image name: "system" taking up 99% CPU

[BriGy86]

the performance monitor shows that the CPU is at 100% just flat lined at the top

in the processes tab under image name "system" is taking up 99% CPU usage (not the system idle process)

any idea what could cause this?

for virus and spyware i have
spybot 1.4 RC- (recently installed and a beta version): ill try uninstalling it and see what happens
ad-aware SE
spyware blaster- (recently uninstalled it cause of this problem)
spyware guard
MS anti-spyware
trend micro internet security 2005- (with integrated fire wall)

OS: windows xp pro
AMD 3000+ CPU
1 gig of ram
80 gig seagate harddrive (IDE)
ASUS mobo

let me know if/what more info you need

 

[stash]

My customer ran into this problem last night. Turned out to be a bad virus definition from Trend Micro. It only affects XP SP2. You need to boot into safe mode and set all Trend services to manual. Then boot normally, and start ONLY the listener service. This will allow Trend to download the latest update. Then you can start the other services.

 

[BriGy86]

ok, thank you very much

sorry about cross posting, it just seems there aren't a lot of people that post solutions

 

[jkoon]

Originally posted by: STaSh
My customer ran into this problem last night. Turned out to be a bad virus definition from Trend Micro. It only affects XP SP2. You need to boot into safe mode and set all Trend services to manual. Then boot normally, and start ONLY the listener service. This will allow Trend to download the latest update. Then you can start the other services.

Why does trend micro use such a generic process name? Seems a little shady to me.

 

[BriGy86]

well, i know to disable it on boot up

but what is the actual .exe i need to run?

i see nothing that looks like listener service in the program files

 

[mondobyte]

It also affects Windows 2003 Server SP1 ***

 

[stash]

services are under services.msc. I don't have a machine in front of me, but I think it's called the Officescan Listener service or something similar.

 

[BriGy86]

OH ok

i was thinking under startup services in a msconfig

but its under the services in admin tools

i c now, thanks

 

[BriGy86]

im only seeing 4 though

trend micro central component
trend micro personal firewall
trend micro proxy service
trend micro real time service

none of witch have to do with updates it seems

the only office one i saw had to do with watson, and there were no services that had to do with listening

im still stumped (i am able to move around my computer though when not insafe mode, so some progress has been made)

 

[BriGy86]

found a solution here

 

[stash]

Yeah I guess the consumer and enterprise products have different services. Glad you found a solution.

 

[Noema]

Ah, yes, that happened to the computer I use at work on friday. The admin had no clue as to what happened. I thought it was a nasty virus, since I also noticed the 'system' process (very shady, like someone said) sucking up 99% of resources.

Guess I'll get to save the day on monday, then.

 

[BriGy86]

yeah, its really easy, don't even have to shut down processes

just go into the program files delete the one file it specifies in the link, then run the update service agian

works great

 

[stash]

since I also noticed the 'system' process (very shady, like someone said) sucking up 99% of resources.

System isn't a Trend process, it is a legitimate Windows process. Whatever Trend screwed up with the update caused the system process to consume almost all CPU resources, which makes the machine unusable.