Dual Core headaches

[skiflyer]

I have XP Pro 32-bit edition running on an AMD X2 4200+ platform.

It runs great most of the time, but occassionally a process just goes crazy and takes all the processing power from one core, it's been a few different ones so I don't think it's the programs.

My only recourse is to kill the process, but then another process tends to follow suit, and so on. Often it's explorer.exe which is the offender, though usually that's a second line offense after I've killed another process... any ideas?

 

[cdogg]

Create a secondary partition and load a fresh install of Windows XP. Without adding any 3rd-party software or connecting to the network/internet, see if it persists. If it doesn't then you know you have a software issue on the other partition.

You can try to wipe it clean with various utilities like Registry Mechanic, Spybot, etc., but in the end you'd probably save more time moving data over to a clean install and starting over (assuming that the test you did from above proved it to be a software issue).

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[skiflyer]

Well since the problem occasionally happens 4 times a day, and occasionally happens once every 4 weeks I'm afraid that's not a palatable test.

 

[LWComputingMVP]

What processes?

I have an AMD X2 3800 (running Server) and I've never seen such a problem.

 

[funk45]

I didn't dig too deep into these utilities, but there are several on here, including an AMD dual-core driver, that may be of some help to you.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_13118,00.html

 

[skiflyer]

pgmanager.exe is the most frequent offender recently

In the past firefox & thunderbird both had their share.

And then the one that is always the most frustrating explorer.exe

I have a feeling it has to do with the nvidia drivers, specifically the nview desktop thing... but who knows, thanks for the link funk45, I'll dig into it more.

 

[cdogg]

skiflyer,

Realistically, it could take weeks or months before you find a solution, or perhaps never. In addition, you've already indicated that it's been around for quite some time now. I think it's quite reasonable to assume that running a fresh image of windows for a mere couple weeks is worth knowing if it's a software or hardware issue. In fact, it may be the only way.

At the very least, image your hard drive before you start experimenting with possible fixes like the one funk45 posted. Often, you wind up with new issues trying to find the right fix...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884