System Process Consuming 99% of CPU

[Wayne Wengert]

One of my friends has a system that has recently slowed down a great deal.
The task list Processes tab show "System" using 99% of the CPU. Other WinXP
systems I look at show System with about 0%. We've scanned for virii, run
AdAware, etc. Any thoughts on what might be burring up all the CPU?

Wayne

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Wayne Wengert" <[email protected]>

| One of my friends has a system that has recently slowed down a great deal.
| The task list Processes tab show "System" using 99% of the CPU. Other WinXP
| systems I look at show System with about 0%. We've scanned for virii, run
| AdAware, etc. Any thoughts on what might be burring up all the CPU?
|
| Wayne
|

Wayne:

You scanned for viruses not "virii" as there is no such terminology and the plural of virus
is viruses.

So what process or processes are consuming the highest resources ?

Have you tried Process Explorer ?
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html

What version of Ad-aware ?

What AV software was used to scan the platform ?
Have you tried alternate "On Demand" AV scanners ?

Have you tried SpyBot Search and Destroy v1.4 ?

 

[Wayne Wengert]

From: "Wayne Wengert" <[email protected]>

| One of my friends has a system that has recently slowed down a great
deal.
| The task list Processes tab show "System" using 99% of the CPU. Other
WinXP
| systems I look at show System with about 0%. We've scanned for virii,
run
| AdAware, etc. Any thoughts on what might be burring up all the CPU?
|
| Wayne
|

Wayne:

You scanned for viruses not "virii" as there is no such terminology and
the plural of virus
is viruses.

Let's not go there!

So what process or processes are consuming the highest resources ?
"System"


Have you tried Process Explorer ?
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html

What version of Ad-aware ?

Most recent - downloaded yesterday

What AV software was used to scan the platform ?

McAffee and Norton

 

[Wayne Wengert]

Not sure if this is related but when I try to do Start/Run/msconfig it can't
find the program?

Wayne

 

[Wayne Wengert]

I found this comment on a site I located via Google: (If the System process
is using a huge amount of CPU for an extended time, it usually means some
device driver is to blame).

I am going to try removing the main hardware drivers one at a time and
reboot to let XP reinstall the driver to see if that helps?

Wayne

 

[Malke]

I found this comment on a site I located via Google: (If the System
process is using a huge amount of CPU for an extended time, it usually
means some device driver is to blame).

I am going to try removing the main hardware drivers one at a time and
reboot to let XP reinstall the driver to see if that helps?

Start with HP printer software if your friend has one of those.

Malke

 

[Wayne Wengert]

It turns out that they had inserted a CD into the CDRW drive and it was
stuck in there. From what I can figure out, that CD was created on another
system and when their daughter tried to use some photos on it in some album
type application, it froze the system and she had to power off and then
power on to restart. She forgot the CD was still in the drive.

I suspect that the CD was not properly closed when it was written. I tried
the CD in 4 other systems and only one was able to open it (using Roxio)

Thanks for all the suggestions

Wayne