b43: Driver keeps upping CPU % until system freezes for a few seconds?

[John W. Linville]

On Fri, Nov 23, 2007 at 09:43:40AM -0500, Kelly Miller wrote:
> A while ago, I switched from using ndiswrapper to work my Broadcom wireless
> to using the b43 driver with the proper firmware.  Since then, my system
> seems to randomly freeze and then unfreeze (from anything between a second
> to a few minutes in length).  When I checked the system monitor, I noticed
> something strange; although the b43 driver generally doesn't use much CPU
> power, every once in a while, it jumps to 40-60% of the system CPU, which
> corresponds to the odd freezing periods.
> 
> So my question is, why would my wireless driver keep sucking CPU power until
> the system freezes, and then let go?

I have not observed this behaviour.  However, I do know that the b43
driver has several periodic tasks it runs for housekeeping duties.
It is possible that one or more of these are running too long,
creating the effect you describe.

Can you further characterize the exact circumstances to recreate
this issue?  Have you opened a bug at bugzilla.redhat.com?

Thanks,

John
-- 
John W. Linville
linville at redhat.com