Realtek HD Audio running suddenly, heating up my GPU?

[pooptastic]

Got a strange issue. if i reboot my PC, after sitting idle for a half hour or so, suddenly a new process, "Realtek HD Audio (32 bit)" shows up taking up around 10% cpu usage.

Normally I wouldn't even notice, except I was near my case at one point and felt heat pouring out of it, like I was gaming. Opened up Speedfan, and yep my GPU temps were way high for not running anything.

If i kill the process, it stays dead until i reboot. Also it stops heating the GPU and that drops down to normal too.

Does anyone know what could be causing this? I'm at a loss, and it's not in my startup files anywhere. Running Windows 10, if it matters.

 

[j03h4gLund]

If you dont need the Realtek service thats causing the problem, why not just disable it in the device manager?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Was anything Flash running in those Chrome tabs? Next time it does this, close Chrome instead of killing the Realtek process and see if it stops.

 

[pooptastic]

Was anything Flash running in those Chrome tabs? Next time it does this, close Chrome instead of killing the Realtek process and see if it stops.

I might have been running Firefox (with Pandora) running, which it often is. Flash does load with that. I have flash disabled in Chrome.

I'll give it a shot!

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Ok, do that. It does sound like Flash or something is running, maybe just a Flash ad, and that can cause the GPU to heat up. If it has audio then it would also cause the audio process to run.

 

[pooptastic]

Didn't seem to do anything. Quit out of Firefox totally after it finally popped up, and it didn't stop running.

The Flash process did stop running after I closed FF/Pandora though.

edit: found the process .exe, looks to be from pirated software possibly. Submitting it to virus places as a sample now.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Have you installed any new software or hardware recently? What about Windows Updates? Might be a good time for a full virus/malware scan.

 

[pooptastic]

Have you installed any new software or hardware recently? What about Windows Updates? Might be a good time for a full virus/malware scan.

No kidding! Looks like it's TR/BitCoinMiner.ppzg

I wondered if it was something like that, since it used the GPU. malwarebytes and Windows 10's defender didn't pick it up.

 

[nerp]

It's probably malware pretending to be the realtek executable.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

No kidding! Looks like it's TR/BitCoinMiner.ppzg

I wondered if it was something like that, since it used the GPU. malwarebytes and Windows 10's defender didn't pick it up.

Actually, it might just be a Windows 10 bug. See this thread, and especially this post as it sounds exactly the same as your situation. Seems odd the bug is still around if that is the case.

 

[pooptastic]

Thanks for that. Turned out to be a mining trojan, not that specific bug.

Oh well, removed now. Pretty cool actually, haven't been infected with anything in ages. So glad it wasn't ransomware instead.

 

[LTC8K6]

Well, it's good that you were paying attention and noticed that something was not quite right.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You know, this thread is interesting, because I've noticed today, that my GPU is spiking to 90% usage, every few seconds, but not continuously.

GPU temp is 42C, instead of like 36C.

I'm running BOINC in the background, but only with CPU tasks, no GPU tasks running.

And I have internet radio playing in the background, through the HDMI of my 7950 card. But still, I don't recall the GPU spiking before when I was playing the radio.

 

[diman82]

Got a strange issue. if i reboot my PC, after sitting idle for a half hour or so, suddenly a new process, "Realtek HD Audio (32 bit)" shows up taking up around 10% cpu usage.

Normally I wouldn't even notice, except I was near my case at one point and felt heat pouring out of it, like I was gaming. Opened up Speedfan, and yep my GPU temps were way high for not running anything.

If i kill the process, it stays dead until i reboot. Also it stops heating the GPU and that drops down to normal too.

Does anyone know what could be causing this? I'm at a loss, and it's not in my startup files anywhere. Running Windows 10, if it matters.

I think I've found the culprit - TEAMVIEWER!

I've opened the location of the "Realtek HD Audio (32 bit)" process, and on my PC it was:
C:\Users\Diman82\AppData\Local\TeamViewer\Realtek HD\rthdcpl.exe

I guess this driver is used somehow by TEAMVIEWER for transfering audio (between host & guest).

Anyway, deleted the file, and blocked it with this app:
http://www.processblocker.com/ (in case TEAMVIEWER reinstalled or recovers this file).

P.S Opened a ticket at TEAMVIEWER, will update if get to some resolution.