processor usage??

[heylonghair]

I am having a strange issue with my processor usage. I have been having a ton of problems with my computer lately and finally tracked it down to the motherboard. I replaced it and the replacement was bad as well. I am finally on a third motherboard and everything seems to be working properly, except...the processor usage is unusually high. It is running about 80% or so. Now when I open IE and my homepage comes up(Excite) processor usage drops down to normal levels (around 30%). Some sites the usage will stay at normal levels and other sites the usage will go back up. Another thing is if I am just at the desktop and I move the mouse around the processor usage will drop down until I stop using the mouse and then it will bounce back up again. Does anyone have any ideas?
My specs are:
AMD 750 T-Bird
ASUS A7V BIOS Version 1007
512 MB
SB Live Value

Programs that are installed and running:
Zone Alarm
Asus PC Probe
Norton Systemworks 2000
TClockEx

Tasks that are running:
Explorer
Creative Launcher
Zonealarm
Asusprob
Sysdoc32
Monwow
Csinsm32
Em_exec
Navapw32
Poproxy
Systray
Csinject

I realize that a couple of those programs are essentially just bloatware depending on your opinion but I have also tried shutting down all tasks except Explorer and Systray and that doesn't seem to make a difference. I also had all these programs running fine on my computer for about 2 years before I started having all these problems. What am I missing? Could my processor be going too? I'm at a loss here.

Ray

 

[Smilin]

1st thing is pin down what program is doing the processor usage. Use task manager and sort by processor usage.

The fact the cpu usage drops during the times you mention says it might be a process with a really low priority.


If this is windows 9x you are going to have some trouble pinning this down.


Edit: Welcome to Anandtech by the way!

 

[heylonghair]

Thanks for the welcome Smilin.

I've been going through the task manager and system info and nothing seems to have any effect. I've unloaded everything I can through msconfig so nothing extra is booting. I've got Explorer and Systray running in the Task Manager. And the system information shows the running tasks as:
Kernel32.dll
MSGSRV32.EXE
Mprexe.exe
MMTASK.TSK
Explorer.exe
Systray.exe
Wmiexe.exe
Msinfo.exe

Still running over 50%. BTW I am running Win 98SE. Sorry I forgot to mention that in the last post. I just formatted and did a clean install of Windows too so there shouldn't be any 'leftovers' causing problems that way. And it still drops when I move the mouse around and then jumps back up as soon as I stop.
Are there any utility programs out there that would help with showing what tasks are running and stuff like that?

Ray

P.S. As soon as I finished replying and closed down IE it jumped right back up to 80% again. I just can't figure it out. It's very frustrating!!

 

[microAmp]

Filemon Freeware, to see real time CPU usage.

 

[heylonghair]

Thanks motoamd, I'll try that.

Ray

 

[BarbeQueGuy]

Can I take a guess that the longer you run the machine, the slower it gets?
You may be suffering from memory leakage, and it should be an easy fix.
First option: Upgrade from Win98 to 2k or XP.
or,
Second Option: Go into the bios and disable "ACPI"
ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) is an open industry specification co-developed by Compaq, Intel, Microsoft, Phoenix, and Toshiba. ACPI moves power management from the bios and gives the control to the operating system. The code was not written for AMD chips, and W98 seems to have a real problem with it.
Unfortunately, I didn't find out how to fix it till after I upgraded to W2K, but I'm glad I did, W2K works great.

 

[heylonghair]

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be a memory issue. I've been rebooting a lot the last few days, trying different things, but I've left it on overnight and there doesn't seem to be any noticeable slow-down at all. The other thing is if the processor were working that hard all the time you would think that the temp would go up at least a bit but it is staying right where it always used to be. Might you I do have more than adequate cooling but...
Anyway, I tried Filemon. Wow, what a program. The problem is now I need someone to help interpret for me. I can figure out most of what comes flashing across the screen but I keep getting this over and over again.

Process - Explorer:FFE14937 (Everytime I run it, it seems to be a different number but everything else is always the same)
Request - GetDiskInfo
Result - Success
Other - Free Space

Is it normal for Windows to be accessing(?) that constantly or is that part of my problem?

Ray

 

[heylonghair]

Well, it looks like this has got everyone stumped.
I reformatted and reinstalled Windows 98SE last night again and with nothing installed it is still doing the same thing. I will open up System Monitor and until I touch the mouse it will show 2-3%, but as soon as I move the mouse it jumps up to around 50%. It wouldn't be my PS/2 controller or something like that, could it? The weird thing is it doesn't seem to affect the computer at all. I had it running for a couple of days and there was no slow-downs or anything, it seemed to run just fine. I guess if its not affecting my system I shouldn't worry...but it's just not right!

Ray