40% - 60% CPU usage for no reason

[tweeve2002]

My friend and I are having a problem with his computer...The CPU is using anywere form 40% to 60+% CPU usage at all time.
the system is a
OS - Win 2000 Pro - all service packs installed
CPU - 1.3GHz OC 1.5GHz P4
Motherboard - Abit TH7 RAID
RAM - 1GB Samsung RDRAM 800MHz
Video - ATI Radeon 9600 XT 128MB
Sound - onboard - AC97
NIC - RealTek
PSU - Unknown 350W

We are not sure what the problem is quite yet...We disabled the onboard so we disabled the Sound, that didnt help...then we uninstalled newest video drivers that we downloaded, ran with no video drivers and it was fixed ...then took the driver disk and reinstalled the drivers from the disk and the problem came back

do you think that the video card has gone bad? he got the card at X-mas!
or could it be another problem that we havn't thought of?

 

[redass1876]

check for spyware....i use adaware and spybot - search and destroy in conjunction and that fixes it for me

 

[tweeve2002]

Originally posted by: redass1876
check for spyware....i use adaware and spybot - search and destroy in conjunction and that fixes it for me

Ran spy-bot no good...CPU usage still running high :|

 

[redass1876]

run adaware too, it catches a different type of spyware,


also, try using a driver cleaning program, im not sure of what a good one is, but maybe you have old video card drivers on the computer

 

[fun2sixty9]

i don't remember if in win2k..u can look @ the services like u can in xp(in task manager).. where u can check and see which process is taking up the most cpu time.. if not..thats where u might want to start..try to find a program to monitor services and tasks..see which is the culprit

 

[Thegonagle]

He's got spyware/adware running in the background. I'm virtually certain of it. Some of those programs are very poorly written and make extremely inefficient use of resources. Many also use Java, which itself is not particularly efficient; a poorly written Java app. really compounds the problem.

 

[fun2sixty9]

agreed..and by finding which process he can terminate it or @ least track it back to the source

 

[tweeve2002]

Originally posted by: fun2sixty9
i don't remember if in win2k..u can look @ the services like u can in xp(in task manager).. where u can check and see which process is taking up the most cpu time.. if not..thats where u might want to start..try to find a program to monitor services and tasks..see which is the culprit

Do you know where I can find a program like that...Task manager in win 2000 sucks...its not telling us anything...exept that the CPU usage is high and no other programs that are running is using that much CPU usage

 

[tweeve2002]

Originally posted by: Thegonagle
He's got spyware/adware running in the background. I'm virtually certain of it. Some of those programs are very poorly written and make extremely inefficient use of resources. Many also use Java, which itself is not particularly efficient; a poorly written Java app. really compounds the problem.

Alright after updating spybot all the way and removing some wild tangent spyware the cpu usage drop to about 10%- 25% usage all the time...we are now downloading adware and going to see what that catches....thanks for the spyware tip.

 

[fun2sixty9]

honestly.. i have no clue..im personally an linux user.. and only time ive monitor'd system resources in xp was with task manager ..but id say try to find an application that can do what i explained..and you should be good..trying making another thread in the software forum..or something..see if any1 knows something or just google around first

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: tweeve2002

Originally posted by: fun2sixty9
i don't remember if in win2k..u can look @ the services like u can in xp(in task manager).. where u can check and see which process is taking up the most cpu time.. if not..thats where u might want to start..try to find a program to monitor services and tasks..see which is the culprit

Do you know where I can find a program like that...Task manager in win 2000 sucks...its not telling us anything...exept that the CPU usage is high and no other programs that are running is using that much CPU usage

Did you look in the "Processes" tab of the task manager?

 

[tweeve2002]

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: tweeve2002

Originally posted by: fun2sixty9
i don't remember if in win2k..u can look @ the services like u can in xp(in task manager).. where u can check and see which process is taking up the most cpu time.. if not..thats where u might want to start..try to find a program to monitor services and tasks..see which is the culprit

Do you know where I can find a program like that...Task manager in win 2000 sucks...its not telling us anything...exept that the CPU usage is high and no other programs that are running is using that much CPU usage

Did you look in the "Processes" tab of the task manager?

yeah nothing...is using that much power that would explain why it is that high...just occasional 1 - 2 blips that show up like normal.

 

[Sunner]

So is the idle process using ~99 percent CPU?

 

[tweeve2002]

Originally posted by: Sunner
So is the idle process using ~99 percent CPU?

yeah...I havent seen a win 2000/XP system not say that.

 

[Bozz]

Disable the indexing service, it will most likely fix your problem

 

[tweeve2002]

Originally posted by: Bozz
Disable the indexing service, it will most likely fix your problem

We'll try that...I be back when we see if that works

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: Sunner
So is the idle process using ~99 percent CPU?

Lol, you gotta love the peeps that ask why their CPU won't "stop" and is always working at 99%

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: tweeve2002

Originally posted by: Sunner
So is the idle process using ~99 percent CPU?

yeah...I havent seen a win 2000/XP system not say that.

Well if the idle process usage is @ 99% then there isn't anything using 40-60% of the CPU or the idle process usage could only possibly be @ 60-40, couln't it? The wonders of math......

What's his RAM usage like?
Do you really know how to check these things or are you juts giving random answers?

Thorin

 

[tweeve2002]

here is an update on the problem....After disableing indexing service, still no change....the system idle procerss is at 99 lile normal....The CPU usage is now at 17 - 35+% at all times...it went down after running spy-bot and adware...RAM usage is normal for a computer at idle...

 

[d3n]

Any of your system devices stuck in PIO mode instead of DMA?

 

[Gagabiji]

This is probably a really dumb question, but do you think hey could be running a program like Seti? Ah never mind, I know nothing. Good luck fixing your prob though.

 

[RussianSensation]

I have exact same problem and I cannot fix it either but maybe it's your 350 watt power supply, check the voltage rails.

 

[SneakyStuff]

do you have the program "cpuidle.exe" running?

EDIT: If so, disable it from starting in msconfig and see if that helps.

 

[tweeve2002]

Originally posted by: d3n
Any of your system devices stuck in PIO mode instead of DMA?

I dont beleave so...We are running a HighPoint RocketRAID 100 card with 2 WD 80Gb hard drives....The RAID drives are the newest ones that we could find.


As for the cpuidle.exe it is not running.

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: tweeve2002
here is an update on the problem....After disableing indexing service, still no change....the system idle procerss is at 99 lile normal....The CPU usage is now at 17 - 35+% at all times...it went down after running spy-bot and adware...RAM usage is normal for a computer at idle...

Maybe it's just me but doesn't everyone see the impossibility of these statements. Your CPU can not run @ 99% + 17-35% (116% + CPU usage). If something is using 17 to 35% of your CPU then your idle usage CAN NOT POSSIBLY be pinned @ 99%.

Originally posted by: tweeve2002

Originally posted by: d3n
Any of your system devices stuck in PIO mode instead of DMA?

I dont beleave so...We are running a HighPoint RocketRAID 100 card with 2 WD 80Gb hard drives....The RAID drives are the newest ones that we could find.

Check the configuration of the devices in the Device Manager. Ensure that they're set to "DMA if available" and that they are actually in DMA mode.

Thorin