Skip navigation
Home/Support/

Forums

Up to Discussions in Adobe Reader for Unix
14186 Views 24 Replies Latest reply: Feb 20, 2011 7:41 PM by tdbartley RSS
Calculating status...
(Hugo_Valadas)
4 posts since
Dec 21, 2006
Currently Being Moderated

Dec 21, 2006 9:16 AM

Adobe Reader CPU Usage

Hello All,

The problem i'm having is that "acroread" process after being open for some time (many hours or even days) starts to use all the CPU without anyone touch the application. This causes lots of trouble because i'm using all the time simulation software and "acroread" starts to share CPU with my mission critical applications and I cannot be always checking if acroread has crashed.

I've tried with more than one Linux distribution and have read in some web forums that other linux distributions have the same problem.

Currently i'm using CentOS 4.4 (Linux 2.6.9-34.0.2.ELsmp #1 SMP Fri Jul 7 19:52:49 CDT 2006 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux)
Even in CentOS 4.3 , 4.2 , 3.4 they all had the same problem.

I'm using acroread 7.0.8 but older versions of 7.x did the same.

Please share some ideas about this issue.
Thanks
  • User
    (AshutoshJSharma)
    59 posts since
    Jan 24, 2006
    Currently Being Moderated
    1. Dec 22, 2006 3:30 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Hi Hugo,

    This is a known issue and we will be working on this for the next release.

    Thanks,
    Ashutosh
  • User
    (Hugo_Valadas)
    4 posts since
    Dec 21, 2006
    Currently Being Moderated
    2. Dec 22, 2006 5:27 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Ok. Thank you. Keep up the good work

    Best Regards,
    HV
  • Calculating status...
    (Matt_Fago)
    1 posts since
    Aug 11, 2002
    Currently Being Moderated
    3. Apr 25, 2007 9:27 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    This still occurs in Reader 7.0.9. Did the above fix make it into this version?

    The specific issue I seem to have is that opening a PDF from within Firefox and then closing the browser tab leaves acroread running in the background. This process will eventually consume 100% of the CPU.
  • User
    (Viraj_Chatterjee)
    53 posts since
    Aug 11, 2002
    Currently Being Moderated
    4. May 7, 2007 4:10 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    The fix did not make it into Reader 7.0.9 It shall be available in the 8.x version.

    -vc
  • Calculating status...
    (Toby_Stanfill)
    1 posts since
    May 25, 2007
    Currently Being Moderated
    5. May 25, 2007 1:22 PM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    The cpu utilization has been killing us, so we came up with a temporary band-aid to hold us over until version 8 comes out. Just run this command every minute or so via crontab, and if there are any acroread jobs using 80%+ cpu that have used a full minute of processing time, it will kill it.

    kill `top -b -n1 | grep acroread | awk '{ print $1 " " $9 " " $11 }' | egrep "(1[0-9][0-9]|[8-9][0-9]) [0-9]*[1-9]:" | awk '{ print $1 }'` 2>/dev/null

    It's definitely not pretty, but it does work. I'd be interested to see if anyone else has found any creative workarounds for this issue...
  • Calculating status...
    (Anupam_Garg)
    1 posts since
    May 28, 2007
    Currently Being Moderated
    6. May 28, 2007 5:35 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Hi Toby,

    The pre-release of 8.x version is now available, which has the fix. I would suggest you to try that out and confirm to us. Your input is valuable to us.

    If you are interested to be part of the 8.x pre-release program, please post your email address. I would get you enrolled.

    Thanks,
    Anupam Garg
  • Calculating status...
    (Rui65)
    1 posts since
    Jun 14, 2007
    Currently Being Moderated
    7. Jun 14, 2007 1:50 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Hi,

    Is it still possible to try the 8.x pre-release for Linux ?
    As I am seeing the CPU problem often every day, I would be happy to test this new version and provide feedback.

    Thanks,

    Rui
  • User
    (Viraj_Chatterjee)
    53 posts since
    Aug 11, 2002
    Currently Being Moderated
    8. Jun 14, 2007 1:56 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Please send your email-id to agarg at adobe dot com, and Anupam shall make sure you are a part of the pre-release program.
  • User
    (Hugo_Valadas)
    4 posts since
    Dec 21, 2006
    Currently Being Moderated
    9. Jul 7, 2007 4:59 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Hi Again,

    Toby, we have been dealing with the problem by using the "Auto Nice Daemon" (available for free http://and.sourceforge.net/).
    It lets you define for any program, in this case "acroread" process, 3 steps of re-nice but for it's CPU time consumption. What I do is if the process has consumed more than let's say 15 minutes of CPU time it will lower it's priority and then if it goes for more than 20 minutes it will kill the process because using the "-9" for re-nice it will kill the process.

    The CPU time usage is based on the time that your are really using the application, so if you have it just open and is not doing nothing it does not consume, but if it goes berserk and start wasting CPU it will kill it.

    This way you don't need to use any crontab operation and you can configure the daemon to autostart and define how regularly it will check for the usage of the process.

    Hope to see the final solution from Adobe anyway.

    Thanks,
    Hugo
  • User
    (GauravJain)
    131 posts since
    May 16, 2006
    Currently Being Moderated
    10. Jul 7, 2007 8:37 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Hi Hugo,

    Could you please let us know in what state you left Adobe Reader opened in the background?
    1 - Did you have one or more documents opened?
    2 - Was the Adobe Reader window in minimized (iconified) state?

    That will help us identify the causes of high CPU usage even when idle.

    Thanks,
    Gaurav
  • User
    (Hugo_Valadas)
    4 posts since
    Dec 21, 2006
    Currently Being Moderated
    11. Jul 8, 2007 11:38 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Hi,

    Well, in summary, Adobe Reader should not be opened anymore. It seems that even when closing the document the acroread process stays in the system running idle and from one moment to the other it starts consuming CPU at 99%.
    This happens if you open the document with Adobe Reader itself or with the Browser plugin if you open a pdf document from a link inside the browser.

    About your specific questions:

    1- It seems that it does not matter how many documents you have oppened, but I'll test it further and get you a exact answer.

    2- The problem seem to happen if you have the window in any state, maximized, minimized or even if you already have closed the window the process stays there. I'll try to make a more precise test with several Window positions and states.

    My test will probably take some time since i did not find any pattern for the problem, the acroread process just goes crazy eating the CPU.

    Thanks,
    Hugo
  • Calculating status...
    (PeterVW)
    1 posts since
    Sep 23, 2008
    Currently Being Moderated
    12. Sep 23, 2008 1:56 PM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Hello,

    Essentially every time we use acrobat reader version 8.1.2_SU1 we have the problem of 100% cpu usage as described in earlier messages. This is very undesirable, can you please fix it? Do you need any further information for debugging. Information about a host on which the problem is experienced is below.

    % uname -a
    Linux usplmwd500342 2.6.18-92.1.10.el5 #1 SMP Wed Jul 23 03:56:11 EDT 2008 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

    % cat /etc/redhat-release
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client release 5.2 (Tikanga)

    % acroread -v
    8.1.2_SU1

    Thanks,
    Peter
  • Calculating status...
    (Rupert_Kolb)
    1 posts since
    Oct 2, 2008
    Currently Being Moderated
    13. Oct 2, 2008 4:56 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Same problem with 100% CPU usage when using the acroread as browser plugin.

    The first opening of an PDF is ok. After few minutes (even if the PDF has been closed, that means, an other web page is opened) the acroread process flips to 100% cpu usage and every further click on PDFs is significant slower.

    openSUSE 10.2 (X86-64)
    Linux virto 2.6.18.8-0.10-xen #1 SMP Wed Jun 4 15:46:34 UTC 2008 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
    acroread-8.1.2_SU1-0.1
    seamonkey-1.1.12-1.1

    The home directories are mounted via nfs and automounter.

    We have about 50 users, which are regulary complaining about the bad performance of opening and printing PDFs some few minutes after opening the first PDF with acroread plugin in the browser.

    Rupert
  • Calculating status...
    (Hunic_Gomes)
    1 posts since
    Nov 5, 2008
    Currently Being Moderated
    14. Nov 5, 2008 4:39 PM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    I have the same problem with acroread-8.1.2_SU1-0.1, openSUSE 10.3 (Opteron 175). Firefox 3.03.

    The problem can be recreated very easily. I just need to open any pdf file on the web. I can then run the top command and within a few minutes the acroread process will be up to around 50% CPU. If I leave the process then it will soon become 100%. The acroread process keeps on going even after I closed firefox.
  • scopsm User
    scopsm
    12 posts since
    Feb 10, 2009
    Currently Being Moderated
    15. Feb 20, 2009 2:38 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    I have this with 100% CPU usage with Adobe Reader 9 when just opening the Reader. Adobe weren't much help.
  • Atanu Dhar Adobe Employee
    Atanu Dhar
    71 posts since
    May 2, 2007
    Currently Being Moderated
    16. Feb 24, 2009 11:38 PM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage
    Dear Mr. McGeoghan,

    Could you please give us the steps of reproducing this condition, were you running Reader standalone or trying to open a PDF inside a browser (which browser also would be a great input)

    Thanks
    Atanu

    adharATadobeDOTcom
  • kallu_be Calculating status...
    kallu_be
    1 posts since
    Jul 19, 2009
    Currently Being Moderated
    17. Jul 19, 2009 1:40 AM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage

    Attached file is using 100% cpu on 64 bit Jaunty.

     

    Steps to reproduce.

    1) Open attached pdf in adobe reader.

    2) There wont be cpu usage initially.

    3) Wait for 5 min to see the surge in cpu usage.

     

    system info:

    Linux hercules-linux 2.6.28-14-generic #46-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jul 8 07:41:18 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

     

    Acrobat reader info:

     

    acroread:
      Installed: 9.1.2-3jaunty1
      Candidate: 9.1.2-3jaunty1
      Version table:
    *** 9.1.2-3jaunty1 0
            100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

    Attachments:
  • CAM_WERDNA Calculating status...
    CAM_WERDNA
    1 posts since
    Aug 3, 2009
    Currently Being Moderated
    18. Aug 3, 2009 7:32 AM (in response to kallu_be)
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage

    Not sure whether this is the same problem or a different one.
    For us acroread consumes all the memory and the CPU is maxed out swapping
    until the oom manager kills acroread and the machine recov

     

    Our machines are 2GB RAM with 2GB swap, running the x86_64 version of
    Scientific Linux 5.3 (a recompilation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3)
    - we don't really need a 64bit OS but some local apps run faster in 64 bit.

     

    We first saw this with, I think, acroread 8.1.4 and continues through to 8.1.6.
    (I am reluctant to switch to v9 since we are using it as a pdf viewer
    not a flash viewer - adding javascript was bad enough - we would be
    more likely to move to evince or another open source pdf viewer).

     

    Typically acroread chews memory for users who run firefox 32bit
    and the nppdf.so Adobe plugin, but I cannot confirm that it never
    happens for users whose firefox opens a separate acroread process.

     

    What extra imformation would help to debug this ?

     

    Thanks,

  • sanika Kulshreshtha Adobe Employee
    sanika Kulshreshtha
    266 posts since
    Apr 6, 2009
    Currently Being Moderated
    19. Aug 6, 2009 11:36 PM (in response to CAM_WERDNA)
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage

    Hi,

     

    The high CPU usage problem when acroread is used inside browser on 64-bit systems has been fixed in AR 9.x. You could download the latest Adobe Reader 9.1.3 Security Update directly using the FTP link, or use YUM to install the update. Please use it and let us know if you still see 100% CPU usage.

     

    Thanks!

    Sincerely,

    Sanika

  • pkeller63 Calculating status...
    pkeller63
    2 posts since
    Aug 13, 2009
    Currently Being Moderated
    20. Aug 13, 2009 5:25 AM (in response to sanika Kulshreshtha)
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage

    Dear Sanika,

     

    The nppdf.so shared library that is provided in the download for linux is an ELF32 object, so is completely unusable with 64-bit browsers.

     

    If you can make a 64-bit build available, I would be happy to try it out and report back on how well it performs.

     

    Regards,

    Peter.

  • pkeller63 User
    pkeller63
    2 posts since
    Aug 13, 2009
    Currently Being Moderated
    21. Aug 13, 2009 6:09 AM (in response to pkeller63)
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage

    Sorry - forget I wrote that. I've just figured out now to use nspluginwrapper.

     

    I'll see how the plugin behaves. Initial indications are good: it loads very fast.

     

    Regards,.

    Peter.

  • sanika Kulshreshtha Adobe Employee
    sanika Kulshreshtha
    266 posts since
    Apr 6, 2009
    Currently Being Moderated
    22. Aug 13, 2009 6:31 AM (in response to pkeller63)
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage

    Glad to hear that Peter. Let us know how it goes.

     

    Regards,

    Sanika

  • Agent_Nappi_007 User
    Agent_Nappi_007
    10 posts since
    May 19, 2009
    Currently Being Moderated
    23. Feb 15, 2011 5:55 AM (in response to sanika Kulshreshtha)
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage

    Looks like that some people that might be able to help are subcribed to this thread.

    It would be nice if you can take a look to the problem that I´ve reported in this post:

     

    http://forums.adobe.com/thread/791216?tstart=0

     

    I´m glad to provide additional information there if required to not spam this thread with my problem.

    Your help is very much appreciated.

     

    Thanks in advance

     

    Agent

  • tdbartley Calculating status...
    tdbartley
    1 posts since
    Feb 20, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    24. Feb 20, 2011 7:41 PM (in response to (Hugo_Valadas))
    Re: Adobe Reader CPU Usage

    Problem persists in Adobe Reader 9.4 in CentOS 4.8. Running the stand-alone executable without even loading a PDF, the process immediately consumes nearly 100% of core.

More Like This

  • Retrieving data ...

Bookmarked By (0)

Choose your region
Security Contact Adobe Report piracy EULAs Permissions and trademarks Careers

Copyright © 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Reviewed by TRUSTe: site privacy statement

Use of this website signifies your agreement to the Terms of Use and Online Privacy Policy (updated 07-14-2009).