CPU usage - at 100%!

[helenc]

Hi all

I have a W2K SP4 server running our Accounts software that four clients connect to via Terminal Services.

Recently this has started to get slower and slower until unusable. I've checked all the latest updates/patches, etc. and have done full virus scan with latest DATs, to no effect.

When looking at the task manager, there is an item just called "System" which is bashing the CPU. I run Performance Monitor and look at Threads starting wtih "system" and it looks like Thread 13.

My question is what do I do from here?? I can't kill the system process and I can't identify what the problem is either so am a bit stuck. Can anyone help?

 

[NetworkAdmin123]

There actually was a patch MS just put out that was causing this issue. I've read some areas where this was happening to servers. It happened to me on a 2000 workstation. I had to unistall the patch. I'll look to the patch or the articles.

 

[NetworkAdmin123]

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?SQID=821514&SPID=616&newpid=616&page=1

This is the article

 

[helenc]

Thanks, Networkadmin, for the response. I had actually already done that, having read about it. And it's made no difference ...

 

[helenc]

Any other suggestions gratefully received!

I've removed that patch, reapplied SP4, then run a virus update and full scan, as well as running Spybot and Adaware to check for nasties.

Still the processor is running at 100% and making the machine virtually unusable. And guess what - it's month-end and year-end and Accounts are getting antsy!

Any ideas anyone?

 

[tahoe2]

You might try this, if you haven't fixed it yet... I got it off the Microsoft site. Basically it helps you figure out which device driver is running in the system process.

Hope it helps,
Corie

SUMMARY
This article describes how to break down the System process when you are monitoring the computer's performance.
MORE INFORMATION
When you are monitoring the computer's performance to determine the cause of a bottleneck, or to determine why the computer stopped responding (hangs), the monitoring results may reveal that the System process consumes a large amount of processor time. This issue is usually caused by a device driver that is running in the context of the System process. To break down the System process, use the procedure that is described in this section.

NOTE: If you restart the computer during this procedure, the results are not valid.

Start performance monitoring by selecting the Thread object, %Processor Time counter, and only the instances of the System process.
Note the threads that are using large amounts of processor time.
Click the System process in the Process window, and then use the Process Viewer tool (Pviewer.exe) to examine the parent process for the thread.

NOTE: Process Viewer is located in the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit or on the Windows 2000 Support Tools CD-ROM.
In the Thread window, click the thread number that corresponds to the thread that you identified in step two.
Note the start address in Process Viewer.
At the command prompt, run the Process and Thread Status tool (Pstat.exe) to view the running processes and the loaded module list.

NOTE: Process and Thread Status is located in the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit and in the Windows 2000 Resource Kit.
Compare the thread start address to the loaded module list.
Identify the location of the thread against the module list.

Usually, this location is a device driver.
Contact the vendor of the device driver for additional support.

 

[helenc]

Thanks Tahoe2 for taking the time to reply. I completely forgot to update this thread - my bad.

It turned out to be that a second tape drive had managed to install itself (still not sure how) and once I had removed all trace of that from the system, the processor immediately went back to normal.

H