CPU Pegged at 100%

[mtvet]

I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution, and have a few
differences with the other presentations. Just want to try to get at what's
going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down. When I then
try to open a file and navigate to My Computer, the flashlight comes up, and
it takes forever, with the usage up to 100%. The primary process in this
case appears to be the Office App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems
like it's svchost that has 3 threads of kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless connection)
the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back down. Just keeps cycling
like that. The heavy users in this case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22.
Then when anything else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no
functionality at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

mtvet

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution, and
have a few differences with the other presentations. Just want to
try to get at what's going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down.
When I then try to open a file and navigate to My Computer, the
flashlight comes up, and it takes forever, with the usage up to
100%. The primary process in this case appears to be the Office
App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems like it's svchost that
has 3 threads of kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this case
appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything else runs on
top of that, we have absolutely no functionality at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of sufficient cache
on the processor *really* makes a noticable difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver for that
installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let Windows control
it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or Tablet PC
Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does it crash
your system? And how long does it take to completely peg your processor and
use all your memory?

 

[Gerry]

It would be helpful if you could post the Command Line of the process
generating the excessive CPU usage. In Process Explorer place
cursor on Process and select Properties, Image.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[mtvet]

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of sufficient cache
on the processor *really* makes a noticable difference.

I'll be able to answer more when I'm in front of that PC, but here's the
info I do know now.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?

Version 6.7.8 (2048b)

- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?

Not sure if they're the latest.

- What AV software?

McAfee Security Center, et al

- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver for that
installed?)

Video card is the one that came with the system (integrated I guess). Not
sure about the latest driver.

- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let Windows control
it.)

- How much free disk space?

A lot.

- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?

Both have been run fairly recently.

- What version of Office?

Office 2002

- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?

Was never prompted to install SP3. When I go to the update center and have
it check for updates, it tells me I'm up to date.

- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or Tablet PC
Edition?

Home Edition

- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does it crash
your system? And how long does it take to completely peg your processor and
use all your memory?

I've never run "HeavyLoad", so I can't address specifically. Memory never
seems to be an issue. It appears to be all processor driven. Processor
queue grows huge, everything grinds to a halt for a while. Then, whatever is
holding the processor lets go and everything goes back to normal.

Seems strange to me that I should be able to totally freeze the machine by
having explorer go to "My Computer".

 

[mtvet]

Gerry:

In the case of using Word and trying to navigate to my computer, the top
user is WINWORD.EXE. The command line is: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office10\WINWORD.EXE" The thread that takes up the cpu predominantly
is: WINWORD.EXE+0x18fc

When looking at the svchost issue, the top process is svchost.exe. The
three threads, as I said before, are kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22. Command
line for the image, in this case, is: C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe -k
imgsvc

Hope this helps.

Mark

 

[mtvet]

More info:

Hard drive remaining: almost 18 GB

VM set at 1.9 G

Office: Microsoft Word 2002 SP3, Excel 2002 SP3

 

[Gerry]

You can launch Word in two ways. You can double click on Microsoft Word
in the All Programs list. This opens Word with a blank document. Another
way is to double click on an existing Word document. Do you notice the
same whichever you do?

With Word you could could get a corrupted normal.dot template. This sent
Word round in circles until the system ran out of memory. I am wondering
whether you are seeing something of that nature.

My computer flashlight. What is your setting for Windows Image
Acquisition? Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Right
click on
Windows Image Acquisition and select Properties. The StartUp type here
is set to automatic.

What exactly do you do to open My Computer. You can get problems with
right clicking.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[mtvet]

You can launch Word in two ways. You can double click on Microsoft Word
in the All Programs list. This opens Word with a blank document. Another
way is to double click on an existing Word document. Do you notice the
same whichever you do?

No difference. I was just using Word as an example... happens with any of
the tools.

With Word you could could get a corrupted normal.dot template. This sent
Word round in circles until the system ran out of memory. I am wondering
whether you are seeing something of that nature.

My computer flashlight. What is your setting for Windows Image
Acquisition? Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Right
click on
Windows Image Acquisition and select Properties. The StartUp type here
is set to automatic.

It IS set to automatic. The flashlight I referred to is the one that
comes up in Explorer when it needs to delay before showing what's in a
folder, so it animates a flashlight to indicate it's looking for stuff.

What exactly do you do to open My Computer. You can get problems with
right clicking.

No right clicking. In the Word example, what I did was use the drop-down
box in the file open dialog to select My Computer. It then takes a long time
to actually display the contents of My Computer and the CPU is totally
consumed.

 

[mtvet]

On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the same, LOUSY.
Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the motherboard chipset
drivers and that they should be sure to be updated. If I go into device
manager, which devices do I select in order to update those drivers
appropriately? Is there a way to get the system to do a global driver update
of some type, rather than having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

 

[Gerry]

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result in a
significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size stick is
each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the same,
LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select in
order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way to get
the system to do a global driver update of some type, rather than
having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

 

[mtvet]

Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2). I bought 1G and
replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656. Total available
hovers around: 583560, and system cache around: 654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause these kinds of
symptoms. It's still strange to me that the biggest hog I wind up seeing is
svchost.exe with 3 identical threads kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to be grabbing
too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result in a
significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size stick is
each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the same,
LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select in
order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way to get
the system to do a global driver update of some type, rather than
having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

 

[Gerry]

What version of McAfee is it?

I do not know whether Windows Defender clashes with McAfee but I doubt
that is the problem.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2). I
bought 1G and replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656. Total
available hovers around: 583560, and system cache around: 654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause these
kinds of symptoms. It's still strange to me that the biggest hog I
wind up seeing is svchost.exe with 3 identical threads
kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to be
grabbing too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result in a
significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size
stick is each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the
same, LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select in
order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way to get
the system to do a global driver update of some type, rather than
having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

:

mtvet wrote:
I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution, and
have a few differences with the other presentations. Just want to
try to get at what's going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down.
When I then try to open a file and navigate to My Computer, the
flashlight comes up, and it takes forever, with the usage up to
100%. The primary process in this case appears to be the Office
App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems like it's svchost
that has 3 threads of kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this case
appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything else runs
on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver for
that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let Windows
control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does it
crash your system? And how long does it take to completely peg
your processor and use all your memory?

 

[mtvet]

Commit Charge
Total 480080
Limit 3105872
Peak 712684


Top resource users

Process Peak Memory VM Size CPU Time
svchost.exe 163,836 18,040 24:11
Mcshield.exe 148,460 33,360 6:21
mcods.exe 147,716 74,784 1:25:38
explorer 93,096 19,076 6:01
MsMpEng 63,548 48,492 :28
iexplorer 26,128
system idle 22:41:00


System is shut down occasionally, but is often on 24/7. See the same
behavior whether on for long periods of time or when just booted.

Thanks.

What version of McAfee is it?

I do not know whether Windows Defender clashes with McAfee but I doubt
that is the problem.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2). I
bought 1G and replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656. Total
available hovers around: 583560, and system cache around: 654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause these
kinds of symptoms. It's still strange to me that the biggest hog I
wind up seeing is svchost.exe with 3 identical threads
kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to be
grabbing too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result in a
significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size
stick is each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mtvet wrote:
On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the
same, LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select in
order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way to get
the system to do a global driver update of some type, rather than
having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

:

mtvet wrote:
I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution, and
have a few differences with the other presentations. Just want to
try to get at what's going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down.
When I then try to open a file and navigate to My Computer, the
flashlight comes up, and it takes forever, with the usage up to
100%. The primary process in this case appears to be the Office
App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems like it's svchost
that has 3 threads of kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this case
appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything else runs
on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver for
that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let Windows
control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does it
crash your system? And how long does it take to completely peg
your processor and use all your memory?

 

[mtvet]

Tried to respond to this once, but it didn't seem to take, so here goes
again. If the other one shows up, the numbers will be slightly different,
since I took a new snapshot. Here goes:

Stats for Processes and processor:

Commit Charge
Total: 480080
Limit: 2105872
Peak: 712684


Added total CPU time, just for giggles:

Process Peak Mem VM Size CPU Time
scvhost.exe 163,836 18,056 32:13
mcods.exe 151,180 140,284 1:25:49
Mcshield.exe 148,460 97,736 11:52
explorer.exe 93,224 19,916 3:25
MsMpEng.exe 63,548 46,588 6:22
iexplore.exe 60,040 41,036 4:19

System idle process 24:43:05


The computer tends to be on for long periods of time, as you can tell by the
idle process time, but does get shut down from time to time, and there
doesn’t seem to be a difference in performance between times when it’s been
on for a long time and when it’s just started up.

I just drove the WINWORD.EXE process up to 98% of CPU by trying to open a
file and looking in My Computer. Its stats, BTW, are Peak Mem: 24,348, VM
Size: 11,308, CPU Time 00:46. And it had only been running for a few
minutes.

McAfee info: Security Center version 8.1, build 8.1.175. Virus Scan
version 12.1, build 12.1.110, Personal Firewall v9.1, b9.1.108, Site Advisor
v2.8. b2.8.304.

What version of McAfee is it?

I do not know whether Windows Defender clashes with McAfee but I doubt
that is the problem.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2). I
bought 1G and replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656. Total
available hovers around: 583560, and system cache around: 654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause these
kinds of symptoms. It's still strange to me that the biggest hog I
wind up seeing is svchost.exe with 3 identical threads
kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to be
grabbing too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result in a
significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size
stick is each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mtvet wrote:
On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the
same, LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select in
order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way to get
the system to do a global driver update of some type, rather than
having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

:

mtvet wrote:
I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution, and
have a few differences with the other presentations. Just want to
try to get at what's going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down.
When I then try to open a file and navigate to My Computer, the
flashlight comes up, and it takes forever, with the usage up to
100%. The primary process in this case appears to be the Office
App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems like it's svchost
that has 3 threads of kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this case
appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything else runs
on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver for
that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let Windows
control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does it
crash your system? And how long does it take to completely peg
your processor and use all your memory?

 

[mtvet]

Just wanted to make sure my responses were actually getting out there, since
my ability to see them has been very compromised by using the Microsoft
web-based newsreader. Figured I would ping this one, just to make sure that
if the existence of the other replies had been unobserved there would be
another chance for a response.

Mark

What version of McAfee is it?

I do not know whether Windows Defender clashes with McAfee but I doubt
that is the problem.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2). I
bought 1G and replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656. Total
available hovers around: 583560, and system cache around: 654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause these
kinds of symptoms. It's still strange to me that the biggest hog I
wind up seeing is svchost.exe with 3 identical threads
kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to be
grabbing too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result in a
significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size
stick is each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mtvet wrote:
On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the
same, LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select in
order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way to get
the system to do a global driver update of some type, rather than
having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

:

mtvet wrote:
I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution, and
have a few differences with the other presentations. Just want to
try to get at what's going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down.
When I then try to open a file and navigate to My Computer, the
flashlight comes up, and it takes forever, with the usage up to
100%. The primary process in this case appears to be the Office
App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems like it's svchost
that has 3 threads of kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this case
appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything else runs
on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver for
that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let Windows
control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does it
crash your system? And how long does it take to completely peg
your processor and use all your memory?

 

[Gerry]

Mark

Your commit charge figures are high. McAfee is a known cause and two of
the items in your list relate to McAfee. Leaving your computer on 24/7
is not a good idea.

You might look for malware.

I would download and run Spybot S & D (freeware version) and see if it
finds anything like a Trojan. If Spybot S & D finds anything significant
( other than cookies) you need to be wary. If it removes something and
it returns or another nasty pops up it can be an indication that there
is another hidden nasty not being detected by McAfee or Spybot.

Spybot S & D. There is a freeware version buried in this link:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just wanted to make sure my responses were actually getting out
there, since my ability to see them has been very compromised by
using the Microsoft web-based newsreader. Figured I would ping this
one, just to make sure that if the existence of the other replies had
been unobserved there would be another chance for a response.

Mark

What version of McAfee is it?

I do not know whether Windows Defender clashes with McAfee but I
doubt that is the problem.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the
boxes before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the
figures for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2). I
bought 1G and replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656. Total
available hovers around: 583560, and system cache around: 654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause these
kinds of symptoms. It's still strange to me that the biggest hog I
wind up seeing is svchost.exe with 3 identical threads
kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to be
grabbing too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

:

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result in a
significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size
stick is each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mtvet wrote:
On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the
same, LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select
in order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way
to get the system to do a global driver update of some type,
rather than having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

:

mtvet wrote:
I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution,
and have a few differences with the other presentations. Just
want to try to get at what's going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down.
When I then try to open a file and navigate to My Computer, the
flashlight comes up, and it takes forever, with the usage up to
100%. The primary process in this case appears to be the Office
App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems like it's svchost
that has 3 threads of kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this
case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything
else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality
at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver for
that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let Windows
control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does
it crash your system? And how long does it take to completely
peg your processor and use all your memory?

 

[mtvet]

Gerry-

Under normal circumstances, what would average commit charge figures be?
Just curious, because the examples I've seen on line have been roughly the
same as on this machine, so I'm wondering what the metric is that you use.

Also, I've heard conflicting arguments for shutting down frequently vs.
leaving a computer on for longer. Some involve the strain on the hardware
from frequent power cycles, some involve software stability over long periods
of time. Why do you say it is "not a good idea" to leave the computer on
24/7?

I'll try the spybot thing. I think that McAfee had said that it conflicts
with their software and that it needed to be removed, but I'll double check
those conversations and give it a try.

Mark

Mark

Your commit charge figures are high. McAfee is a known cause and two of
the items in your list relate to McAfee. Leaving your computer on 24/7
is not a good idea.

You might look for malware.

I would download and run Spybot S & D (freeware version) and see if it
finds anything like a Trojan. If Spybot S & D finds anything significant
( other than cookies) you need to be wary. If it removes something and
it returns or another nasty pops up it can be an indication that there
is another hidden nasty not being detected by McAfee or Spybot.

Spybot S & D. There is a freeware version buried in this link:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just wanted to make sure my responses were actually getting out
there, since my ability to see them has been very compromised by
using the Microsoft web-based newsreader. Figured I would ping this
one, just to make sure that if the existence of the other replies had
been unobserved there would be another chance for a response.

Mark

What version of McAfee is it?

I do not know whether Windows Defender clashes with McAfee but I
doubt that is the problem.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the
boxes before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the
figures for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



mtvet wrote:
Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2). I
bought 1G and replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656. Total
available hovers around: 583560, and system cache around: 654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause these
kinds of symptoms. It's still strange to me that the biggest hog I
wind up seeing is svchost.exe with 3 identical threads
kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to be
grabbing too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

:

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result in a
significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size
stick is each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mtvet wrote:
On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the
same, LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select
in order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way
to get the system to do a global driver update of some type,
rather than having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

:

mtvet wrote:
I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution,
and have a few differences with the other presentations. Just
want to try to get at what's going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down.
When I then try to open a file and navigate to My Computer, the
flashlight comes up, and it takes forever, with the usage up to
100%. The primary process in this case appears to be the Office
App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems like it's svchost
that has 3 threads of kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this
case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything
else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality
at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver for
that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let Windows
control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does
it crash your system? And how long does it take to completely
peg your processor and use all your memory?

 

[Gerry]

mtvet

Your commit charge figures are well below available RAM so in that sense
they are fine. In terms of comparables posted these will have been
posted as a result of requests where the user has complained of slow
performance and excessive use of the pagefile is expected. So any
results posted will more than likely be high. However, it is not easy to
get typical figures. You really need to get results when the user is not
conscious of a performance issue.

Leaving a computer on 24/7 exposes the system to the consequences of
memory leaks. Even when a programme with a memory leak is closed the
memory is not released until the system is shutdown or restarted.

You can check pagefile usage more directly using pagefilemon.

A small utility to monitor pagefile usage:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

Note that programs using undo features, particularly those associated
with graphics and photo editing, require large amounts of memory so if
you use this type of programme check these first observing how the page
usage increases when they start and whether the usage decreases when you
close the programme.

You can get clues as to what is generating peak memory demands but this
is not a precise science, more a matter of judgement.

The basis of your complaint is that CPU is pegged at 100%. Are you
counting the System Idle process as part of the 100%. The System Idle
process needs to be disregarded as it represents unused CPU capacity.
Normally if you can match CPU usage to something you are doing then it
is of no concern. It is unexplained CPU usage that needs investigation
as it can indicate malware activity. You can also get a programme
commanding 100% because it has a problem. Windows Automatic Updates has
been known to create this type of problem.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gerry-

Under normal circumstances, what would average commit charge figures
be? Just curious, because the examples I've seen on line have been
roughly the same as on this machine, so I'm wondering what the metric
is that you use.

Also, I've heard conflicting arguments for shutting down frequently
vs. leaving a computer on for longer. Some involve the strain on the
hardware from frequent power cycles, some involve software stability
over long periods of time. Why do you say it is "not a good idea" to
leave the computer on 24/7?

I'll try the spybot thing. I think that McAfee had said that it
conflicts with their software and that it needed to be removed, but
I'll double check those conversations and give it a try.

Mark

Mark

Your commit charge figures are high. McAfee is a known cause and two
of the items in your list relate to McAfee. Leaving your computer on
24/7 is not a good idea.

You might look for malware.

I would download and run Spybot S & D (freeware version) and see if
it finds anything like a Trojan. If Spybot S & D finds anything
significant ( other than cookies) you need to be wary. If it removes
something and it returns or another nasty pops up it can be an
indication that there is another hidden nasty not being detected by
McAfee or Spybot.

Spybot S & D. There is a freeware version buried in this link:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just wanted to make sure my responses were actually getting out
there, since my ability to see them has been very compromised by
using the Microsoft web-based newsreader. Figured I would ping this
one, just to make sure that if the existence of the other replies
had been unobserved there would be another chance for a response.

Mark

:

What version of McAfee is it?

I do not know whether Windows Defender clashes with McAfee but I
doubt that is the problem.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the
Performance Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit
and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager.
With the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check
the boxes before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What
are the figures for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



mtvet wrote:
Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2). I
bought 1G and replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656. Total
available hovers around: 583560, and system cache around:
654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause
these kinds of symptoms. It's still strange to me that the
biggest hog I wind up seeing is svchost.exe with 3 identical
threads kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to be
grabbing too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

:

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result
in a significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size
stick is each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mtvet wrote:
On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the
same, LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select
in order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way
to get the system to do a global driver update of some type,
rather than having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

:

mtvet wrote:
I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution,
and have a few differences with the other presentations. Just
want to try to get at what's going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down.
When I then try to open a file and navigate to My Computer,
the flashlight comes up, and it takes forever, with the usage
up to 100%. The primary process in this case appears to be
the Office App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems like
it's svchost that has 3 threads of
kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this
case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything
else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality
at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver
for that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let
Windows control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does
it crash your system? And how long does it take to completely
peg your processor and use all your memory?

 

[mtvet]

Gerry-

I was just asking what you look at for normal because you said they seem
high in your prior posting.

As far as your question goes, of course I am NOT counting the idle process
in the total. As noted in the examples above, when connected to the internet
via VZAccess Manager I get spikes of 45-70% CPU usage, where the key process
using CPU appears to be svchost, with 3 threads of kernel32!CreateThread0x22
(doing it by memory, but that's close to it), each taking about a third of
the total CPU being used.

If I start Word, at startup Word.exe will take up 100% of CPU for a few
seconds. It then drops down to baseline. If I then do a File->Open and use
the drop down box to go to My Computer, it will pause for about 10
seconds...during that time Word.exe is at 90-100% of CPU, and the CPU is
running at 100% for that time. The system is, of course, non-responsive at
that time. I get the same thing with Excel, except that it's excel.exe that
is taking up the whole CPU at that time.

I get the same symptoms if I just use Windows explorer and navigate to My
Computer, except it's explore.exe that takes up the entire CPU.

On the memory leak front, wouldn't I see the total RAM used slowly creeping
up if processes were taking memory and not releasing it? RAM, from
everything I can see, doesn't appear to be the issue here. It seems like
it's really a CPU problem, but I'm not sure how to get to the next level as
far as determining what within either the Office application or Windows
Explorer, or svchost is really eating up cycles that shouldn't be.

Thanks for your help. I'm still stumped.

Mark

mtvet

Your commit charge figures are well below available RAM so in that sense
they are fine. In terms of comparables posted these will have been
posted as a result of requests where the user has complained of slow
performance and excessive use of the pagefile is expected. So any
results posted will more than likely be high. However, it is not easy to
get typical figures. You really need to get results when the user is not
conscious of a performance issue.

Leaving a computer on 24/7 exposes the system to the consequences of
memory leaks. Even when a programme with a memory leak is closed the
memory is not released until the system is shutdown or restarted.

You can check pagefile usage more directly using pagefilemon.

A small utility to monitor pagefile usage:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

Note that programs using undo features, particularly those associated
with graphics and photo editing, require large amounts of memory so if
you use this type of programme check these first observing how the page
usage increases when they start and whether the usage decreases when you
close the programme.

You can get clues as to what is generating peak memory demands but this
is not a precise science, more a matter of judgement.

The basis of your complaint is that CPU is pegged at 100%. Are you
counting the System Idle process as part of the 100%. The System Idle
process needs to be disregarded as it represents unused CPU capacity.
Normally if you can match CPU usage to something you are doing then it
is of no concern. It is unexplained CPU usage that needs investigation
as it can indicate malware activity. You can also get a programme
commanding 100% because it has a problem. Windows Automatic Updates has
been known to create this type of problem.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gerry-

Under normal circumstances, what would average commit charge figures
be? Just curious, because the examples I've seen on line have been
roughly the same as on this machine, so I'm wondering what the metric
is that you use.

Also, I've heard conflicting arguments for shutting down frequently
vs. leaving a computer on for longer. Some involve the strain on the
hardware from frequent power cycles, some involve software stability
over long periods of time. Why do you say it is "not a good idea" to
leave the computer on 24/7?

I'll try the spybot thing. I think that McAfee had said that it
conflicts with their software and that it needed to be removed, but
I'll double check those conversations and give it a try.

Mark

Mark

Your commit charge figures are high. McAfee is a known cause and two
of the items in your list relate to McAfee. Leaving your computer on
24/7 is not a good idea.

You might look for malware.

I would download and run Spybot S & D (freeware version) and see if
it finds anything like a Trojan. If Spybot S & D finds anything
significant ( other than cookies) you need to be wary. If it removes
something and it returns or another nasty pops up it can be an
indication that there is another hidden nasty not being detected by
McAfee or Spybot.

Spybot S & D. There is a freeware version buried in this link:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mtvet wrote:
Just wanted to make sure my responses were actually getting out
there, since my ability to see them has been very compromised by
using the Microsoft web-based newsreader. Figured I would ping this
one, just to make sure that if the existence of the other replies
had been unobserved there would be another chance for a response.

Mark

:

What version of McAfee is it?

I do not know whether Windows Defender clashes with McAfee but I
doubt that is the problem.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the
Performance Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit
and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager.
With the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check
the boxes before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What
are the figures for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



mtvet wrote:
Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2). I
bought 1G and replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656. Total
available hovers around: 583560, and system cache around:
654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause
these kinds of symptoms. It's still strange to me that the
biggest hog I wind up seeing is svchost.exe with 3 identical
threads kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to be
grabbing too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

:

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result
in a significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size
stick is each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mtvet wrote:
On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the
same, LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select
in order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way
to get the system to do a global driver update of some type,
rather than having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

:

mtvet wrote:
I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution,
and have a few differences with the other presentations. Just
want to try to get at what's going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down.
When I then try to open a file and navigate to My Computer,
the flashlight comes up, and it takes forever, with the usage
up to 100%. The primary process in this case appears to be
the Office App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems like
it's svchost that has 3 threads of
kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this
case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything
else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality
at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver
for that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let
Windows control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does
it crash your system? And how long does it take to completely
peg your processor and use all your memory?

 

[mtvet]

I know it's the holidays, and that's why responses may be slow, but I'm still
looking for help.

Any idea if Intel's Application Accelerator would be helpful with this kind
of situation? Just been poking along, trying to check on drivers etc, and
stumbled across it.

Mark

mtvet

Your commit charge figures are well below available RAM so in that sense
they are fine. In terms of comparables posted these will have been
posted as a result of requests where the user has complained of slow
performance and excessive use of the pagefile is expected. So any
results posted will more than likely be high. However, it is not easy to
get typical figures. You really need to get results when the user is not
conscious of a performance issue.

Leaving a computer on 24/7 exposes the system to the consequences of
memory leaks. Even when a programme with a memory leak is closed the
memory is not released until the system is shutdown or restarted.

You can check pagefile usage more directly using pagefilemon.

A small utility to monitor pagefile usage:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

Note that programs using undo features, particularly those associated
with graphics and photo editing, require large amounts of memory so if
you use this type of programme check these first observing how the page
usage increases when they start and whether the usage decreases when you
close the programme.

You can get clues as to what is generating peak memory demands but this
is not a precise science, more a matter of judgement.

The basis of your complaint is that CPU is pegged at 100%. Are you
counting the System Idle process as part of the 100%. The System Idle
process needs to be disregarded as it represents unused CPU capacity.
Normally if you can match CPU usage to something you are doing then it
is of no concern. It is unexplained CPU usage that needs investigation
as it can indicate malware activity. You can also get a programme
commanding 100% because it has a problem. Windows Automatic Updates has
been known to create this type of problem.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gerry-

Under normal circumstances, what would average commit charge figures
be? Just curious, because the examples I've seen on line have been
roughly the same as on this machine, so I'm wondering what the metric
is that you use.

Also, I've heard conflicting arguments for shutting down frequently
vs. leaving a computer on for longer. Some involve the strain on the
hardware from frequent power cycles, some involve software stability
over long periods of time. Why do you say it is "not a good idea" to
leave the computer on 24/7?

I'll try the spybot thing. I think that McAfee had said that it
conflicts with their software and that it needed to be removed, but
I'll double check those conversations and give it a try.

Mark

Mark

Your commit charge figures are high. McAfee is a known cause and two
of the items in your list relate to McAfee. Leaving your computer on
24/7 is not a good idea.

You might look for malware.

I would download and run Spybot S & D (freeware version) and see if
it finds anything like a Trojan. If Spybot S & D finds anything
significant ( other than cookies) you need to be wary. If it removes
something and it returns or another nasty pops up it can be an
indication that there is another hidden nasty not being detected by
McAfee or Spybot.

Spybot S & D. There is a freeware version buried in this link:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mtvet wrote:
Just wanted to make sure my responses were actually getting out
there, since my ability to see them has been very compromised by
using the Microsoft web-based newsreader. Figured I would ping this
one, just to make sure that if the existence of the other replies
had been unobserved there would be another chance for a response.

Mark

:

What version of McAfee is it?

I do not know whether Windows Defender clashes with McAfee but I
doubt that is the problem.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the
Performance Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit
and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager.
With the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check
the boxes before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What
are the figures for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



mtvet wrote:
Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2). I
bought 1G and replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656. Total
available hovers around: 583560, and system cache around:
654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause
these kinds of symptoms. It's still strange to me that the
biggest hog I wind up seeing is svchost.exe with 3 identical
threads kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to be
grabbing too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

:

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a home
computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would result
in a significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What size
stick is each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mtvet wrote:
On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still the
same, LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You mentioned the
motherboard chipset drivers and that they should be sure to be
updated. If I go into device manager, which devices do I select
in order to update those drivers appropriately? Is there a way
to get the system to do a global driver update of some type,
rather than having to do them piecemeal??

Thanks.

:

mtvet wrote:
I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm solution,
and have a few differences with the other presentations. Just
want to try to get at what's going on with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops down.
When I then try to open a file and navigate to My Computer,
the flashlight comes up, and it takes forever, with the usage
up to 100%. The primary process in this case appears to be
the Office App (eg - WinWord). In other cases, seems like
it's svchost that has 3 threads of
kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this
case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything
else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality
at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver
for that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let
Windows control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does
it crash your system? And how long does it take to completely
peg your processor and use all your memory?