Excess Kernel processor useage

[MerryMadDad]

Hi, I have just purchased a new hard disc and installed Windows ME from scratch followed by all the other applications I use - too many to list here. The problem now is that using system monitor, I see that the Kernel processor usage is Always at least 50% but mostly 80% is there any way to track down whatever is using so much processor time, is there some SW out there that can help. I tried to eliminate HW faults by moving the hard drive to an identical PC - but with the same results. The PC is a Dell Optiplex GX100 with 128Mb ram the processor is a Celeron running at 500Mhz. Any help much appreciated as this problem is slowing the PC down - lots !

Thank you

 

[wolluf]

Can you say what you are running? Obviously the more programs loaded, the more memory is used - once all RAM is used, starts using hard drive, slows down. If you've just installed, at what point did you notice the machine had slowed down? Usual culprits are apps which put themselves in the list to start when windows does. Use msconfig (run msconfig) to check these entries, and just disable ones you don't need at startup. Also, some apps are resource hogs - eg, Norton and Mcafee AV programs are (would advise changing to something like AVG if running one of those).

 

[smitee]

Hi MerryMadDad

In response to your

is there any way to track down whatever is using so much processor time, is there some SW out there that can help.

A good tool. Direct Download from Mark's site.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Files/ProcessExplorer9x.zip

Also as wolluf mentioned what else are you running?

GL

smitee

 

[MerryMadDad]

Thanks Wolluf and Smitee for your answers above, but there are no programs running at all, that's the problem. There are the usual things loaded at startup which can be viewed with msconfig as Wolluf suggested and in addition theres a printer control program for a Lexmark X85 printer and MS internet connection manager. I did not noticed at what point the system slowed down unfortunately as I had loads of stuff to install and wanted to get on with it. So with the PC sitting idle, I still get this high Kernel usage. I have a similar PC with clean install of ME and it does not have this problem, so it seems something I installed has caused this problem. Will try the link suggested by Smitee

Thanks again

Regards

Robert

 

[vacunita]

Try Cntrl-Alt-Del just once, this will bring up the running process dialog box, are there a lot of things running there? They can slow down the PC if there are lots of processes.

There should only be around 3-5 processes there. 3 are windows related(explorer.exe, systray.exe, somedody correct me if i'm worng but it is rundll32.exe) and the rest might be your AV, and other apps that do stuff in the background. But there should not be too many things running there.



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[MerryMadDad]

Hi Vacunita, tried that and also stopped everything I thought I could to no avail. But now the problem seems to have "gone away" since I changed the AV program I was using. I had used this particular AV for years on Win 98 and have never had any problems before so did not suspect it !
After replacing the AV program, I ran the program mentioned by Smitee and it is great ! lets you see everything that is running and how much processor time each program is using etc etc. I will check the website of the AV program to see if there are known problems with Windows ME.

Thanks again to all who responded

Kind Regards

Robert

 

[vacunita]

Glad you sorted it out. I'm not a bit surprised the AV change did it, probably when you used it in Win98 it was an older version which hogged much less resources than the newer ones today.

Norton, and Mcafee, are notorious for hogging lots of resources, and slowing a PC down. Panda i believe does not hog as much, and i think the lightest one is AVG.



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[CompEngPro]

Check the Microsoft Configuration Utility (MSCONFIG)

->>Start
->>Run
->>Type MSCONFIG
->>Click the OK command button
->>Select the Startup Tab

Make sure you don't have anything suspicious running in your registry and in your startup.
------------------------------------------------------------
If you don't have a mouse
keyboard will be fine

->>Windows Key
->>Up Arrow

->>Up Arrow
->>Enter

->>Type MSCONFIG
->>CTRL+TAB
->>Enter
->>Select the Startup Tab

Make sure you don't have anything suspicious running in your registry and in your startup.

 

[CompEngPro]

By the way Press CTRL+TAB 4x to get to the startup tab in the Microsoft Configuration utility.

Sorry about that, my mistake.