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Old 09-26-2018, 04:36 PM   #8
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Join Date: Sep 2018
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Problem with incessant logging in DisplayLink software since at least version 8.6.1104.0

I wiped and reinstalled Windows 10 Enterprise v1709, ran Windows Updates, connected the 6950 Dock, Windows installed it's DisplayLink driver 8.2.1952.0, 5/22/17, and all was fine (no excessive logging).

Then, I installed DL 9 Alpha and immediately the excessive logging started, but it's not just an issue with just DL 9 Alpha, v8.6.1104.0 has the same problem, and (if memory serves), v8.4 M0 12-11-17 suffers the same bad behavior too.

To see the write activity:

Download and run Process Monitor (procmon.exe) made by Microsoft's SysInternals.com
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sys...nloads/procmon

On the Process Monitor menu:
Click Filter and then Filter again on the submenu
In the top left corner of the Process Monitor Filter window, click the dropdown that shows Architecture and change it to Operation
Leave "is" alone
Click the dropdown field to the right of "is" and select WriteFile (at the bottom of the list)
Click Add followed by OK

Now, with a DisplayLink devices attached to your computer, the Process Monitor window will show lots of entries mentioning FirmwareTrace.log in the Path column. Take note of how many times per second the log file is written! For those of us with SSD's, every write reduces the life of the SSD, so I regularly look for runaway activities that are gorging on my very expensive SSD! Plus, there's CPU overhead associated with writing the logs, which leads to more energy usage and increased cooling fan activity.

FYI, the Detail column may show Offset: followed by a number. The number is the size of the file being written.

Let me know if you have any questions.
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