Windows 7 Windows 7 CPU Usage 100%?

[readthis]

First off, I have a:

1. Acer Aspire 5532
2. AMD Athlon Processor TF-20 1.60 GHz
3. 3 GB RAM
4. 64-bit Operating System
5. Windows 7 Home Premium (When I purchased the laptop it already had Windows 7 installed)

Now the problem is, the CPU usage is 100% the majority of the time. If I open anything such as, iTunes, FireFox, IE, etc.; the cpu meter is at 90-100%. From time to time I would have like just iTunes on and it I would say "lags" as in the mouse doesn't move smoothly, like it moves, stops, moves, stops, slowly..? I can't really explain how it acts, but I guess slow. Sometimes when I don't have any programs running, the meter goes to 100% anyway. I have no viruses what so ever; I had just recently bought it. Is it due to battery options? (high performance, battery saver). I can't seem to find the problem. I'm pretty familiar with how a CPU works but not as much. Help?
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[karsenault]

You have a log that will record driver problems. Click Start and type EV and press enter.. look under \custom at the logs. Of course there may also be yellow flags when you run Device Manager.

Okay, having now done that, I see that it is dominated with messages about my wireless adapter being disconnected and wlan autoconfig stopping... I'll obviously need to watch this closely and immediately after my one core sticks to 100%.
Thank you very much for the tip.

 

[tblount]

Okay, having now done that, I see that it is dominated with messages about my wireless adapter being disconnected and wlan autoconfig stopping... I'll obviously need to watch this closely and immediately after my one core sticks to 100%.
Thank you very much for the tip.

The message about Wlan stopping is not an error.. I don't know why that is put in there. If you don't have wireless you should go to Msconfig /services and turn it off anyway.

I don't know what a core sticking at 100% is about.

 

[wcb123]

CPU Usage Windows 7 Latest Data

All evidence at present makes me suspect my USB scanner as at least a big part of my problem. When it is connected, problem will eventually show up. When it is not connected, the problem is not now occuring. The hedging is because at one time in the past, the problem did occur with a clean boot (microsoft services only) - no USB devices connected. My scanner is a Canonscan LiDE 100 and I had updated to latest the driver "LiDE 100 Scanner Driver Ver. 14.0.3 (Windows 7 x64/Vista64)" Dated 30 Oct 2009. For the time being my fix is to leave the scanned disconnected when not being used - using the scanner does not seem to trigger the problem (60% CPU usage at idle).

 

[karsenault]

I think I've figured out my problem. I do use wireless internet. The system interrupts and core at 100% would always happend when I disabled my "built in" wireless adapter in favor of my D-link DWA 160. So, now, I just leave it enabled, but don't have it connect to any networks. Seems to have solved the problem
Thank you guys, and hopefully you'll all find solutions to your issues.

 

[wcb123]

Sudden change in problem

My fix (leave scanner unconnected) suddenly quit working. After 2 days of no problems, suddenly a ~30% CPU usage at idle appeared. Later after restart, the old familiar ~60% usage appeared. Then again on a later use. Last, the dreaded blue screen data dump. The only change in the system that I can detect is an automatic Windows Defender update that occured before the flurry of problems.

 

[tblount]

My fix (leave scanner unconnected) suddenly quit working. After 2 days of no problems, suddenly a ~30% CPU usage at idle appeared. Later after restart, the old familiar ~60% usage appeared. Then again on a later use. Last, the dreaded blue screen data dump. The only change in the system that I can detect is an automatic Windows Defender update that occured before the flurry of problems.

Can't you run task manager and go to processes and watch what is gobbling up your power?

 

[wcb123]

Can't you run task manager and go to processes and watch what is gobbling up your power?

Yes indeedy, I have spent hours staring at System Idle using 97 to 99% of my CPU usage and when I look at services System Interrupts is the biggy. That has been typical for at least a couple of the people in the forum with similar problems. My only advantage is my quad core CPU allows me to still operate with the problem (60% rather that 100%). My main inconvenience
is that when the problem occurs, it turns off my USB ports - so no printer, earphones or scanner. The only things I haven't tried are removing Windows 7 and returning to Vista (and suffering all the program/drivers changes to be compatible again); or removing and re-upgrading Windows 7 . In both cases I would expect a whole bunch of new problems.

 

[tblount]

Yes indeedy, I have spent hours staring at System Idle using 97 to 99% of my CPU usage and when I look at services System Interrupts is the biggy. That has been typical for at least a couple of the people in the forum with similar problems. My only advantage is my quad core CPU allows me to still operate with the problem (60% rather that 100%). My main inconvenience
is that when the problem occurs, it turns off my USB ports - so no printer, earphones or scanner. The only things I haven't tried are removing Windows 7 and returning to Vista (and suffering all the program/drivers changes to be compatible again); or removing and re-upgrading Windows 7 . In both cases I would expect a whole bunch of new problems.

Google Windows 7 USB fix you'll find a few dozen possible solutions

NOTE to all who read this... when you have a problem... google windows 7 whatever then inclde FIX as in the example above. I have found that to be most time saving. other words like solution also help narrow the search.

If you don't find a fix... narrow the search like i did to just USB .. or the model of your card... or a portion of the error message. That's pretty much how most people here that make suggestions offer help because believe it or not, most of us have never seen the problem we are trying to help someone resolve.

 

[wcb123]

60% CPU usage at idle

After two days of no problems, the problem has returned. Task Manager processes shows the usual "System idle". And the only Event Record is an error:
Event filter with query "SELECT*FROM_InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstanceLoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./rootCIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.

Does this make any sense to anyone out there?

 

[tblount]

Yeah, I've got the same problem (randomly about 60% of my quad core is locked up) - and when I look at processes it tells me that system idle is 95-99 with taskmg & iexplore the remainder. Under cpu processes it shows system interrupts as the culprit. As a clue perhaps when the problem occurs I also lose my USB hub.

There are a limited number of interrupts.. I think 15.... when devices share them, they often fight... the fight between two devices/drivers over the same interrupt uses all system resources which in the older days always caused the blue screen of death. But with windows 7 there are safeguards to try to eliminate the BSOD (blue screen of death) so the fight just goes on till something finally gives up, times out, ..... you can see this kind of protection when you have a program that locks up. You can now go to task manager and kill it... SUCCESSFULLY.... before Win 7 you just had to reboot almost every time. (Maybe Vista could do this, I never ran Vista enough to become familiar with how it resolves conflicts.)


Usually an interrupt conflict shows a warning in the Device Manager... but apparently that doesn't always detect conflicts. There should be programs that will make a more through diagnostic evaluation of the interrupts but I'm not familiar with any. What we did in the older days may still work. We would got the Device Manager and click on the main devices... ESPECIALLY devices like graphics cards and modems and sound cards (hardware) that were using slots on the motherboard. Note the irq number those devices were using under Resources. When we found that two devices were using the same interrupt we would move one of them to another slot. It was sometimes a real challenge to get hardware in the right order. Also, if I remember correctly, the Graphics card used the same interrupt as the first slot... so you would avoid using that slot or suspect it was the first problem to check.

Times have changed and I think most of this is managed in the bios because motherboards now have nearly all devices built in with only the option to add a high end graphics card. My current mother board does not have any EIDE adaptor and no pci slot to easily add eide hard drives.

I think I would reboot, go into the bios and look for ways to disable USB or whatever seems to be the problem. Then reboot and test .. when the problem is identified it's usually a matter of using Google to look for specific solutions.

If you haven't run this command, it may tell you exactly what is conflicting

perfmon /report

 

[DOA]

system "NT kernel" is causing CPU usage @ 100%

I have a recently installed Windows 7 64bit, it worked nicely for about a week... now all of a sudden the CPU usage from the moment its turned on is at or near 100%. In task manager it looks like the system "NT kernel" is the problem. Unfortunately I can not figure out how to correct the problem. I system restored the PC back to the day before the issue manifested but it didn't solve the problem. I booted into safe mode and the problem exists in safe mode. I checked the device manager and everything seems to be ok except a RAID driver that is not installed. I do not have any drives in RAID so this shouldn't matter. Does anyone have any ideas? I have not yet performed a repair with the OS disk.

My Rigs vitals are below:
Windows 7 upgrade from XP Pro SP3 (clean install)
Biostar TA770 A2+ mobo
AMD 64 X2 5000 @ 2.6Ghz CPU
4 GB DDR2 RAM
XFX Nvidia 8600 GT XXX Edition GPU
WD 160GB Caviar Black SATA HDD
WD 320GB Caviar Blue SATA HDD
LG Super Multi DVD+RW DL x22
Rosewill interal card reader USB 2.0
Antec P183 case
Antec CP-850 PSU

 

[bew1075k]

Windows 7 CPU Usage 100% - I am in the same boat

I am new to the forum but am having the same issues as everyone else. I downgraded from Vista Ultimate 64bit to W7 Pro 7 64bit on the following platform:

MOBO: ASUS MN478-PRO - On board video GeForce 8300, Nvida chipset
CPU: AMD PII 940 3.0GHZ
Mem: 8gb
3 HDD - Prim = 1.0 TB, 2 internal Backups - 500GB and 1 external backup 500gb

I updated the chipset drivers, video drivers, audio drivers, printer driver, TV (USB driver Happhauge 950Q) etc.
Despite this, the CPU usage will go from 2-3% at boot to near 100% in 10-12 mins and stall the machine. The culprit is "system interrupts" with an average CPU usage at 90 + when it stalls.

When I attempt to watch live TV in either WinTv or Window media center, all 4 CPUs shoots to 100% in 3 mins or less and the system crashes.

In a process of elimination I reduced the colors from 32 bit true color to 16 bit and the CPUs now run at 15-23% unless I playback live TV, then they all soar to 100% in 5 mins and the PC crashes.

The CPU also makes a high pitched sound like a transistor sounds just before it fries out when this occurs.

I have ordered a video card to seperate the Video GPU from the MOBO CPU video. Also ordered a new CPU and HDD. I am going to replace the Vid Card first, then flash the bios to the latest version. If that does not solve it, I am replacing the CPU and if that does not work, I will reinstall W7 etc. on a new HDD. When I went from Vista to W7 I overwrote the existing partition that had Vista on it. I am thinking I should have formatted a new partition, but will see.

I'll let you know how it goes.

If anyone has any ideas, please advise. Thanks!

 

[Alligator]

Microsoft Shafts Customers

Microsoft was aware of the "system interrupts" problem over a year before the official release of Win7; many Beta users reported it.

The company calculated that sufficiently few Win7 purchasers would be affected that it could get away with not fixing this devastating problem. Microsoft technicians and customer service representives have been ordered not to acknowledge the problem. One reason Microsoft does not want to acknowledge the problem is that it makes affected computers virtually unusable.

Word in the tech community is that HP has been intimidated into not discussing the "system interrupts" issue. Also, Microsofts massive advertising budget has silenced the news media.

The only known solution is to purchase a brand new computer.

 

[bew1075k]

100% CPU Usage Problem Isolated!

Thanks for the feedback. Sad to hear Microsoft went to all the trouble to develop and Beta W7 for 2 years to have a problem they wont acknowledge and offer a fix or simply make people aware of.

However I believe I have found the issue. I reset the colors to 32 Bit true color and made sure I had the right 8300 driver. I then removed the WinTv 950Q USB module and rebooted so it would not load the drivers. I then ran a series of internet TV tests using Windows Media Center - everything works great. I also loaded the CPU with A DVD burn and Playback of Itunes at the same time - CPU usage went to 32% max, with system interrupts contributing only .56 max to the CPU usage. I then plugged the 950Q back into the USB port and and opened Windows media center. Everything was fine - until I watched live TV. Then system interrupts began to increase from .23 while the CPU usage began to creep up. It finally hit 100% CPU usage with System interrupts contributing .81 of the total CPU usage. Bam! The system crashed! So for now I have it disconnected and I cant kill the processor. Even the graphics are HD and fantastic.

I think the proper course of action for this problem is to eliminate 1 device at a time and unload the program/drivers for it and test. Tedious but worth it as I will be sending back my new CPU, HDDS. I think I will keep the new video card for the $49 I paid for it. Just checked CPU with Internet TV running- all is good at 6% max usage.

 

[Lomalazuri]

I am having this issue on not one, but all four pc's that I have installed Windows 7 32 bit on. One is running Win 7 Ultimate (upgrade from Vista business), one is running Win 7 Pro (upgrade from Vista Business), one is running Win 7 Home Premium (upgrade from Vista Home Premium), and one is running Win 7 Home Premium (installed on older machine perviously running XP).

All systems have different system specs, but all are running the CPU at 100% when it should be practically idling. All systems are suffering from slow performance - the older pc will not even reboot correctly. Internet Explorer is extremely slow at times as well. Three machines are running Kasperski for anti-virus, and one is running Windows free security essentials.

I run Peachtree accounting program and that started giving me errors yesterday and I had to do a system restore to a week before in order to get it working again. I am wondering if this issue is caused by an update? I don't remember this happening when I first installed this.

The only common thread is that all of these pc's are Dell. This has been extremely frustrating. I also had the CD rom devices stop functioning on the older PC after the first week of install when they were working fine. I found a registry fix on another site that got them recognized again.

I am also having an issue with my backup on Ultimate. It does the first backup correctly, then begins to do a full backup again each time after that eating up my 1TB external hard drive so that I have to delete the backup and start again continuously.

This must be a common problem. Hopefully Microsoft will come up with a solution.

 

[bew1075k]

CPU 100% on 4 PCS

I am having this issue on not one, but all four pc's - All systems have different system specs, but all are running the CPU at 100% when it should be practically idling.

My experience is the problem is drivers.

You will need to update the drivers for your Motherboards - Video - Audio on each machine from the maker of the motherboard or maker of the PC if its an HP etc.

Disconnect all external devices (USB, Firewire, Parallell, serial etc) and isolate the PC so its only the keyboard, mouse and screen connected to it.

The boot it up and see if it runs smoothly. Use performance monitor to see the CPU usage (on CPU tab) and check the list to see what is consuming the CPU usage. (My issue was system interrupts was up at .70 - .90 CPU usage and would crash the system, but also it dragged real slow as you describe).

If you still have the problem with everything disconnected, eliminate programs that use external drivers one at a time and reboot each time until you isolate the one that is causing the problem. Productivity apps like peachtree should not be a cause, but programs like GPS updating software have drivers etc.

In either case once you isolate the problem (a device or program) - find the appropriate vendor and find updated drivers/patches for windows 7 - update and reboot. Reconnect devices one at a time and monitor the CPU usage to see if there are more than thing causing it.

While this is a very painful process, it worked for me and I spent a total of 6 hours overall to troubleshoot and fix the problem on mine.

You may already know what I said above, in that case consider this a confirmation. Hope this helps.

 

[grepart]

As stated before, in task manager, show all processes and sort by CPU. This happened to me before and it was because of a virtual machine instance. Once I closed that instance the CPU usage dropped back down to normal.