node.exe / Evented I/O for V8 JavaScript - Processor Cycles Gone Wild

[LT.Rusty]

Anyone else seeing multiple bajillions of instances of node.exe and Evented I/O for V8 JavaScript running and eating all your processor power?  I've been seeing this ever since I upgraded to 2017, and every couple hours I'll have to go in and run a batch file to kill all the node.exe processes, which eases things up for a bit ... but it always comes back.  

It seemed at first like it was something connected to Adobe Creative Cloud - according to google, anyway - which confused me because I don't have anything other than Adobe Reader installed on this computer.  I found a couple references to Inventor, though, and something about something-or-other 360 - connected design, maybe? - could have 2 instances of node.exe running, which might cause some issue or other with Inventor.

I'm still not positive that it's a problem with Autodesk software here, but I can't seem to find anything other than Adobe or Autodesk where it's used...

[blair]

All I get with is two instances of "Node.js: Server-side JavaScript" and two instances of "Node.js: Server-side JavaScript (32 bit)"

I have Adobe Creative Cloud, iCloud and OneDrive running as well

[ChrisMitchell01]

For each Inventor 2016 or 2017 version run since last reboot you should have 2 node.exe processes. One way to identify what is starting these is to go to Task Mgr & Select the command line column - then you will see the full path next to node.exe process which may shed some further light on this.

Inventor uses node for Tutorials, Connected Design Share, & ForceEffect (2016 only).

Thanks,
Chris

[LT.Rusty]

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@ChrisMitchell01 wrote:

For each Inventor 2016 or 2017 version run since last reboot you should have 2 node.exe processes. One way to identify what is starting these is to go to Task Mgr & Select the command line column - then you will see the full path next to node.exe process which may shed some further light on this.

Inventor uses node for Tutorials, Connected Design Share, & ForceEffect (2016 only).

Thanks,
Chris

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@ChrisMitchell01

Whoa whoa whoa.  Stop the clock.  I want to make sure I'm actually understanding what you're telling me.

I should have 2 copies of node.exe running right now for every instance of 2016 or 2017 that I've run since the last time I rebooted?

So, if, for instance, I haven't rebooted my computer since Monday, and I've opened and closed Inventor 3-4 times per day ... you're telling me that I really should have about 30 instances of node.exe running right now?  With each one taking anywhere between 20k and 67,604k of my RAM right at this very instant?  And using anywhere between 0% and 18% of my processor cycles, even though right at this moment I don't have a single instance of Inventor even running?

Do I have that right?

[DannyHubbard]

You should just have just two Node process running, regardless how many times you have restarted Inventor or how many session of Inventor you have running.

It would still be interesting to look at the Command Lines in Task Manager as Chris mentioned to see if Inventor is for some reason running to many instances of the Node process.

Thanks,

Danny

[LT.Rusty]

@DannyHubbard  @ChrisMitchell01

Right now I'm trying to migrate some files with task scheduler, so I'm not even actually running an instance of Inventor other than the automation side of things.

[DannyHubbard]

Any chance we can get some information from your system to see if we can determine what is going on?

 1. Create a Windows Environment Varialbe LWSDebug with the value of

 2. Let Inventor run for a while then look for LOG files in two location and upload them, C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\.desktop-connect & C:\Users\<username>\.forever

Now remove the Environment variable so it doesn't keep generating the log files, also if you are not using the Tutorials or Design Shares in Inventor, in the Add-Manager disable Interactive Tutorial and Connect Design on A360.

Thanks,

Danny

[LT.Rusty]

... LWSDebug with the value of what?

But, yeah, I can certainly do that.

do you want me to just run Inventor like I'd normally work throughout the day, or is there something specific that you want me to do?  Or just keep trying the migration thing?

[DannyHubbard]

Sorry about that the value should be 1

Thanks,

Danny

[ChrisMitchell01]

It would be useful if you could try to repeat the same steps as you did previously. So likely normal use with some TS jobs thrown into the mix too.

• Do you recall in which order you had run Inventor interactively vs, using TS for migration ?
• Did you start Inventor while the TS job was running ?
• Did you run 2016 first & then 2017 or vice versa ?
• Did you recently install any updates for 2017 or SP2 for 2016? If so in which order ?

Many Thanks,
Chris

[LT.Rusty]

So apparently there's some logging already going on.  

id_desktop-connect.log has generated some 13,000 lines of logging just since I added that environment variable a few minutes ago.  It's 18 MB already.

In the other folder ...   errors.log has some entries in it from today.  Server.log, that one is up to 202 MB

[ChrisMitchell01]

Great - can you zip those up & attach them here, please? They should compress down a lot, but let me know fi they're too large to attach here & we'll work out another way to get them.

Probably time to disable the environment variable again 🙂

Thanks,

Chris

[LT.Rusty]

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@ChrisMitchell01 wrote:

It would be useful if you could try to repeat the same steps as you did previously. So likely normal use with some TS jobs thrown into the mix too.

• Do you recall in which order you had run Inventor interactively vs, using TS for migration ?
• Did you start Inventor while the TS job was running ?
• Did you run 2016 first & then 2017 or vice versa ?
• Did you recently install any updates for 2017 or SP2 for 2016? If so in which order ?

Many Thanks,
Chris

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1.  I didn't start trying to migrate things (on this computer, anyway) until yesterday.  Prior to that, it's just been regular interactive use of Inventor.  Additionally, I wasn't running an interactive session at the same time as I was running migration.  I ran the migration at a time when I planned to be out of the office for an hour or so, expecting it to be finished by the time I got back.

2.  No.

3.  Doesn't really seem to matter.  I've tried it both ways.

4.  Couldn't tell you... the new Autodesk desktop app doesn't give you a lot of information about that stuff anymore.  Used to be, it'd tell you when you applied an update.  Now, it's mostly about flashy videos, and I don't see a way to look at my update history.  

Now, what I *can* tell you is that over the course of the log file here, id_desktop-connect.log, I opened and closed a session of 2016 without opening a file or doing anything else, then did the same thing three or four times with Inventor 2017.  Again, didn't open any files or use any commands.

The first entry in that log with a time stamp is from today 10:07:43.  The final entry is at 10:31:16, again, from today.

There are nearly 16,000 entries in that log.  It's 18.8 MB.

Zipped up copies are attached here.

[LT.Rusty]

@ChrisMitchell01@DannyHubbard

While we're on the subject of lots of copies of a process running, how many copies of acwebbrowser.exe should I have going at once?

[DannyHubbard]

It will depend on the features you are using, for instance the Desktop App or App Manager uses a few instance as well does My Home, Connected Designs on A360, Tutorials and probably a few others make use of browser sessions as well.

Thanks,

Danny

[ChrisMitchell01]

Looking at your screenshot; the processes which include CLM in the folder path relate to the License manager; each product running will show 3 proesses for that - were you running 2 Autodesk products when you took this?

-Chris

[LT.Rusty]

No.  In fact, I'm not sure I even had one open right then.  I *might* have had Inventor running.

Actually, there might have been two, depending on how you count, and whether the licensing is handled separately...  But, again, why would a web browser be needed for licensing?  I don't use network licenses, only local.

[cmbronder]

To prevent node.exe from being started when you start Inventor 2017, please, set an environment variable so:

Name: “StartLocalWebServer”, value: 0

Kill all node.exe's with "Desktop Connect" in their path and restart Inventor.

This means you will not have access to these Inventor 2017 addins:

-Interactive Tutorials

-Connected Desktop with A360

Let me know how this goes...sorry for your troubles.

Clare

PS: we are interested in how your machine got into this situation and the log files are helpful. We may have additional questions. Thank you.

[LT.Rusty]

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@Anonymous wrote:

To prevent node.exe from being started when you start Inventor 2017, please, set an environment variable so:

Name: “StartLocalWebServer”, value: 0

Kill all node.exe's with "Desktop Connect" in their path and restart Inventor.

This means you will not have access to these Inventor 2017 addins:

-Interactive Tutorials

-Connected Desktop with A360

Let me know how this goes...sorry for your troubles.

Clare

PS: we are interested in how your machine got into this situation and the log files are helpful. We may have additional questions. Thank you.

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Ask away!  Anything you need, just let me know.

I already managed to more or less fix it just by disabling the tutorials and connected desktop in the add-ins manager.  I don't use either one of them anyway.  (Last time I ran the tutorials was Inventor 2010, I think, and I'm more or less in a single-user environment, so no need for 'connected' anything.)

[LT.Rusty]

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@LT.Rusty wrote:

Now, what I *can* tell you is that over the course of the log file here, id_desktop-connect.log, I opened and closed a session of 2016 without opening a file or doing anything else, then did the same thing three or four times with Inventor 2017.  Again, didn't open any files or use any commands. 

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@cmbronder @ChrisMitchell01  @DannyHubbard

One probably important thing that I left out above: opening Inventor was the first thing that I did after a reboot.  Also, in case it makes a difference for what you need to know, it wasn't a Restart (within the meaning of Windows-->Power-->Restart), but a shut down and then push the power button again.