100% of my CPU is being Used

[Guest]

A couple of weeks ago, when booting into Windows, I found that 100% of my CPU
was being ulitized. This could last up to 10 minutes. I don't know what
caused it to start with because I never had this problem in the past. I
found that this is related to Windows Update. I contacted Microsoft and I
downloaded patch KB927891. After I installed the patch, I found it did not
correct the problem. Can anyone help with any other ideas to solve this
issue? Thanks.

 

[Frank D]

In Mark4253 <[email protected]> typed:
| A couple of weeks ago, when booting into Windows, I found that 100%
| of my CPU was being ulitized. This could last up to 10 minutes. I
| don't know what caused it to start with because I never had this
| problem in the past. I found that this is related to Windows Update.
| I contacted Microsoft and I downloaded patch KB927891. After I
| installed the patch, I found it did not correct the problem. Can
| anyone help with any other ideas to solve this issue? Thanks.

The problem could be that there are too many services running in the background. Here's something that worked for me:

| Regina wrote:
| I think one of the best sites giving REASONABLE advice on the services
| issue is www.eldergeek.com. There are quite a few that are unnecessary.

Per Regina's suggestion, I went to the eldergeek website and applied all his recommendations, one after the other (just keep clicking on the "Next" link after applying each one to view the next one). I now get *no more* 100% CPU usage timeouts. Many thanks to the Elder Geek and to Regina for pointing me in his direction.

Frank D

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Since you know that you were running at 100% CPU Usage you must have opened
the Task Manager.

Was there one process running at 100%?

If so, what was the process or what was the process that was using the
biggest percentage.

In the Task Manager on the Processes tab under the CPU column. Click the
CPU column header twice to sort the processes by the highest usage.

CPU Usage
[[In Task Manager, the percentage of time that a process used the CPU since
the last update. On the Task Manager Process tab, the column heading is
CPU.]]

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

Frank D is just another person and I use that term loosely, that is pedelling
their site. In this case its just a search portal. You will not find any next
buttons or anything else. Scum like this I would love to meet on the street
one day.

DONT BOTHER WITH ELDERGEEKS.COM ------------- Just a search portal. its
a trick to get you there.
==================================================================
==================================================================

 

[Guest]

The process that was running at 100% was svchost.exe, network service.
Sorry, I should have mentioned that when I originally posted.
--
Mark

Since you know that you were running at 100% CPU Usage you must have opened
the Task Manager.

Was there one process running at 100%?

If so, what was the process or what was the process that was using the
biggest percentage.

In the Task Manager on the Processes tab under the CPU column. Click the
CPU column header twice to sort the processes by the highest usage.

CPU Usage
[[In Task Manager, the percentage of time that a process used the CPU since
the last update. On the Task Manager Process tab, the column heading is
CPU.]]

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

A couple of weeks ago, when booting into Windows, I found that 100% of my
CPU was being ulitized. This could last up to 10 minutes. I don't know
what caused it to start with because I never had this problem in the
past. I found that this is related to Windows Update. I contacted
Microsoft and I downloaded patch KB927891. After I installed the patch,
I found it did not correct the problem. Can anyone help with any other
ideas to solve this issue? Thanks.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

DONT BOTHER WITH ELDERGEEKS.COM ------------- Just a search portal.

its a trick to get you there.

Especially when the url is incorrect. http://www.theeldergeek.com/ And it
is not just a search portal.

To be more specific http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm#Services

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Hi Mark,

svchost.exe is a legitimate process and there can be more than one running.
Right now I have three running. svchost.exe loads services and basically,
the more services running it will take more svchost.exes running to load
them. That said, svchost.exe can also be a malware, a trojan, etc.

A description of Svchost.exe in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314056

The first thing to do is make sure that your machine is malware free.

UPDATE your antivirus software and run a full system scan.

UPDATE whatever anti-spyware applications that you have and run a full
system scan with each one.

You might want to start in Safe Mode to run your antivirus and anti-spyware
software.

Running a full system antivirus scan or anti-spyware scan in Safe Mode can
be a good idea. Some viruses and other malware like to conceal themselves
in areas Windows protects while using them. Safe mode can prevent those
applications access and therefore unprotect the viruses or other malware
allowing for easier removal.

''In safe mode, you have access to only basic files and drivers
(mouse, monitor, keyboard, mass storage, base video, default system
services), just the minimum device drivers required to start Windows.''

Because of that some malware does not load in Safe Mode and is easier to get
rid of.

How to start Windows in Safe Mode Windows XP
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtutorial=61#winxo

Once you are sure that you're malware free and still have a 100% CPU usage
problem with svchost.exe start a new thread.

Apparently
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891
was supposed to fix
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916089

I have neither of those, I haven't had an update since the tenth of March.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

The process that was running at 100% was svchost.exe, network service.
Sorry, I should have mentioned that when I originally posted.
--
Mark

Since you know that you were running at 100% CPU Usage you must have
opened the Task Manager.

Was there one process running at 100%?

If so, what was the process or what was the process that was using the
biggest percentage.

In the Task Manager on the Processes tab under the CPU column. Click the
CPU column header twice to sort the processes by the highest usage.

CPU Usage
[[In Task Manager, the percentage of time that a process used the CPU
since the last update. On the Task Manager Process tab, the column
heading is CPU.]]

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

A couple of weeks ago, when booting into Windows, I found that 100% of
my CPU was being ulitized. This could last up to 10 minutes. I don't
know what caused it to start with because I never had this problem in
the past. I found that this is related to Windows Update. I contacted
Microsoft and I downloaded patch KB927891. After I installed the patch,
I found it did not correct the problem. Can anyone help with any other
ideas to solve this issue? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Hi Wesley!
Thanks for the info. I'll try it and let you know. BTW, the patch that I
got from Microsoft I had to specifically ask for. It's not part of a routine
windows update.

--
Mark

Hi Mark,

svchost.exe is a legitimate process and there can be more than one running.
Right now I have three running. svchost.exe loads services and basically,
the more services running it will take more svchost.exes running to load
them. That said, svchost.exe can also be a malware, a trojan, etc.

A description of Svchost.exe in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314056

The first thing to do is make sure that your machine is malware free.

UPDATE your antivirus software and run a full system scan.

UPDATE whatever anti-spyware applications that you have and run a full
system scan with each one.

You might want to start in Safe Mode to run your antivirus and anti-spyware
software.

Running a full system antivirus scan or anti-spyware scan in Safe Mode can
be a good idea. Some viruses and other malware like to conceal themselves
in areas Windows protects while using them. Safe mode can prevent those
applications access and therefore unprotect the viruses or other malware
allowing for easier removal.

''In safe mode, you have access to only basic files and drivers
(mouse, monitor, keyboard, mass storage, base video, default system
services), just the minimum device drivers required to start Windows.''

Because of that some malware does not load in Safe Mode and is easier to get
rid of.

How to start Windows in Safe Mode Windows XP
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtutorial=61#winxo

Once you are sure that you're malware free and still have a 100% CPU usage
problem with svchost.exe start a new thread.

Apparently
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891
was supposed to fix
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916089

I have neither of those, I haven't had an update since the tenth of March.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

The process that was running at 100% was svchost.exe, network service.
Sorry, I should have mentioned that when I originally posted.
--
Mark

Since you know that you were running at 100% CPU Usage you must have
opened the Task Manager.

Was there one process running at 100%?

If so, what was the process or what was the process that was using the
biggest percentage.

In the Task Manager on the Processes tab under the CPU column. Click the
CPU column header twice to sort the processes by the highest usage.

CPU Usage
[[In Task Manager, the percentage of time that a process used the CPU
since the last update. On the Task Manager Process tab, the column
heading is CPU.]]

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In Mark4253 <[email protected]> hunted and pecked:
A couple of weeks ago, when booting into Windows, I found that 100% of
my CPU was being ulitized. This could last up to 10 minutes. I don't
know what caused it to start with because I never had this problem in
the past. I found that this is related to Windows Update. I contacted
Microsoft and I downloaded patch KB927891. After I installed the patch,
I found it did not correct the problem. Can anyone help with any other
ideas to solve this issue? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all for helping with my problem. The following solved my problem
and was posted by Piet Slaghekke:

CAUSE: Bug in Microsoft Update (Microsoft Update scans all Microsoft
software including office/
Windows update only scans Windows for updates)

FIX:
go to windows update and check if the "get microsoft update today"
banner is there, if it is then this is not your problem, if it's not,
click on 'change settings' on the left, in the next window scroll down
and un-tick microsoft update and click on 'apply changes now' , you'll
now be back to windows update only.