High CPU usage

[SirBlack]

I bought a Toshiba Satellite C855D with AMD E-300 APU with Radeon HD Graphics 1.30GHz, 4.00 GB RAM (3.59 usable) running Windows 8 64-bit OS.

I deleted all unwanted apps and started to install others as well as all Windows patches.
Every install caused the PC to slow down to a crawl with Service Host: Local System (14), Windows Modules Installer Worker & Windows Modules Installer using excess CPU (80-95%) and 50+% Memory usage. I tried ending the processes but they immediately started back up. These processes even use up CPU when I'm not installing anything.

Any ideas on how to resolve this issue will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help, Bob

Remember, if you can't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them!

Bob B-)

 

[linney]

Maybe it is some hardware problem that needs attention from Toshiba? Is it still under Warranty?

If you create a new Windows user do you still have a problem?


System Restore might be an option to undo some of your changes?

How to repair the operating system and how to restore the operating system configuration to an earlier point in time in Windows Vista (or 7, or 8).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936212/#appliesto

See, Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Recovery\ Open System Restore

Try Safe Mode and a Clean Boot and see if you can isolate a cause.

How to start Windows 8 in Safe Mode

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/start-windows-8-in-safe-mode/

How to perform a clean boot to troubleshoot a problem in Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/929135

Most new machines come with a recovery partition allowing you to go back to the time of purchase, you will have to check your user guides for instructions. Choosing that path requires you to save all valuable data first.



These options are built-in to Windows 8 also.



How to restore, refresh, or reset your PC

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc

 

[rclarke250]

The E-300 is a very slow cpu, it is only an 18w processor, and like I said, really, really, slow. It scores only a few points higher than an old Sempron 3800+. It's basically a netbook cpu. Plus it's only a single channel memory controller. The good news, your battery will last a long time, but then it has to, because it takes soooooo long to complete anything.

 

[flyboytim]

Although the E 300 is no record breaker, Windows 8 should be quite usable with that processor and RAM. I have a similarly specced Compaq Presario originally loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium x64 and upgraded to Windows 8 Pro with WMC, and it is much faster with 8 than 7.

It runs cool and quietly, and has good battery life as said, and has not shown any appreciable performance degradation over the last 10 months.

The slowdown you experience is very likely due to Windows background housekeeping activities in view of the pruning and installation activities that have been going on, notably defragmentation, file and folder optimization and indexing. Windows background updates may also be in the process of downloading and installation. Typically, Task Manager will show Service Host Local System (15) (or some other number) using a large portion of the system resources for several minutes. Sometimes this happens after "Update Tuesday", and it can be a pain.

To some extent, new Windows OS releases do have issues like this for the first few months - it certainly happened with XP and Vista until Service packs corrected the less-than-optimal code.

Just let the system settle down, and hopefully the issue will correct itself. If not, use your warranty options to replace the machine, or try the options suggested by other members above.