Constant 8-27% cpu usage at idle *confused*

[Black Dragon]

Hi, I've put together a new build of an E6300 coupled with P5W DH Deluxe (yeah i know, not the best board for that cpu but it will be changed to an E6600 soon). When i open task manager the cpu usuage is constantly jumping between 8%-27% normally between 8% and 12%. It's a fresh install of XP all drivers have been installed and the bios updated to 1305. The system is also completely clean of virus's spyware etc.
Explorer.exe and system are the only processes i see with any sort of constant cpu usage when idle and thats usually about 0-2%. System Idle process i see dropping from it's normal 99% down to sometimes around 75%. Pretty much everything else in task manager sits at Zero and i see nothing to explain this.

Any ideas anyone? Could it possible be a hardware problem?

Cheers,
A stumped Black Dragon.

[Edit - cpu temps are fine, idling in the low 30's and around 45 stressed, currently on overclocked to 2.5Ghz but the problem was there while the cpu was at stock]

 

[Bobthelost]

Restart and see if it's gone away, i got something similar with my 4400X2 for a while once i'd overclocked it, just went away after a while :Q

 

[Black Dragon]

I've restarted quite a few times and unfortunately it doesn't solve it. It was like this even before i started overclocking and is the reason i'm unwilling just now to go past 2.5Ghz in case there is any underlying problem that will fry the chip. I've even tried reseating it.

 

[Baked]

Turn off the damn system restore feature for starter. Look in the task manager processes tab and see what programs are running. You should have no more than 20+/-2 programs with a fresh install.

 

[Black Dragon]

Erm... I turned off system restore pretty much as soon as the xp install was complete like i always do and the processes running in task manager are fine, there is nothing there that shouldn't be and none of them indicate that they are the cause of the constant cpu usage.

 

[jg0001]

I always like to create a drive image (backup) after installing windows but BEFORE installing ANY DRIVERS at all, or even winupdates -- just to always have that superclean winXP ready to go in case of an oddball situation like the one you mention.

I would do the following as tests:
(1) turn off system restore for all drives
(2) turn off the recycle bin for all drives
(3) turn off indexing for all drives

Reboot.

(1) download and run ProcessExplorer (great little freeware program that just 'runs', does not 'install'. It will tell you the originator of every process currently running -- think of it as a better version of task manager

(2) download, install, and run CCleaner (you can get that at www.filehippo.com). It has a 'startup' tab under the tools section (I think). From there, you can see what is trying to run on boot. You can also try to see what "issues" there may be -- there's almost always 5-10 issues, even on a clean XP install.

Reboot.

 

[Black Dragon]

Thanks for the tip with those programs jg handy things.

According to process explorer its something called DPCs - Deferred Procedure Calls. Lol i have no ideas what it does and if it should be using that amount of the cpu.

 

[lopri]

Have you checked the Task Manager?

Ctrl+Alt+Del -> "Processes" tab -> and from the menu "View" and check "CPU Time"

Now with "CPU" column and "CPU Time" column, you should be able to identify which process is eating up the CPU cycles.

 

[Shaotai]

do you have automatic updates enabled? maybe it's d/ling patches...

 

[Black Dragon]

As in my last post, the ProcessExplorer program shows it to be something called - DPCs - Deferred Procedure Calls. This process does not show up in Task Manager but is definately the culprit as it's cpu usage corresponds exactly to the 8%+ constant cpu usage.

Shoatai - nope it's not automatic updates, it's there whether updates are on or not.

Here's a pic of what i'm seeing in ProcessExplorer right now :

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/680/processexplorerpm5.jpg

 

[Black Dragon]

Can any of you explain this Deferred Procedure Calls in layman terms as to why it has a constant CPU usage? I just don't get it, none of my previous rigs have ever encountered this. The only other intel one i've had was a celeron system ages ago and it wasn't present there.

 

[Black Dragon]

So have i got you lot stumped too?

 

[bobsmith1492]

It's not the hardware; it has to be the software. Reinstall! Or did you say it was a fresh install... maybe try it again anyway. Or, you could just not worry about it; as long as it doesn't get unstable and sluggish, it won't hurt anything.

 

[Black Dragon]

Yep new build comp with a fresh install, up to date drivers etc. Doubt i can live with it though, 8-27% constant cpu usage before i even start programs up definately will effect the system.

I'll try another fresh install tomorrow when i've got time.

Edit - no one actually know of any reason DPCs would be doin this? I hate things happening that i can't explain.

 

[dlogic]

Some Nvidia 6800 video cards have been causing DPC problems. If this is your video card try swapping it out and see if the problem goes away.

 

[Black Dragon]

Nah x1800xt 512mb

 

[kmmatney]

Run Process Explorer NT and see if you have any hardware interupt issues. I had a similar thing going on with a computer at work, and the on-board sound was swamping the system with interupt calls. I just disabled the sound card and the problem went away. In any case, Process Explorer NT will give you a lot more information than task manager.


http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html

Edit - Sorry, didn't see you already tried process explorer... I think you need to start disabling drivers to see which one makes the problem go away. I know that wireless networking drivers can cause this issues.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I had this happen today from out of nowhere. I restarted, went down to 2.8Ghz on the CPU (from 3.2) and lowered the voltage 1 notch and it went away...no clue what happened.