20% cpu time disappearing

[Guest]

Recently my XP Home system has had what I believe to be an rpc eating 20% cpu
time (perfmon) and interrupting audio and video processing approximatly every
second. Sound problem starts with Windows startup message. Have tried
killing all applications and processes that are not critical but no help.
Regularly use Ad Aware and XoftSpy. McAfee Virus protection up to date.
Hardware firewall and Windows firewall. Registry maintained with Norton
WinDoctor. All suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[R. McCarty]

What startup message ? - Hardware used (Sound/Video) ?
On-board or as stand alone peripheral cards, if PCI - which
slots are they installed into. What recent event coincides with
the problem beginning ? (Driver or Program update). Is your
XP instance updated with the latest appropriate Chipset driver
package.
Aside from the litany of info requests, I would get Process
Explorer from SysInternals and let it log for say 1-2 minutes &
then review the process flow.

 

[George Hester]

Yikes WinDoctor. Get rid of that and you won't have issues. Unfortunately
you cannot uninstall it although it appears to. It is very easy showing the
uninstall does not work but I think it is more important to get you fixed.
Reinstall the operating system from a complete wiped drive. Then make sure
you keep anything Norton out. Your issues will cease and will not reappear.

 

[Guest]

I was referring to the sound clip that plays for the "Start Windows" event.
The hardware is all on-board. The only recent activity that might have
involved a software change is the trial of Spam Bully. The problem occurs in
both Diagnostic Startup and Normal Startup modes (msconfig). I use disk
trays. When I boot with a drive with a corrupted directory and get the
"Checking File System..." message and I bypass the check the system then
boots without the problem being activated. There was one other instance
where it booted without the problem but I was unable to tell exactly what I
did to cause that to happen. I will try using Process Explorer as soon at
time permits.

 

[Guest]

Thank you! Process Explorer revealed that the problem was with a device
driver. Temporarily disabling the devices revealed that the problem is with
a CD-RW. Reinstalling the drivers for the drive did not resolve the problem
so it is most likely a hardware problem. That will be simple enough to
resolve. Thanks again.

 

[George Hester]

CD-RW use the regular ASPI driver for CD-ROMs. That is not your issue. The
Writing software may be but you should only experience an issue when you are
writing CD-ROMs in that case. I am telling you it is WinDoctor I would put
money on it.