100 percent CPU usage

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A somewhat different problem than the “svchost.exe”: This started last November, but the process locking up the system is “system” at 98% on the Task Manager. Dell Dimension 4100 with 512 RAM (maxed out) running XP-Pro SP3. Automatic Updates turned off-on-off. Most .tmp and ~*.* files deleted. C drive is FAT32, using 92 GB of 127 GB. System will boot into Safe Mode and then uses only 1% of CPU. Malwarebytes finds nothing. How do we track down and kill whatever is doing this to this fine old relic? John

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I would run Shell Ex View, and disable all DLLs except for those pertaining to Microsoft and my antivirus program.

Go to http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html and download it. You don’t need to install it, just run it.

You will see that it is very easy to sort the list of DLLs by the mfgr. Disable all except for the Microsoft ones and the antivirus ones. Then reboot.

If your problem has disappeared, then use Shell Ex View to reenable a few at a time, rebooting each time. When the problem returns, you will have narrowed down what the problem is, and it will be quick work to determine exactly what is causing the problem. Leave that one item disabled, and you’re good to go.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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mrjimphelps, I used the shell program, but after disabling all the non-microsoft shells, it is still 100% cpu. Any suggestions of suspicious Microsoft?

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Try the Clean Boot diagnostic procedure:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

Jerry

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Try the Clean Boot diagnostic procedure:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

Jerry

Jerry, thanks for the link. I’ll give it a try tomorrow.

John

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Jerry, thanks for the link. I’ll give it a try tomorrow.

John

Jerry and jwitalka,
Tried the clean boot procedure: First hid the microsoft stuff and shutdown the rest of the non-microsoft. Still 100% cpu. Then shut down all but 2 essential Microsoft: still 100% CPU. Booted into another user: still 100% CPU. What could this be: 100% CPU with all others shut down, but only 1% with safe mode boot?

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You could try Process Explorer and under the Options tab check the box for Verify Image Signatures then hover over Virus Total.com then tick the box for Virus Total.com which will tell you if any files are rogue.

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Try disabling Windows Update.

Jerry

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Try disabling Windows Update.

Jerry

I’ve switched it off-on-off multiple times. It also showed up on the clean boot screen, and I shut it down again.

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Have you tried Process Explorer (as in Post #6) which will tell you what are the high users.

After you have enabled Verify Signatures and Virus Tool.com and you can get the forum’s Manage Attachments to upload the .jpg, we can have a look at its snip.

It could be something that is malicious which wouldn’t be loaded in Safe Mode or it could just be a non essential corrupt file, but its Virus Total score may determine that.

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I had the same a while back. Once I installed all the Windows XP updates, the CPU usage went way down. One of the XP updates is for this problem. On this system, it was with Windows Updates process that was the problem.

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I’ve seen this a few times and it has always been the same thing, so maybe this will help. You have a “seasoned” machine with not a lot of memory and about 20G of HD space left. And probably your machine’s HD space is pretty fragmented. Windows uses the HD to swap data into and out of when RAM gets full. If the HD is fragmented, as happens when machines age and aren’t defragmented, your system is gonna spend a lot of time poking around the HD looking for space to swap to. The swap space is supposed to be protected and in one lump, but sometimes that doesn’t work right. So, try defragging and see if things get better. If they do and the machine is sacred to you, you might try adding some RAM or popping for a bigger HD. I know it seems a bit like putting new wine in old skins, but if you like the old fella, a bit of rejuvenation might be the key.

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that is another main cause for this problem

it gets worse if you compressed a disk by mistake (or even intentionally)
microsoft should delete that worthless compress program as it has negative value

I’ve seen this a few times and it has always been the same thing, so maybe this will help. You have a “seasoned” machine with not a lot of memory and about 20G of HD space left. And probably your machine’s HD space is pretty fragmented. Windows uses the HD to swap data into and out of when RAM gets full. If the HD is fragmented, as happens when machines age and aren’t defragmented, your system is gonna spend a lot of time poking around the HD looking for space to swap to. The swap space is supposed to be protected and in one lump, but sometimes that doesn’t work right. So, try defragging and see if things get better. If they do and the machine is sacred to you, you might try adding some RAM or popping for a bigger HD. I know it seems a bit like putting new wine in old skins, but if you like the old fella, a bit of rejuvenation might be the key.

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had this not long ago on a Dell Inspiron 2gB with XP – – it is ‘way too common a problem with multiple possible causes – I searched the net and found a gazillion links & ideas – some of which are noted above – none of which worked – so i methodically eliminated running apps one by one as listed in many of the links you will discover – turned out to be an old program called MemTurbo3 that i had used on several other PC’s (non-Dell) with no problem over the years – – no more problems on the Dell since killing it –

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one of the things that i would do is delete the files in the ‘prefetch’ folder. the system will repopulate the folder on the next restart.
don’t delete the folder just the files in the folder. this will make the system refresh the startup programs.

taskmanager (alt, ctrl, del), processes tab will show what’s hogging the CPU,

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I disable Print Spooler in Services (Local).
If I need to print something, ( rarely do btw) then I manually enable Print Spooler to use printer, then disable again.
Don’t ask me why, it frees up the system just that little bit more.

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A somewhat different problem than the “svchost.exe”: This started last November, but the process locking up the system is “system” at 98% on the Task Manager. Dell Dimension 4100 with 512 RAM (maxed out) running XP-Pro SP3. Automatic Updates turned off-on-off. Most .tmp and ~*.* files deleted. C drive is FAT32, using 92 GB of 127 GB. System will boot into Safe Mode and then uses only 1% of CPU. Malwarebytes finds nothing. How do we track down and kill whatever is doing this to this fine old relic? John

First, using msconfig, choose “Diagnostic Startup” and reboot.

This will disable virtually all services except those required to start Windows.

If you don’t get 100% CPU then you can start reenabling services in groups, until you narrow down the culprit.

If you still get 100% CPU, yet you don’t get it in Safe mode, then I strongly suspect a driver issue. Probably something you installed or updated recently.

The difference between Safe mode and this Diagnostic mode is that Safe mode disables most drivers, while Diagnostic mode disables most services.

Download and run this Nir Sofer ServiWin utility: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/serviwin.html. Like the ShellExView utility previously suggested, this requires no install, and saves nothing to the registry. Like most of Nir’s utiliities, it is stand-alone.

Note in the upper left corner two gear icons, one for services and the other for drivers. This is a powerful utility, giving you the ability to stop drivers and services, and change their startup type. You can sort them by startup type, status, company, product name, etc.

Selectively change driver startup type and reboot, until you find the culprit.

Since this shows all installed drivers, including those already not started, you’ll want to keep careful notes of what you stop so you can restore things to the way they were.

– John G.

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John G,

This was one of my toughest ever, but ServiWin worked. I had tried to uninstall Symantec last fall because it would no longer update, but apparently unsuccessfully. Starting with the drivers utillity, I changed ten Symantec drivers to “Manual.” The system booted much faster, but after five minutes went to 100% CPU. I went back and “Disabled” all ten drivers, and the CPU usage went high while things loaded, but then dropped down to ~25%. I then went to the services utility and disabled all seven Symantec services. The system boots much faster still, and settles down to 1% CPU. This 13-year old system is usable again! The Symantec icon is still present on the task bar, and the disabled warning comes up after 5 minutes, but the program is behaving itself; must be called from the registry? I am impressed and thankful.

John

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John G,

This was one of my toughest ever, but ServiWin worked. … I am impressed and thankful.

John

I’m happy it worked for you. Thanks for the feedback.

You may find Microsoft Sysinternals Autoruns: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902, helpful in stopping Symantec from starting.

But sometimes AV programs protect themselves by removing Administrator privileges from their registry entries. So if Autoruns cannot change the startup, you may need to give yourself permission first to the respective registry entries.

– John G

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Try Symantec’s Norton Removal Tool to get rid of the remnants of the Symantec product (which is renowned for not un-installing properly using ‘Add or Remove Programs’).

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Try Symantec’s Norton Removal Tool to get rid of the remnants of the Symantec product (which is renowned for not un-installing properly using ‘Add or Remove Programs’).

Rick,
It made me do the ‘Add or Remove Programs’ again, but then got rid of the remaining vestiges. It now boots faster, and without the yellow icon in the tray, or the ‘disabled’ warning. With programs like this that tie up 99% of my cpu, it’s not clear what they are protecting me from. Good riddance.
John

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i have had similar problems with two causes

first is scripts running wild from some web site i am at
when i kill the site the problem goes away
huffington post is a bad one for this but there are others
open a few of them for future reading and yuor machine will crawl not run

the other in conflicts with security type software tripping over each other andor windoze race condition problems

A somewhat different problem than the “svchost.exe”: This started last November, but the process locking up the system is “system” at 98% on the Task Manager. Dell Dimension 4100 with 512 RAM (maxed out) running XP-Pro SP3. Automatic Updates turned off-on-off. Most .tmp and ~*.* files deleted. C drive is FAT32, using 92 GB of 127 GB. System will boot into Safe Mode and then uses only 1% of CPU. Malwarebytes finds nothing. How do we track down and kill whatever is doing this to this fine old relic? John

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