Fast typing = High CPU Usage

[Pinheiro]

Hi!
I have a brand new PC and a strange thing is happening: when doing
some fast typing the CPU usage goes thru the roof (on only one core)
and Windows stops and beeps until I leave the keyboard alone.
I have no sticky keys activated, device manager says everything is
fine and the problem appears in any application. What could it be the
problem? It's driving me nuts :-(

Thanks in advance!

(details: using Athlon 64 X2 5600, 2GB of RAM, Asus M3A-H/HDMI
motherboard, XP SP3 with all the updates, and 100% certainty of no
virus or spyware installed)

 

[JS]

It could be a sub-process or application that' taking all the
CPU resources when you are typing/using the keyboard.

To find and display what could be the problem try Process Explorer:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and the
'Show Lower Pane' options.
Then expand the process named 'Explorer' (click on the + sign)
In the column on the left named 'CPU', look for any high CPU usage.
Next click on the CPU column to sort the processes by %CPU usage
(Highest to Lowest).

Start typing and watch for the process that moves to the top
of the CPU usage list

Move the mouse cursor over this process,
you should see a popup with some detailed info.
Then click on that process to highlight it,
Now that it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
'Search Online'.
This should display what out there on the web about that process.
You can also double click on any process to open up a more detailed
'Properties' window.
Note: some entries like Explorer, System/Services, and Svchost
may need to be expanded to show the detail (sub processes),
in this case click on the + located to the left of the entry.

An alternate method when using Process Explorer
is to double click on the Graph just below the Menu bar.
This will open the 'System Information' window, which has a larger display
of all three graphs. Move your mouse over any spike in the
CPU Usage graph to see what process/application or service is the cause
of the spike.

 

[Pinheiro]

Hi!

Thanks for the tip, JS!
The process that hogs the CPU is "Hardware Interrupts". Weird...
Maybe I need to change something in the BIOS?

-- Rui

 

[JS]

What brand of Video card are you
using. This problem you are experiencing
is also known as an "Interrupt Storm" most
commonly associated with some Nvidia graphics
cards.

 

[Pinheiro]

Hi!

It's an integrated Radeon HD 3200 from ATI.

- Rui

 

[JS]

Boot to "Safe Mode" and see if the problem
goes away.

 

[Pinheiro]

Boot to "Safe Mode" and see if the problem goes away.

Strangely, it doesn't.
Further info:
- tried to disable ACPI in BIOS - Windows doesn't even boot
- disabled ACPI APIC 2.0 in BIOS - doesn't do anything
- changing from the plain vanilla keyboard driver to the manufacturer
driver didn't solve the problem

 

[JS]

If using a USB keyboard, try using a different
USB port.

Also if you have a PS2 keyboard
and connector try that instead of the USB keyboard.

 

[Pinheiro]

Hi!

Also if you have a PS2 keyboard
and connector try that instead of the USB keyboard.

Haven't switched from PS/2 to USB keyboard but finally solved the
problem: BIOS.
After updating my (only 6-months old) BIOS, the problem went away.
The weird thing is that the manufacturer (Asus) haven't mentioned the
problem in the BIOS change history so maybe I just got lucky :-|

Oh, well, all's well when ends well. Thanks again for the help, JS.

-- Rui

 

[JS]

Thanks for the update.