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System process 99% CPU

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jsolutions

Programmer
Jul 18, 2002
157
US
I started my laptop today and noticed that everything was running VERY slowly. I checked the task manager and I see a constantly running task labeled System. It is using 99% of the CPU. I tried to stop the process, but could not. I have also tried restarting, but have the same problem.

Has anyone seen this before? Any suggestions on what I can do?
 
jsolutions

You cannot end the "System" process from Task Manager.
Most system kernel-mode threads run as the System process.

Try this link:


Ed Please let me know if the suggestion(s) I provide are helpful to you.
Sometimes you're the windshield... Sometimes you're the bug.
smallbug.gif
 
Are you finding System or System Idle process using 99%.

If its System Idle then that is normal. It means the CPU isn't doing anything. When System Idle drops to around 20% your looking at crash time because your resources are being used up.

If System Idle is the one sitting at 99% then your slow down is somewhere else and you'll need to do some more digging to figure out what the problem is.

[System Idle Process higher is better]
 
dodger - It is a System process, not the system idle (which is at 1%.

Eguy - thanks for the link. I will try this later.

FYI - the system process has now been running for 17 hours 51 minutes at 98-99%.
 
Is there also excessive disk thrashing or is disk
activity minimal?
 
Disk activity is very minimal. Mem usuage is also very low.
 
Is this laptop a Toshiba? I would suggest updating the BIOS. I ran into over 50 Toshiba Tecra Laptops that had the 100% usage deal which drove everyone mad. After updating the BIOS, everything went back to norm and worked like a charm.

-pb-
 
CLEAR ALL YOUR SYSTEM EVENTS LOGS. AND CHECK THAT THEY ARE SET TO OVERWRITE AS NEEDED. IF THEY ARE NOT, THEN WHEN THE LOGS BECOME FULL YOUR SERVICES CANNOT RUN CORRECTLY. HAD THIS HAPPEN ON A WORKSTATION ABOUT 2WEEKS AGO...RAN VERRRRRY
SLOW UNTIL EVENT LOGS WERE CLEARED..
 
PB - it is not a Toshiba, it is an IBM, I will still check on the BIOS though.

joker - Thanks for the tip on the event logs. I will check into that too.
 
I seen one example of this happening on a workstation that had 2 different Antivirus programs installed. The workstation came with MACAFEE preinstalled but the user installed Norton as well. His workstation would run at 99%. When he deinstalled Norton he was okay. Not suggesting this is your problem but make sure you do not have 2 antivirus programs installed.
 
thats a good point zoeythecat, i had my old station runing at 100%, didnt act really slow though, i put it down to it being a crap station!, but that may be the case, i had mcaffe installed on it as well as the station pulling a virus checker from the server when it needed it, which i didnt know about.

thats that little mith sorted then!
well for me anyway!

Marc Turner
Network Manager

E-Mail: Mturner@turnerm3.fsnet.co.uk
 
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