Somethings eating my CPU !!

[Guest]

I have noticed lately that my pc is becoming dreadfully slow. For that
reason, I installed Process Explorer from www.sysinternals.com. I have
nothing allowed to run in the background at startup other than my antivirus
and other security app's, yet when I would open my task manager with
ctrl/alt/del, with nothing running in the background, it would show my System
Idle Process holding steady at or near 99... however, at the same time, at
the bottom of the window, it shows CPU Usage at an astounding 80 to 90 to
even 100% ! Process Explorer showed me that I have, with no programs running
on my system other than my security junk, there is something called 'Hardware
Interrupts' that is showing to use up to 80% of my CPU... I dont know why
this is happening, or how to remedy the situation, that is why I am here,
asking for your help...any assistance would be greatly appreciated; also,
please bear in mind that I am not a 'techie' or computer wiz, just an old guy
who wants to keep my desktop pc running in the best condition possible...I
know this problem is something that is not supposed to be happening, but
don't know how to fix it...thanks in advance... ~~Bill

 

[Guest]

Hi badatti2d,

See if the information in this Sysinternals forum thread helps you to
resolve the problem:

Topic: Interrupts spikes to 80% of CPU
http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=965&KW=spikes



Regards,

 

[Guest]

I have noticed lately that my pc is becoming dreadfully slow. For that
reason, I installed Process Explorer from www.sysinternals.com. I have
nothing allowed to run in the background at startup other than my antivirus
and other security app's, yet when I would open my task manager with
ctrl/alt/del, with nothing running in the background, it would show my System
Idle Process holding steady at or near 99... however, at the same time, at
the bottom of the window, it shows CPU Usage at an astounding 80 to 90 to
even 100% ! Process Explorer showed me that I have, with no programs running
on my system other than my security junk, there is something called 'Hardware
Interrupts' that is showing to use up to 80% of my CPU... I dont know why
this is happening, or how to remedy the situation, that is why I am here,
asking for your help...any assistance would be greatly appreciated; also,
please bear in mind that I am not a 'techie' or computer wiz, just an old guy
who wants to keep my desktop pc running in the best condition possible...I
know this problem is something that is not supposed to be happening, but
don't know how to fix it...thanks in advance... ~~Bill

Hi Bill,
What your Anti-Virus and the other Security software called?.
About the System Idle running at 99% this normal and you don't need to worry
about this Process, but need to concentrate on the reset of the hardware
interruption scenario, have a look in the event Viewer for any error
messages(X), to access the event Viewer do the following:
Open a run command and type in:
eventvwr click [OK] there click on;
Application = look in the right pan/window for Error and double click them
to get more info.
System = // // /// //// /// // //
Security = /// /// // // // // /// // / // /// ///
Hardware Interrupts: is a message sent by the hardware to the system telling
it we are ready to go either use the memory or release the memory, IRQ,
DMA...etc.
The system in this scenario playing the Cop, controlling the traffic (
unless the traffic in chaos, the Cop can't do any thing about it), consider
it like Traffic Light in our day-to-day life!, this the Definition in pref
for the HI.
PIC (8259) Hardware Is Slow <= this example:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/IO-APIC.mspx
How to Use the STACKS= Setting in the CONFIG.SYS File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/84300
http://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/rtl/go32/hardwareinterrupts.html

Test your RAM and perform these cleaning steps:
1... First, try to clean up your caches, Internet files and delete cookies
by doing this:
Click Start >> Control Panel >> Double click Network and Internet
Connections >> Double click Internet Options.
On the IE properties windows you will see these Taps:
General | Security | Privacy | Content | Connections | Programs |
Advanced
Under General Tab clear your History, Internet Files and Cookies.
Then click on Advanced tab and scroll down to under the Browsing Option:
[&] Browsing
[ ] Enable Third-Party browser extensions (Req Rest) uncheck this box.
Then click on Programs Tab and click Manage Add-Ons and Disable all non
Verified Add-Ons (You should Renable them later one-by-one and see the
culprit and update it or remove it.
How to manage Add-Ons:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883256

2... You need to be sure your system is clean from malware and Viruses by
scanning for them
Scan for malwares from here:
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php
http://www.safer-networking.org ; for Spybot S&D

=How to perform a clean boot procedure to prevent background programs from
interfering with a game or a program that you currently use
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796
3... You may have a bad RAM try to test your RAM by running Memtest by
downloading this tool and unzip it and make a floppy or CD/DVD and run it on
Reboot.
http://www.memtest86.com/
You may need to reposition/reset the RAM sticks in their slots.
= Download the Hijackthis and send the report to one of
many
forums for analysis and troubleshooting:
When all else fails, HijackThis v1.99.1
(http://aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.zip) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware. Post
your log to http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7, or other appropriate
forums for expert analysis, not here.
HTH.
Let us know.
Regards,
nass