CPU staying at 100% useage - very slow performance

[Guest]

I haven't seen this exact problem addressed here

I have XP home edition running on a Dell 4400 desktop with a 1.8GHz processor and 256K of memory. The computer seems to boot up normally but trying to open anything from the desk top is extremely, extremely slow. I've noticed a small green box appearing in the task bar that says my CPU is at 100% and it just stays there. I've opened the task manager and there are no tasks running and 46 processes running. Clicking on the "performance" tab shows the CPU pegged at 100% and it'll stay there as long as I care to stare at it. Defrags, disk cleanups and running my earthlink spyware detector/blocker or fully updated Norton Antivirus does not seem to help. The spyware blocker usually find a few cookies but performance is not changed by deleting them. So far the only thing that helps is to run a system restore but lately the problem returns a few days later

I should mention that I've always run the computer behind a D-Link router that has a firewall in it. My second computer, running Win 98, and connected to the same router has suffered no such problems.

 

[PC-Tech]

Check to see what processes are running when the CPU is
Maxed out. you may have a program or process that is
corrupted and needs uninstalled and then reinstalled. It
may be caused by a anti virus update that was not
compatable with your PC.

-----Original Message-----
I haven't seen this exact problem addressed here.

I have XP home edition running on a Dell 4400 desktop

with a 1.8GHz processor and 256K of memory. The computer
seems to boot up normally but trying to open anything
from the desk top is extremely, extremely slow. I've
noticed a small green box appearing in the task bar that
says my CPU is at 100% and it just stays there. I've
opened the task manager and there are no tasks running
and 46 processes running. Clicking on the "performance"
tab shows the CPU pegged at 100% and it'll stay there as
long as I care to stare at it. Defrags, disk cleanups
and running my earthlink spyware detector/blocker or
fully updated Norton Antivirus does not seem to help.
The spyware blocker usually find a few cookies but
performance is not changed by deleting them. So far the
only thing that helps is to run a system restore but
lately the problem returns a few days later.

I should mention that I've always run the computer

behind a D-Link router that has a firewall in it. My
second computer, running Win 98, and connected to the
same router has suffered no such problems.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Well, which specific process is using your CPU cycles? That will
lead you to the problem.

Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Guest]

I checked this out and found that a process called SDII.exe was consuming 99% of the CPU capacity. If I stop this process from the task manager the computer returns to normal function but the SDII.exe loads again the next time I start the computer so I have to stop this process every time I start up

A google search on this file reveals it is a scanner detection utility that was installed with the software that came with my Microtek 3800 scanner (hey, it was free with the computer). This process/program enables the one-touch buttons on the scanner all the time, even when the scanner software isn't running. Turns out it's a known bug. For some reason it never caused this problem until after I installed the latest critical update from Microsoft however

I downloaded an updated driver set for this scanner from the Microtek web site and tried restarting the computer a few times and so far so good. I don't see the SDII.exe file in the process list any more so perhaps they are detecting the activation of those one touch buttons with a different program now

I still have a couple of minor issues with the Microtek ScanWizard software but at least my computer is up and running again

Anyway, perhaps this will help someone else and thanks for all the suggestions

----- Bruce Chambers wrote: ----

Greetings -

Well, which specific process is using your CPU cycles? That will
lead you to the problem

Bruce Chamber
-
Help us help you
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.ht
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.htm

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RA