System Process Consuming CPU

[TechMerlin]

Good day all,

I have an issue I am hoping somone has seen before. We have a 2003 R2 file server where the System process is at times running upto 90-95% of the CPU. I have Process Explorer running as well as the Microsoft debug tools and was able to pull from the tread ntoskrnl.exe!workerThread was utilizing the most CPU and from the stack ntoskrnl.exe!KiSwapContext+0x26 was highest.

Memory seems normal and so do most other processes, just the system process appears to raise slowly (couple of minutes) then stay high with what I included above then drop again after a few minutes to normal.

The only thing I have noticed was at one of the points the backup client (wagent.exe) was running up around %35 but everything else seemed fine.

Any Ideas?

Mark Morton, MCSA, MCP, SNA, CCA, CCE

 

[markdmac]

Is the system perhaps taking a shadowcopy backup at that time?

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

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[TechMerlin]

I am not sure, is there a way to determine when it is doing so?

thanks

Mark Morton, MCITP, MCTS, MCSA, MCP, SNA, CCA, CCE

 

[markdmac]

Yes check the schedule. Right click the C drive in My Computer. Choose properties. Click the Previous Versions tab. See what times and how often you are making copies.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[TechMerlin]

Mark,

I did check the Shadow copy settings and they were completely turned off. I have been using filemon and Process explorer to try and narrow down what may be causing this. The most I seem to be able to get is either the ntoskrnl.exe!KiSwapContext+0x26 or the same but with Srv.sys!KiSwapContext+0x26 are the highest. I attempted to use Process Monitor to try and get more info on the thread but Process Monitor appears to want to run away with the CPU and consumes to much resource.

Anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks


Mark Morton, MCITP, MCTS, MCSA, MCP, SNA, CCA, CCE