CPU usage too high 2

[mastervader]

Hey everybody, I just found this forum and was hoping someone out there could help me. I am running Windows XP Pro SP2 and the CPU time is routinely running between 75% - 100%. There are no processes running that are taking up CPU time. When I view Kernel times, it shows that all the CPU usage is Kernel time. As you can imagine, this slows down the computer quite a bit. Does anyone have any ideas what could be going on? I have done 2 clean reinstalls of the OS and it does the same thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[firewolfrl]

Ok here is the long shot....zero out the hard drive with the manufacturer's HD utility software
format is not good enough....you need to zero the complete drive.(test it too)
you could have a bootsector or MFT issue that is hard to chase
you pointed out that you did a clean install twice... I have seen hard drives slow computers. and just do all sorts of weird errors.

do you have a second HD connected?


hey good luck...

 

[sqlhotdog2005]

Try defragmenting the drive... then defragementing the pagefile.

 

[PitterPat]

Hi,

FWIW, I restarted the computer (I'd restarted twice b4 w/no joy) and suddenly things are back to normal.

I guess the 3rd time's a charm.

So I'm in great shape unless I ever have to reboot again!

PP

 

[galacticmushroom]

Hi,
I am new to these boards - actually I joined because I have been having the same issues that you have been discussing in this thread. I recently built a new machine and it's been running super slow anytime I run an application, etc. It's a P4 3.2/1M/800 with 1Gig of RAM, running XP Pro. I am using 2 HDD, a 40G and a 160G - both were wiped clean before the OS was installed.
My old computer was giving me a lot of problems, most notably was that it would crash anytime I ran Norton2005. On the new computer, anytime I run an application the system 'pegs out', 100% CPU usage, and the performance is so bad that the mouse movment is jumpy. I have tried several different things already - disconnect the second HDD, replaced the RAM, run antivirus/spyware scanners, etc. - no changes. It seems that the CPU is getting pretty warm when running any intensive program, and the fans kick into high speed anytime I make it 'think' a little hard. I replace the CPU with a P4 2.8/1M/533 to see if the processor was the problem - still doing the same stuff. Needless to say, either one of these processors should be more than enough for the applications I use.
I have been trying to narrow down what I may have added that would cause the problem, but can't seem to figure it out. For the most part, I am running the same programs that I always have. I had suspected on the old machine that Norton or possibly one of the Windows updates was the problem, and now it seems that the problems have migrated to the new computer. Actually, I just installed an ActiveX update yesterday from WU, and now this thing starts up slower than ever. I'm about ready to full zero and reload (again), but thought I'd see if you guys have any advise for me before I go that route. Any help would be appreciated.

Eric

 

[PitterPat]

Hi galacticmushroom,

Your problem may not be quite like the others in this thread. The key feature here is that CPU Utilization runs high even when Idle time is high and nothing else is running.

Do you have the symtoms as described. If not, what have you done so far to identify the problem (spyware checks, virus checks, etc.)?

PP

 

[galacticmushroom]

PitterPat -
Here is a list of the things I have done/tested:
Complete Norton scan - no problems.
Spyware/Adware scan - ran Spybot and Adaware, just some cookies.
Disconnected secondary hard drive - I had noticed that transfers from this drive to the primary drive were really slow, so I figured I'd disconnect the drive to rule it out.
Installed different RAM - again, to rule out the RAM as a cause -- no change in performance.
Installed different processor - swapped out the P4 3.2/800 for a P4 2.8/533. I couldn't find the full specs for my motherboard, and I wasn't sure if it could handle the 800fsb, or what the behavior would be if that were the case. No change in sypmtoms.
Anytime I start or use any somewhat intense program, the CPU usage goes through the roof and it's nearly impossible to run another program. Here are some examples: I'm running WinZip to unzip a large file - the fans will kick on to high and the performance is so bad that the mouse movement is jerky. If I try to play a video file in Media Player, the video and sound will kinda stop-frame and glitch.
When I look at the System Info, the following shows up under the Conflicts/Sharing tab under Hardware/Resources heading:

I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 PCI bus
I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 Direct memory access controller

IRQ 16 Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller
IRQ 16 Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D2
IRQ 16 Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24DE

IRQ 18 Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D7
IRQ 18 Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network Connection
IRQ 18 Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers

Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF PCI bus
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller

Can anyone help me make sense of this? Are these devices cause conflicts, or are they sharing?

I am tempted to just wipe this machine out and reload everything. I started it out clean, fresh install of XP Pro, ran all updates, installed Norton, ran Live Updates and full system scan, then one by one installed my programs - which I have been using for quite a while with no problems. I have added some new hardware recently, but the problems I've been having were pre-existing. I'm pretty much at a loss for what is causing my problems - this should be a pretty fast and stable machine
Dell Optiplex GX270
P4 3.2Ghz/1M/800
1G of 333mhz RAM
40G hard drive (for OS, programs, some files)
160G partioned to 3 drives - photos/music/work
CD/DVD drive and CD/DVD burner
etc.

Any help would definately be appreciated!

 

[PitterPat]

Hi galacticmushroom,

It looks like you have some serious IRQ conflicts with the USB controller. My USB controller is on IRQ21. See if you can re-assign the IRQ. That might help.

My IO [0...0 - 0...CF7] is assigned to the PCI bus (like yours) but the PCI bus controlls a whole bunch of stuff. So I don't think that's a problem.

HTH,

PP

 

[galacticmushroom]

Here's where I my ignorance - how do you change the IRQ assignment? From the bios or ??
-Eric

 

[PitterPat]

Hi galacticmushroom,

That's a good question. I've never had to do that since XP.

First, there may be some settings in the BIOS. Take a look. See if you can change IRQ assignments.

If not, see if the BIOS has a feature to "Let Windows manage resurces" or something like that. If you find the option, enable it. Then...

Open the Device Manager (Control Panel/System/Hardware Tab/Device Manager.

Find the USB Universal Host Controller(s) and/or Enhanced Host Controller and double click. On the Resoruces tab, see if you can select a different IRQ. You may have to do that for each USB controller.

HTH,

PP

 

[UKles]

Hi,

I'm having a similar problem in that my XP system boots to a CPU usage of 60-70% / system idle time 98% with no other processes seen (by taskman) to be running.

Having read the replies thus far, my PC seems to exhibit an additional aspect in that the condition only occurs only on the single (apart from system one) administrator account that i have set up. On all the 'user' accounts (3), including one latterly opened for test purposes, CPU usage on boot sits happily at around 2%. I have ran all the adaware/spybot programs to no result. I then went into msconfig and turned off/on everything in a logical order but the CPU usage stayed virtually the same (>50%).

So I’m stumped and hoping you folk can help out. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Les

 

[thedon57]

galacticmushroom.

yes in your case you have some programs conficting,A kernal-mode process or driver attempted to access a memory loction without authorization. This error is typically caused by faulty or incompatible hardware or software. The nane of the offending device driver often appears in the error and can provide an important clue to solving the problem.
If the error message points to a specific device or category of devices, try removing or replacing devices in that category. If this error appears during setup or when you go to move a device suspect an incompatible driver, system service, virus scanner, or backup program.

See my own website at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Selfbuilt_conputer.