Windows 7 Ridiculously High CPU Usage on Fresh Install

[defect]

Hi guys,
I have had XP Pro for a number of years now, and I know full well that after a while it had always deteriorated and I would have to format. This happened for around the third time where it became nearly unbareably slow. I figured since it keeps happening, and to generally get with the times I may aswell purchase Windows 7 and do a completely fresh install.

I initially only had only 600(and something)MB of RAM so I looked at Windows 7's required specifications and went out and purchased 2x 1GB RAM.

I have an Intel Pentium 4 2.66GHz processor and from Windows recommendations this exceeded their requirements so I stuck with that.

Now, I literally installed the new OS, installed Firefox, Avast! and a couple of other programs to get me going. I then noticed that when viewing videos in Firefox that it was extremely slow, and I then added the Gadget to the desktop which tells you CPU usage and noticed that this seemed to spend more time at 100% than not! I proceeded to run Spybot S&D to see what it would pick up, while the scan was running it was near-impossible to use the computer and here are a couple of screenshots showing the usage:

After Spybot S&D completed it's search it then found 6 things, which were removed, all of the latest Windows Updates applied and restarted. It is now sitting at 100% again.

I removed the two smaller RAM sticks today, so I'm now left with the 2x 1GB in the machine now. I also put them in the correct slots for 'optimal performance'.

Here's a screenshot of playing a normal video through Firefox, which works absolutely perfectly on my laptop:

This is not merely down to the plugin, it's just whatever process is doing (what should be) a fairly simple task at the time.

 

[kemical]

Hi,
could you please list your system spec.. Also if your machine is over 3yrs old it might be worth running this: Link Removed

 

[defect]

Hi there,
Thanks for your response. I ran Upgrade Advisor, it got one issue, that I only have 15GB free on my C: and tells me I require 16GB if I wish to install Windows 7.

Computer specs:
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.66GHz
RAM: 2.00GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 6200

OS:
Win 7 32-bit

 

[kemical]

Thanks for the info..

Do you know if the motherboard bios is the latest version? Also could you actually list your mobo please.. Ta.

 

[defect]

From what I can see, after downloading AIDA32, it says my motherboard is 'Hewlett-Packard 085Ch' a Google search on this wasn't overly successful so I'm assuming this may be well past its sell by date?!

 

[defect]

Thank you for your addition, I'm either being stupid or this wants me to a) pay for driver software or b) seems determined to make me complete a survey. I don't really trust these "survey" companies to provide the goods at the end either!

Am I just being a moron?!

 

[kemical]

I don't trust those guy's either..

Is this your machine? Link Removed - Invalid URL

 

[defect]

Well the computer died a few years ago and it was taken to a family friend to fix, I know he changed the mobo at this time so it's very possible that the mobo itself came from that machine. Mine is more of a mixmatch of parts now, but the HDD's and graphics card are all relatively new.

 

[kemical]

It might be worth trying to run different software? Try MSE and Ad-Aware as a 'belt and braces' security set up. I run these two together and nothing get's past!
Link Removed due to 404 Error

Ad-Aware Free - Download Internet Security Software with Antivirus & Spyware Removal - Lavasoft

 

[CommonTater]

Kemical is giving you very good support and I don't want to step on his toes.
But I would like to offer you an alternative suggestion to think about...

On pure 32 bit processors (Intel P4, AMD XP, etc.) Win7 always seems to run into problems. XP, however is right at home on those machines.

The big reason XP keeps deterorating to uselessness is a combination of Automatic Updates, System Restore and Swap File corruption.
Now that you have 2gb ram, these things are easily fixed...
1) Do your clean install of XP with your system disconnected from the internet.
2) Immediately go into the Services list and disable Automatic Updates, Background Intelligent Transfer and Task Scheduler.
3) Right click My Computer, select properties and disable system restore.
4) While in the same dialog go into Advanced Performance settings and select "No Swap File".

Locate and install the latest XP drivers for your hardware and you should be good to go.

Now... don't install any AV software. Use this: Emsisoft Free Emergency Kit It's a non-real time virus scanner intended to run from USB flash drives. Run it when you think you need it... the rest of the time Windows Firewall and common sense are your best anti-virus tools (always have been).

I can almost guarantee your system will keep running faster than it would with win7 indefinately. I ran a single installation of XP Pro for more than 5 years with no degredation in performance.

(Of course this doesn't necessarily apply to 64 bit processors ... )

 

[kemical]

I have to agree that if 7 isn't a possibility then Taters suggestions are surely the way to go.. Plus I'm sure a transformation pack will have it looking like your running 7 anyway.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Did you do a clean install of Windows 7?

Were you able to find any drivers for your motherboard that are Windows 7 capable?

Were you able to do any driver updates through the Windows Update feature?

 

[defect]

It might be worth trying to run different software? Try MSE and Ad-Aware as a 'belt and braces' security set up. I run these two together and nothing get's past!
Link Removed due to 404 Error

Ad-Aware Free - Download Internet Security Software with Antivirus & Spyware Removal - Lavasoft

Thanks for your post, I have tried completely removing Avast! and restarting without an AV for the time being and sadly there is still no improvement.

Kemical is giving you very good support and I don't want to step on his toes.
But I would like to offer you an alternative suggestion to think about...

On pure 32 bit processors (Intel P4, AMD XP, etc.) Win7 always seems to run into problems. XP, however is right at home on those machines.

The big reason XP keeps deterorating to uselessness is a combination of Automatic Updates, System Restore and Swap File corruption.
Now that you have 2gb ram, these things are easily fixed...
1) Do your clean install of XP with your system disconnected from the internet.
2) Immediately go into the Services list and disable Automatic Updates, Background Intelligent Transfer and Task Scheduler.
3) Right click My Computer, select properties and disable system restore.
4) While in the same dialog go into Advanced Performance settings and select "No Swap File".

Locate and install the latest XP drivers for your hardware and you should be good to go.

Now... don't install any AV software. Use this: Emsisoft Free Emergency Kit It's a non-real time virus scanner intended to run from USB flash drives. Run it when you think you need it... the rest of the time Windows Firewall and common sense are your best anti-virus tools (always have been).

I can almost guarantee your system will keep running faster than it would with win7 indefinately. I ran a single installation of XP Pro for more than 5 years with no degredation in performance.

(Of course this doesn't necessarily apply to 64 bit processors ... )

Thanks for your help too, I really appreciate your addition, the thing is though I would rather upgrade whatever I need to do to have Windows 7 working well rather than going back to XP. Since I have now forked out for the OS I figured it would be silly to downgrade again. I appreciate that the computer is old and that it would definitely benefit from being upgraded now and I'm willing to do this.

Would a new processor definitely sort this? Which one would you recommend that I buy?

Many thanks

 

[defect]

Did you do a clean install of Windows 7?

Were you able to find any drivers for your motherboard that are Windows 7 capable?

Were you able to do any driver updates through the Windows Update feature?

Yep, the install was definitely a clean one.

I was unable to find any drivers for the motherboard at all.

Quite a few updates were carried out via Windows Update, one being for my sound card, the issue was definitely here before this happened though.

I would be willing to try re-installing Windows 7 if I needed to.

 

[kemical]

Thanks for your post, I have tried completely removing Avast! and restarting without an AV for the time being and sadly there is still no improvement.



Thanks for your help too, I really appreciate your addition, the thing is though I would rather upgrade whatever I need to do to have Windows 7 working well rather than going back to XP. Since I have now forked out for the OS I figured it would be silly to downgrade again. I appreciate that the computer is old and that it would definitely benefit from being upgraded now and I'm willing to do this.

Would a new processor definitely sort this? Which one would you recommend that I buy?

Many thanks

I'd say if anything then a new motherboard and chip (if possible) would be the way to go if you wanted to stay with 7..

 

[TorrentG]

If anything is the problem here, it's the motherboard bios.

I suggest doing your best to locate the newest ever made and install.

I have a P4 non-hyperthreaded 1.5 Ghz machine with 768 RDRAM working beautifully here.

 

[kemical]

Not sure he can find one tho' G?

 

[TorrentG]

According to the following link, the d530 small form factor HP has the same motherboard:

Link Removed - Invalid URL

Here's HP's latest bios offered for that system, from August 2008:

Link Removed - Invalid URL

 

[kemical]

Yup I posted more or less the same thing so hopefully we are on the right page..

 

[CommonTater]

Thanks for your help too, I really appreciate your addition, the thing is though I would rather upgrade whatever I need to do to have Windows 7 working well rather than going back to XP. Since I have now forked out for the OS I figured it would be silly to downgrade again. I appreciate that the computer is old and that it would definitely benefit from being upgraded now and I'm willing to do this.

Not silly at all... Especially when the "Upgrade" isn't working. Your money is not wasted, nor is the experience you've gained. You can always go machine shopping and put your win7 in the new machine.

Would a new processor definitely sort this? Which one would you recommend that I buy?

HP computers are pretty much non-standard. About the only original part left after a hardware upgrade would be the case. A new processor would mandate a new motherboard which would require a different power supply and memory. Then you'd discover your disk drives are bottle necking the system... by the time the cascade is over you've paid more to upgrade than you would for a new machine.

If money is an issue, there are a lot of "End of Lease" shops where you can buy 2 year old computers for under $150.00 (cdn). Often these machines will surprise you... AMD 64 X2 and Intel Core dual machines are very common in these clearances. Heck some of them are better spec'd than my own personal system. Buy one of these, stuff in a honkin' big hard drive and you're off to the races for another 5 years.