[JiaYu S3 Questions & Answers] MatanZ:
I noticed a few funny things recently, and I am not even sure if they are new or were from the start:

There is a high load average:

# uptime
10:24:17 up 11:59, load average: 13.81, 13.94, 13.80

The running processes are migration and ksoftirqd kernel threads for each inactive core.

There are hundreds of dmesg messages every second. Mainly from swapper and kworker. Something like:

[ 3735.883764]-(0)[0:swapper/0][SPM] wake up by EINT, timer_out = 228, r13 = 0x14061000, debug_flag = 0x11f
[ 3735.883776]-(0)[0:swapper/0][SPM] r12 = 0x40, raw_sta = 0x40, idle_sta = 0x1ef, event_reg = 0x90100000, isr = 0x8
[ 3735.883800]-(0)[0:swapper/0][Power/swap] DP:timer_left=169569, timer_left2=169487, delta=82
[ 3735.885413]-(0)[0:swapper/0][SPM] wake up by EINT, timer_out = 3, r13 = 0x14061000, debug_flag = 0x11f
[ 3735.885426]-(0)[0:swapper/0][SPM] r12 = 0x40, raw_sta = 0x40, idle_sta = 0x1ef, event_reg = 0x90100000, isr = 0x8
[ 3735.885450]-(0)[0:swapper/0][Power/swap] DP:timer_left=58785, timer_left2=58697, delta=88
[ 3735.889440]-(0)[0:swapper/0][SPM] wake up by GPT, timer_out = 91, r13 = 0x14061000, debug_flag = 0x11f
[ 3735.889452]-(0)[0:swapper/0][SPM] r12 = 0x10, raw_sta = 0x10, idle_sta = 0x1ef, event_reg = 0x90100000, isr = 0x8
[ 3735.889475]-(0)[0:swapper/0][Power/swap] DP:timer_left=41943, timer_left2=41861, delta=82
[ 3735.915016]-(0)[0:swapper/0][SPM] wake up by GPT, timer_out = 805, r13 = 0x14061000, debug_flag = 0x11f
[ 3735.915028]-(0)[0:swapper/0][SPM] r12 = 0x10, raw_sta = 0x10, idle_sta = 0x1ef, event_reg = 0x90100000, isr = 0x8
[ 3735.915051]-(0)[0:swapper/0][Power/swap] DP:timer_left=324889, timer_left2=324809, delta=80
[ 3735.925376]-(0)[0:swapper/0][SPM] wake up by GPT, timer_out = 302, r13 = 0x14061000, debug_flag = 0x11f
[ 3735.925388]-(0)[0:swapper/0][SPM] r12 = 0x10, raw_sta = 0x10, idle_sta = 0x1ef, event_reg = 0x90100000, isr = 0x8
[ 3735.925410]-(0)[0:swapper/0][Power/swap] DP:timer_left=125424, timer_left2=125333, delta=91

or

[ 3735.656031] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]msdc1 -> !!! Set<300KHz> Source<200000KHz> -> sclk<299KHz> state<0> mode<0> div<167> hs400_src<0>
[ 3735.691127] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][MSDC] msdc1 -> XXX CMD<8><0x1aa> Error<-110> Resp<0x0> <- msdc_dump_trans_error() : L<8047> PID<kworker/u16:4><0x4b2f>
[ 3735.693567] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][MSDC] msdc1 -> XXX CMD<55><0x0> Error<-110> Resp<0x0> <- msdc_dump_trans_error() : L<8047> PID<kworker/u16:4><0x4b2f>
[ 3735.694068] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][MSDC] msdc1 -> XXX CMD<55><0x0> Error<-110> Resp<0x0> <- msdc_dump_trans_error() : L<8047> PID<kworker/u16:4><0x4b2f>
[ 3735.694569] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][MSDC] msdc1 -> XXX CMD<55><0x0> Error<-110> Resp<0x0> <- msdc_dump_trans_error() : L<8047> PID<kworker/u16:4><0x4b2f>
[ 3735.695070] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][MSDC] msdc1 -> XXX CMD<55><0x0> Error<-110> Resp<0x0> <- msdc_dump_trans_error() : L<8047> PID<kworker/u16:4><0x4b2f>
[ 3735.695080] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]sd card rocr <0x0>
[ 3735.695582] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][MSDC] msdc1 -> XXX CMD<1><0x0> Error<-110> Resp<0x0> <- msdc_dump_trans_error() : L<8047> PID<kworker/u16:4><0x4b2f>
[ 3735.695605] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]msdc LDO<11> power off
[ 3735.695616] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][hwPowerDown] powerId:11 index:0 mod_name: msdc
[ 3735.695624] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][11] PMU LDO Disable
[ 3735.695636] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [dct_pmic_VMC_enable] 0
[ 3735.695653] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [pmic_ldo_enable] Receive powerId 11, action is 0
[ 3735.695660] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]msdc LDO<10> power off
[ 3735.695670] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][hwPowerDown] powerId:10 index:0 mod_name: msdc
[ 3735.695678] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][10] PMU LDO Disable
[ 3735.695687] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [dct_pmic_VMCH_enable] 0
[ 3735.695702] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [pmic_ldo_enable] Receive powerId 10, action is 0
[ 3735.695722] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]msdc1 -> VMC_EN[0x0A16][bit1=disable]=0x500, VMC_VOL[0x0A48][bit1=3.3V]=0x9d3
[ 3735.695722] <- msdc_sd_power() : L<1918> PID<kworker/u16:4><0x4b2f>
[ 3735.695744] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]msdc1 -> VMCH_EN[0x0A14][bit1=disable]=0x100, VMCH_VOL[0x0A48][bit9=3.0V]=0x9d3
[ 3735.695744] <- msdc_sd_power() : L<1921> PID<kworker/u16:4><0x4b2f>
[ 3735.705761] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]msdc1 -> set mclk to 0
[ 3735.706862] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]msdc LDO<11> power on<3000>
[ 3735.706874] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][hwPowerOn] acquire powerId:11 index:0 mod_name: msdc powerVolt:3000
[ 3735.706883] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][11] PMU LDO Enable
[ 3735.706893] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] ****[dct_pmic_VMC_sel] value=3000
[ 3735.706920] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [dct_pmic_VMC_sel] [0xa48]=0x9d3,[0xa64]=0x7800.
[ 3735.706931] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [pmic_ldo_vol_sel] Receive powerId 11, action is 3000
[ 3735.706939] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [dct_pmic_VMC_enable] 1
[ 3735.706954] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [pmic_ldo_enable] Receive powerId 11, action is 1
[ 3735.706962] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]msdc LDO<10> power on<3000>
[ 3735.706973] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][hwPowerOn] acquire powerId:10 index:0 mod_name: msdc powerVolt:3000
[ 3735.706981] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][10] PMU LDO Enable
[ 3735.706990] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] ****[dct_pmic_VMCH_sel] value=3000
[ 3735.707007] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [pmic_ldo_vol_sel] Receive powerId 10, action is 3000
[ 3735.707016] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [dct_pmic_VMCH_enable] 1
[ 3735.707030] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4][Power/PMIC] [pmic_ldo_enable] Receive powerId 10, action is 1
[ 3735.707049] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]msdc1 -> VMC_EN[0x0A16][bit1=enable]=0xc502, VMC_VOL[0x0A48][bit1=3.3V]=0x9d3
[ 3735.707049] <- msdc_sd_power() : L<1918> PID<kworker/u16:4><0x4b2f>
[ 3735.707070] (0)[19247:kworker/u16:4]msdc1 -> VMCH_EN[0x0A14][bit1=enable]=0x8102, VMCH_VOL[0x0A48][bit9=3.0V]=0x9d3
[ 3735.707070] <- msdc_sd_power() : L<1921> PID<kworker/u16:4><0x4b2f>

The am and pm scripts do not work. They actually cause a hot reboot. That is, the kernel keeps running, but the rest of the android system restarts from the boot animation.

None of these problems is solved by a reboot. The high load and dmesg messages do not appear to affect power consumption, the battery still loses between half a percent and one percent per idle hour.

This is on a S3SW-20140314 system with almost no changes.

If anyone can check if the system behaves the same way on their device, with the same firmware, or a similar kitkat firmware, I will be grateful.