High CPU usage when no network connection

[davitof 0]

I am running Evernote 5.4.1.3962 on a Windows 7 64 bits laptop. I use Evernote by bursts, not using it on my laptop for months in a row. In the last days, I noticed that my CPU meter was often high. I checked (using both Process Lasso and Process Explorer), and I found that Evernote.exe (not EvernoteTray nor EvernoteClipper) was using one of my cores. My HD leds are not especially busy when Evernote is behaving thus. I checked that Evernote could eat up my battery for dozens of minutes and I had to exit it completely in order to get my CPU back to low usage levels. My laptop is often completely unconnected and I felt there was a relation to this. So I just checked.

 

I disabled my wifi and nothing happened. Then I loaded Evernote and immediately the CPU rose to 25% (I have 4 cores). I enabled the wifi and the CPU fell again.

 

Next, I loaded Evernote (wifi enabled) and disabled the wfi while Evernote was open. Once again, Evernote's CPU usage rose to 25% (but now this happened when I disabled the wifi) and fell back to normal when I enabled the wifi.

 

Then by pure luck, I put my Firefox window in full screen, so that Evernote's window was invisible, and while Evernote's window was hidden I disabled the wifi. I noticed the CPU did not rise. But it did rise as soon as I brought the Evernote window to the front, and it did not return to normal until I had enabled the wifi.

 

Last expriment : wifi disconnect at 20:01, reconnect at 21:35, same results.

[s2sailor 2,193]

To confirm, I'm on the same version and have also noticed the CPU utilization hovering about 25% due to the evernote.exe process.  It starts low and at some point I will notice that it is at 25%.  I don't know if just steady use of the app causes it to increase and stay or if it is a specific sequence of events.  I will usually just exit the app and then restart.  I started noticing this during one of the recent betas but not sure which.

 

I'm constantly docking and undocking the laptop during the day so haven't noticed if it is related to wifi use or not.

[davitof 0]

I wasn't thinking of wifi specifically, but rather of internet connection. Tomorrow, I'll be visiting a friend where I connect using an Ethernet cable rather than wifi. This will allow me to do some further tests.

[gazumped 11,664]

For other reasons I'm running Task Manager in Performance view,  and while I'm doing other things on wifi which shows ongoing activity,  I'm not clocking any extreme CPU action - mine's running at a fairly constant 12% with Evernote staring at me from one of my three screens.  Your clue may be the 'using in bursts' comment - when your laptop checks in with the server after weeks or months of inactivity,  it may trigger a synchronisation of all your notes just to check which ones have changed during that interval.  Unless the increased activity is affecting your activities or battery life it's probably best ignored - but you could submit a support request (see below) to doublecheck that with the guys in white coats...

[davitof 0]

OK, as often I was not clear enough. What I meant is that I can stay months without almost using Evernote, or using it only on my tablet. Then suddenly, for a few weeks, I'll be using it on my laptop every few days or more often. The problem occurred in the middle of one of those laptop phases. "In the middle", so that the bulk of the synchronizations should have been performed before. And it happened not once but systematically, my laptop being connected and Evernote synchronized between occurrences of the problem. I repeat: Evernote is loaded, wifi (and Internet) is on, Evernote is synchronized, without doing any editing in Evernote I disable the wifi (which means I disconnect internet) and immediately Evernote eats one core of my laptop. I reconnect the wifi and Evernote releases the core.

 

Also, I use Evernote almost exclusively for text notes, so that the volume of data to be synchronized is small.

 

And last: I would understand Evernote using lots of CPU *during* synchronization. But when my laptop is disconnected from internet, no synchronization can be performed, so that all that Evernote has to do (apart from when I am actively editing of course) is check periodically if the laptop is online again.

 

BTW, you may be misunderstanding my report: the CPU high usage does not occur when my wifi is used by another application (at least not that I noticed). It happens when I disable the wifi entirely. And when that happens, Evernote is the application which by far is using the most CPU, and it stays that way until I enable the wifi. If another application suffers about my wifi being disabled, at least it has the politeness of being silent about it :-)

[davitof 0]

I just tested Ethernet. I started Evernote while my laptop was disconnected (and wifi disabled), Evernote started and the CPU usage stayed low at first. I thought the problem had mysteriously disappeared but after a dozen seconds CPU usage again rose to 25%. Then I plugged the Ethernet cable and CPU soon returned to normal. After a few minutes I unplugged the Ethernet cable. As soon as I brought the Evernote window to the foreground, Evernote began eating one of my cores. And as soon as I replugged the Ethernet cable, CPU usage fell back to normal.

[gazumped 11,664]

OK - situation noted,  but this is still something you'll need to take up with tech support.  My CPU usage is ticking along at 10% or less even with several applications running - Win 8 though,  so ymmv clearly applies here...

[s2sailor 2,193]

I just tested Ethernet. I started Evernote while my laptop was disconnected (and wifi disabled), Evernote started and the CPU usage stayed low at first. I thought the problem had mysteriously disappeared but after a dozen seconds CPU usage again rose to 25%. Then I plugged the Ethernet cable and CPU soon returned to normal. After a few minutes I unplugged the Ethernet cable. As soon as I brought the Evernote window to the foreground, Evernote began eating one of my cores. And as soon as I replugged the Ethernet cable, CPU usage fell back to normal.

Interesting.  I'm always connected (wired) when I notice the 25% utilization issue but I switch between wired and wireless several times a day so maybe it is something about switching between the two that is the trigger.  I've been wireless the last 6 hours with no issues.  I'll try to be observant this week and see if I notice any type of connection.

[dbcoyer 0]

I am seeing the same problem. When I disconnect from the network, Evernote CPU shoots up to 25 to 30 percent. While I am connected, CPU is typically less than 1 percent.

[s2sailor 2,193]

I'm always connected to the network, so for me it is a wired versus wireless situation.  When operating wireless I do not see any CPU utilization issues, but I do when I have the ethernet cable plugged in.  I notice that is will rise up to about 25% utilization with the evernote.exe process.  I haven't determined if a specific sequence of events causes it to rise or not, but I have noticed that when it is at 25% if I remove the ethernet cable and let the system go wireless that as soon as the wireless connection is made, the CPU utilization drops back down to where I would expect.  I've tried this twice today with the same results.

[MiklD 0]

I have the same problem with this version. It append only when I am not connected:I launch Evernote, the CPU Usage is normal (around 6%), I start to write a note and the CPU increase up to 60%!

[s2sailor 2,193]

I've noticed this problem several more times, always when I'm connected wired and the solution to "unstick" the CPU has been to switch to wireless.  This has worked every time.  I have resource monitor open and see the CPU usage drop and the thread count double as soon as wireless is working.  There is something about that transition that releases the CPU usage.  FWIW I've opened a support ticket with the information.

[s2sailor 2,193]

I've looked into this more and can now create the issue at will.  If the laptop is connected to the network with a cable, and it then goes into sleep mode, 9 out of 10 times when the computer comes out of sleep the evernote.exe process will be stuck at 25% utilization.  On the rare occasion when it comes out of sleep mode and the utilization is ok, if I then manually sync, the process goes to 25% and stays.  If wireless, I can go into and out of sleep mode all day without issue.  I wonder if support will find this as interesting as I do.  This is certainly a corner case and their time is probably better spent elsewhere but FWIW I will pass it along to them.

[GuyH9 0]

I had the same problem (25% CPU usage when no connection) - I use Evernote very regularly, but only noticed this the last ~1wk. I uninstalled 5.4.1 and put back 5.0.0.1051 (I just happened to have a copy). The issue went away, so its something recent. Time for a ticket.

[mfj197 0]

I have this exact same problem, and it is pretty serious. I use Evernote for business, taking notes at meetings with potential clients at their sites.  I therefore have no internet connectivity and am running my windows 7 64-bit ultrabook on battery power.  Recently I have noticed the computer fan coming on and when checking in Task Manager I find Evernote holding 25% CPU usage.  My battery life changes from an expected 7 hours to under 2!  Interesting to hear that users have rolled back to a previous copy of Evernote and the issue goes away.  I'll raise a ticket as well.

 

Michael

[aps 2]

Got a similar problem, most likely since last stable version, but currently trying on latest beta. Using Windows 7 64bit on a quad-core CPU with SSD. CPU utilization is constantly between 10 and 25%. 

 

But although I'm connected to network (and sync works fine), Evenote update checking as well as Atlas shows that there is no network connection. 

 

The activity log shows:

12:26:37 [3808] AutoUpdate: checking for update at: https://update.evernote.com/public/ENWin5/update.xml12:26:37 [3808] The system is off line.12:26:37 [3808] AutoUpdate: checking for update at: https://update.evernote.com/prerelease/ENWin5/update.xml12:26:37 [3808] The system is off line.12:26:37 [3808] Error retrieving update details: Diese Netzwerkverbindung ist nicht vorhanden. (2250)

Also recently, startup CPU utilization (and time needed) has excessively increased. I have a rather large database (10 GB), but previous versions were still snappy. Database optimization via Debug menu hasn't helped.

 

- Andreas

[jefito 5,589]

I have the same problem with this version. It append only when I am not connected:I launch Evernote, the CPU Usage is normal (around 6%), I start to write a note and the CPU increase up to 60%!

A CPU going to 60% is not in and of itself harmful (if your CPU never goes above 60%, then you have 40% wasted CPU capacity, right?). But if it stays high for a long period of time after you start typing, then that could be a problem.

[s2sailor 2,193]

I did open a support ticket on this and after working with them for a few days they have acknowledged that it is a bug and that they hope to resolve it in an upcoming release.  They have said they will keep the ticket open and will notify me when there is an update.  I can replicate this at will so it is easy for me to test for it.  I will post anything new I learn.

[mfj197 0]

I did open a support ticket on this and after working with them for a few days they have acknowledged that it is a bug and that they hope to resolve it in an upcoming release.  They have said they will keep the ticket open and will notify me when there is an update.  I can replicate this at will so it is easy for me to test for it.  I will post anything new I learn.

 

Like s2sailor I opened a ticket for this and after some investigation they have acknowledged the bug.  I uninstalled and installed an earlier version 5.3.1.3363 and this does not exhibit the problem.  I could replicate the problem on another computer so I've installed this earlier version on that machine too, and again the problem goes away.  For me this is a perfectly acceptable workaround so I'll remain using this earlier version until the bug is ironed out.

 

jefito, it's not that the CPU usage momentarily goes high but that it jumps high and remains stuck there.  It's a big problem for me for the reasons detailed earlier in this thread.  It's easy to replicate:

1. Assuming you're connected to your network via WiFi only, turn off or disable your WiFi on the computer
2. Start the Evernote client.  Bam - CPU maxes out one core (25% utlisation for me on a quad-core processor) and remains there.  The only way to stop it is to exit Evernote, which is no good if I'm using it to take notes in meetings.

[jefito 5,589]

@mfj197: I think that the specific post that I was replying to is a different case; that's why I quoted it, and left it open-ended for MikiD to offer more information. Evernote has acknowledged the problem that you and others appear to be having with sustained high CPU usage when you're not connected. Hopefully they'll be able to resolve it.

[s2sailor 2,193]

I've looked into this more and can now create the issue at will.  If the laptop is connected to the network with a cable, and it then goes into sleep mode, 9 out of 10 times when the computer comes out of sleep the evernote.exe process will be stuck at 25% utilization.  On the rare occasion when it comes out of sleep mode and the utilization is ok, if I then manually sync, the process goes to 25% and stays.  If wireless, I can go into and out of sleep mode all day without issue.  I wonder if support will find this as interesting as I do.  This is certainly a corner case and their time is probably better spent elsewhere but FWIW I will pass it along to them.

This appears to be fixed for me in 5.5.2.4142 (272142).  I've only been using this for a day but I have not seen the utilization get stuck and I am unable to recreate it using the steps that I list above.  Previously it was a daily occurrence and I could recreate it at will.

[jbezdan 14]

UPDATE: The 5.5.x release appears to have solved it.  Not sure why I wasn't prompted to upgrade until today as I see that s2sailor above has had it since 18th of July.

 

I am seeing this issue too.  I would agree that the CPU spike is not harmful except when you are using a device running on battery.  My Surface Pro 2 running Evernote when connected can go 7+ hours on battery, but if I am on a flight with no WIFI it will die after about 2 hours.

 

One thing I have found is that I don't have to have a full connection.  For example if I am on a flight that has WIFI, I can connect but not pay to access the web to keep the CPU usage low.

 

On my full Dell E6430 laptop with an i7, it has a similar impact on battery life.

 

The Windows 8 app doesn't experience this issue.

 

Running 5.4.1.3962 on Win 8.1 Update 1 x64 on both systems.

 

Getting ready to try the latest release that just popped up on my screen as I was typing this up.

[s2sailor 2,193]

UPDATE: The 5.5.x release appears to have solved it.  Not sure why I wasn't prompted to upgrade until today as I see that s2sailor above has had it since 18th of July.

I usually try out the beta versions.  If you are not aware, you can opt in and be notified.  Tools - Options - General - Update to pre-release version when available.  Also check "Automatically check for updates."  Keep in mind these are beta versions so user beware and I would recommend backing up your database before updating to a new beta release.

[davitof 0]

Yes, the issue is solved for me too (5.5.3.4236)