I/O Thread Load 10% with CPU Load 74%

[Funboy63]

Hi to all,

I am new to BreakawayOne and have been trying to understand how to correct the following audio problem but cannot seems to see where I need to adjust the level.

I have Breakaway running as per the BreakawayOne typical FM + Streaming + STL setup youtube video within my LAB however I am getting the following error on the TX end. For information the TX PC is an intel i5 with its output going directly into a SMSL sanskrit 6th anniversary edition DAC via USB.

Two errors shown on top bar:

I/O Thread Load 10% in red with the message fm1/misc/status_io_thread_load

I also have in red CPU Load 74% Check I/O Status

Can someone kindly point me in the right direction of how to correct the above.

Many thanks

Regards
Mark

[Milky]

Geez, I’ve never seen CPU rates above 15% on an i7 with several simultaneous streams, so something is definitely not right. Have you tweaked all the buffer settings to optimise them? Start with the inputs and work your way through.

I’ll ponder on this one some more.

[Funboy63]

Thanks, Milky for your reply, I should add that the studio PC end CPU runs happy at about 12% to 15%.

The TX end is a fanless Intel Core i5 5200u with 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3 ram and onboard Intel HD Graphics running Windows 10, when I run as a service its about 18% to 20% so the sharp increase would appear to be the graphics related when the program is open during setup.

Are you aware if this is right on a fanless type setup at the TX end? The video does not show the amount being used at the TX end; it does show 17% at the studio end when Leif is setting it up so mine at 12% to 15% appears right.

I am only asking as if this is standard for a fanless PC then great if not I will look at using a standard desktop style PC to fit in a rack. As this is currently only a lab setup while I decide which way to go it’s not a problem but running long-term is where I am most concerned and therefore would wish to have the correct hardware setup.

I hand initially looked at Stereo Tool however like the less is more aspect of Breakaway so ideally would like to use this in the really world, I just need to fully understand the hardware requirements when running it for a long term. IE Do not want a PC that requires constant attention every few weeks/months when running at a remote TX site, hence why I went for the fanless PC but didn’t think about the graphics aspect.

Look forward to your thoughts.

[Milky]

Thanks for the clarification, Mark.
I’m not using fanless devices, but i7 laptops with SSDs so, although they do have a fan, I’ve never actually heard it kick in. They are probably overkill, with 16GB RAM, 2TB drives etc, but I am trying to future-proof the installation.

That said, I know that Leif is a fan of the NUC and has set up quite a few in his test environment.

Does your device have any ability to use or tweak the video GPU? Mine has NVidia software which can force applications to divert the video through the dedicated GPU, and maybe this would take the load off the CPU. When you run as a service and use BA Remote to access it, of course all the video load is transferred back to the PC running the remote program, so it would suggest that there is a video bottlneck.

I run my home music studio BA1 HD core on a “boring” early model i7 running Win 7 (yeah, I know it’s not supported anymore), and even that handles all the meters without getting puffed out. I usually rin it as a service, but I will shut down the service and run it locally to get some comparisons.

[Funboy63]

Thanks Milky,

I have today reinstalled the software on the fanless PC making no difference as shown below, one thing of note is after the reinstall its using the same amount of CPU and giving the Audio I/O error with nothing running other than itself suggesting its a local PC issue rather than BreakawayOne. That said I have no idea where to start other than what you have mentioned so might just look to use an alternative FULL size PC at the TX end. My Studio end PC has NVidia and runs without issue so maybe thats it however its this audio I/O status that thew me.

Software installed is the latest 3.19.43

Trial version.

MAC: 00-E0-3C-68-0C-88

Active configuration:
———————

Management Package

Full FM….. X
Livewire X
RDS X
SeparateLL X

System Info:
————

Host name: Test-TX
Operating System: Windows 10
OS Version: 10.0.19041.329 (WinBuild.160101.0800)
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-5200U CPU @ 2.20GHz (4-core)

Image below showing the red CHECK AUDIO I/O STATUS if that helps.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Funboy63.

[Milky]

It would be good if you could lay your hands on a laptop or even a desktop just to see if you can duplicate the problem. I’m sure it’s not the demands that BA1 place on a system, as there are reports of the software running on much lower powered computers. If you can do a “Brand A / Brand B” comparison, with all the rest of the configuration identical, then we can start to drill down on whether it is the PC, or something in the config that has slipped through the cracks.

I’ll look forward to what you can come up with.

[Funboy63]

Happy to report I have solved the issue and can’t understand how it happened.

When going through the setup process again after messing with PC drivers etc I noticed when checking the BreakawayOne Config settings that within Common Audio Devices / Common Monitor Output under the Interface: Kernel Streaming drop down and above Refesh List it was showing in Red Unsupported Device which I thought was odd.

I simply set this back to Disabled and all is good with the CPU usage with the GUI running.

Thanks for your help Milky, it allowed me to think harder with regards to anything I might have set allowing me to check every single item against a default installation.

[Milky]

Excellent! Two heads are very often better than one.

I find that the “Audio Processor” button often reveals some issues as it lays out the ins, outs buffer overruns etc.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Milky.

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