TMG is not running!!!

 

I will explain the steps I did this morning which triggered the hidden process. It is a bit convoluted but I have been able to replicate it two more times so I think I have found something. I am manually merging several TMG databases into a TMG 7 database. In doing so I have the TMG 7 database open on the left half of the screen and the TMG database to be merged open on the right side so I can see the data I want to enter into the TMG 7 database. I am not copying records or actually merging the datasets. I am actually entering the data into the TMG7 database. The databases I am merging are both version 6 and 7. Here is what I did this morning to trigger the hidden TMG7.exe process.

 

I opened the TMG 7 database on the left side using a custom layout. I tried to open a version 6 database on the right side by mistake with TMG v7. Of course I got the message saying that I had to create a backup of the v6 data and import it into v7. I killed the TMG v7 right side program. I opened the v6 data with TMG v6. No problem. I then thought why am I doing that. I have the .GED file in the v6 file. I stopped the v6 program and then the v7 (left side) program. I erased the sub files (other than the .GED) in the v6 file. I then started TMG v7 and imported the GED file.

The options I selected were Advanced Wizard, GEDCOM, import external links (there are none), Assume Marriage, Read Npfx names, Reference field for Reference, did not need any tag assignments. Then Finish, acknowledged location message, did not read import log, and unlocked the file. I then stopped the TMG program.

 

Task Manager does not show TMG application running but does show tmg7.exe process with 50% CPU usage. Windows System Internals shows TMG7.exe process running with from 49.74 to 50% CPU usage.

 

In looking through the many screens from the System Internals I find that one 'thing' seems to be doing all the work. I list it here but have no idea if it is relevant or not:

TID 2208

CPU 47.06 - 50.0

CSwitch Delta numbers changing from less than 1500 to over 3900

Start Address gdiplus.dll!GdipCreateFontFamilyFromName+0x1e1

 

I hope this helps you in finding this intermittant problem. If you need additional information from the System Internals please let me know.

 

Mike

[Jim Byram 0]

Your explanation is complex and convoluted.

 

Forget about Process Explorer. That's of no value.

 

Describe a simple step-by-step procedure that anyone can replicate.

 

If we can replicate it, that can be run under the VFP debugger and the cause pinned down.

[Guest Michael Dietz]

Jim:

I don't know what to say. I have tried to replicate the problem now. I cannot. But I did get it and then replicated it twice more this morning around 5:30 am. So now it seems as if something is loaded or memory allocations are changed during the day which 'fixes' it. I have tried shutting the machine down and rebooting but still could not get it to happen again.

 

Anyway thanks for the reply and I will keep on watching for it to happen again. Very frustrating.

 

Mike

[Terry Reigel 0]

Mike,

 

I have seen the same issue, but have been unable to replicate it on demand either. My cases did not involve importing, but involved long sessions of editing, closing, and re-opening a Project to work with TMG Utility. It occurred several times over a couple of weeks.

[Jim Byram 0]

Just so no one feels left out, I usually have the hidden processes occur when I'm testing and am running the program, testing something, exiting, running the program, testing something, exiting, and again and again.

 

I have had 5 or 6 hidden processes stack up when testing a very simple procedure. And once I became aware of the processes, killed them and then tried exactly what I was doing earlier over and over many times with no hidden processes occurring.

 

It's not easy to pin a procedure down.

[Helmut Leininger 0]

Hi,

 

I have reproduced this problem several times using this procedure on a single CPU system with Windows XP SP3:

 

I have set TMG to show the Welcome Window at startup.

 

 

How I reproduced it:

1) Startup TMG and open the project

2) Startup TMG another time (from outside, not from the running session) and let it show the welcome window. Do not open a project

3) Do some work in the first session or wait one or two minutes.

4) Terminate the second session by clicking on the lowest button of the Welcome Window. The window closes but the process does not. You have nowe two TMG7 processes running.

 

5) close the first session now (this leaves still one process running) and restart it opening your project- You have now 2 sessions running. I do not know if closing and restarting is really necessary.

 

6) start working (or maybe just wait ?). After a few minutes The CPU usage of one the two TMG7 processes goes up to full CPU.

 

 

Regards

Helmut

[Guest Michael Dietz]

Thank you Helmut.

 

After I shut down the first session (your step five) and before I restarted it, the phantom session of TMG immediately started using 50% of the CPU.

 

I then started TMG again and selected a project. I now had a TMG session and the phantom TMG session running. The phantom session was using 50% of CPU the restarted session showed no usage. I closed the restarted session and the phantom session was still going at 50%.

 

And again it was the gdiplus.dll which was constantly using the 50%.

 

So I was able to replicate it with no problem (pun intended) following your instructions.

 

I tried a further experiment. I started the first session but did not select a project. I started the second session but did not select a project. I waited about 60 seconds and shut the second session down. And immediately I had a phantom session using 50% CPU. Then shuting down the first session I still had the phantom one going. So you do not even need to select a project. Simply start TMG twice and shut one down will give the 50% phantom.

 

Mike