Bug#1121192: kworker: Events_unbound, kworker processes, continually using CPU

From	Uwe Kleine-König <ukleinek@baylibre.com>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.bugs.dist, linux.debian.kernel
Subject	Bug#1121192: kworker: Events_unbound, kworker processes, continually using CPU
Date	2026-03-01 14:30 +0100
Message-ID	<MtP1T-4dJp-3@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	<LTX61-eUYQ-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <Mqcgp-1LLa-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <LTX61-eUYQ-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <Mqcgp-1LLa-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
Organization	linux.* mail to news gateway

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

Show all headers | View raw

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] - view raw

Hello Benjamin,

On Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 07:22:24AM -0600, Benjamin Martin wrote:
> New install of the latest Debian version. Confirmed that the 3 kworker:
> Events_unbound processes are present. If the 3 processes are not at the top
> of the list, grabbing a window and dragging it around the screen rapidly
> will send those 3 processes to top.

that only means that the nouveau driver does some work in the context of
these kworkers ...

> Installed Nvidia drivers (550) from Debian repository, After reboot *the 3 
> kworker: Events_unbound processes are NOT there. *There are kworker
> processes in the list but not "events_unbound". No amount of dragging a
> window around on the screen brings these processes to the top.

and the nvidia driver does not. So this is an architecture choice you're
seeing here, and nothing worrisome so far.

> No CPU power spikes will using browsers. I still need to test screen
> sleep and locking as this is where I was have problems with the Nvidia
> driver.

I'm unsure how your cpu power measurements takes kernel context into
account. Maybe the nvidia driver introduces the same workload on your
CPU but you just don't see it with your tooling. Maybe the nvidia driver
does things more efficient, but there is nothing I (or the Debian kernel
team) can do about it, as the driver is closed source. Maybe the guys
involved in the nouveau upstream driver could help here, but I guess
with the symptoms you describe there isn't much chance for insights from
them either.

Best regards
Uwe

Back to linux.debian.kernel | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Bug#1121192: kworker: Events_unbound, kworker processes, continually using CPU Benjamin Martin <benjamin@bmg7.com> - 2026-02-19 14:30 +0100
  Bug#1121192: kworker: Events_unbound, kworker processes, continually using CPU Uwe Kleine-König <ukleinek@baylibre.com> - 2026-03-01 14:30 +0100

csiph-web