cpu usage

jayjay76 · #1 02-01-2004, 05:55 PM

XP PRO
hi all, ive been having a problem for a couple of months now...
my cpu usage seems to rocket to 100% for no reason, causing my OS to momentarily freeze (for about 5 seconds), this originally started when my spec was:
gigabyte ga7vaxp (via chipset)
xp2000 cpu
768mb 266 ddr ram (pc2100)
geforce 3 ti200 128mb
(400watt psu)

but since then i have had a total upgrade to:
msi ms-6570 (nforce2 chipset)
xp2800 cpu
1024mb 333 ddr ram (pc2700)
xfx geforce fx 5950 ultra 256mb
(450watt psu)

and guess what, the same thing happens.
i have formatted in that time, and i also keep my system tray as empty as possible, ive checked windows task manager, and nothing seems to be eating resources. my hard drives are the only things i have kept in both systems i built.
any ideas/tips will be appreciated, thankyou all...jayjay 76

also, ive noticed , when i use display properties, and change something in the setting (anything), then apply/ok, the window seems to also freeze, for about 10 seconds, as if its 'not responding), untill i refresh?. this started happening around the same time as above. thankyou

textymann · #2 02-01-2004, 08:35 PM

well you've already spent so much money on new hardware, might as well get a HD lol..run virus scans too..

njovin · #3 02-02-2004, 05:49 PM

When the CPU starts to rocket, pop into task manager on the processes tab and find out exactly what process is eating all the cpu, this info should help up help you better.

jayjay76 · #4 02-02-2004, 06:50 PM

ok, thanks for the response.
so what are the chances of the above problem being down to my hard drive(s) ?
(i have my OS running on a single 20gb hard drive thats 3 years old)

njovin · #5 02-02-2004, 08:14 PM

It certainly wouldn't hurt to try another one, but disc problems usually don't cause CPU usage, from my experience. A lot of times a system will slow down or hang if a drive is going bad, but I've never seen it cause the CPU to be used more.

Then again, you have already replaced everything else

TheTopDog · #6 02-04-2004, 09:41 AM

More than likely, when your system hangs and you pop into task manager....you will see "System Idle Process" up in the 90's for CPU usage...which isnt an abnormal thing but if "svhost" is ranging from 02 to 30 cpu usage...check to see what process listed under your user name twiches from 00 to 01 back to 00 really fast. Thats either a trojen, spy ware or a class B virus. If its been happening for a year or so, you ned to run a few things. If you can afford $50 go download "Pest Patrol" and run it. I guarantee it will find 200-300 hidden programs using CPU resorces. If you dont have the Money... search for some free ware that does the same thing. i.e. "adware 6 by lavasoft" The next step you can also do at the very begining just to see how much trouble your in...but deff do it after you have ran the program listed above. Go to WWW.PCPITSTOP.COM in the left hand column click run full test, this test will compile all kinds of very usefull information, and can fix or diagnose almost any problem. Good luck

jayjay76 · #7 02-06-2004, 08:22 PM

ok, got new HD, same sh*t (cpu usage ok in task manager, but my desktop reading (using Winbar) shows it going to 100%, and the freezing begins)

BTW, i have now changed everything........................except my dvd-rom, and my cd burner.... oh yeah, and XP pro.

grahalex · #8 02-18-2004, 02:30 PM

Sounds the same as my problem http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com...&threadid=8869 I dont use mcafee. Wondering about installing windows on top of itself, is this a good idea?

hassled dad · #9 02-18-2004, 05:13 PM

This could be competely out of order, but when I was building my system, I read a lot about problems with combinations of AMD processors, certain motherboards (I think the Gigabyte board you used in one of your builds was one of them, but could be wrong) and high-end graphics systems.

The solution seemed to be to either avoid these combinations or use a really big power supply. For that reason I bought a 550W Enermax power supply... then chickened out and went the Intel route. (Well, at least I don't need to have the heat on in winter.)

Another off the wall idea - some CD burning software takes the CPU usage to 100% (presumably to discourage your using anything else at the same time, so avoiding buffer under-run). Long shot I know, but is there anything that might be doing anything like this on your system?

wildman6801 · #10 02-19-2004, 04:41 PM

When you see your CPU close to 100% being used, go to the processes menu inside of the task manager (CTRL + ALT+ DEL). Click on the CPU to sort by CPU usage. Look for the process that has the highest value. If the process is in capital letters it is something that XP has to have. If not, then right click on it and close it. Be sure that it is not something that you are using though because this will close the program and may cause you to loose any unsaved work. So be careful.

grahalex · #11 02-22-2004, 05:11 PM

I gave up in the end and formated drive. It works fine now