Aspire 5000 CPU usage over 55% - slow running

I've looked through has many posts as possible but can't find any to cover the problem I have. Sorry if this has been covered - if it has can you point me to the thread please.
The Aspire 5000 is running XP Home, AMD processor. Purchased Sept 2006
(I'm in work; I'll give the full spec later when I get home)
My daughter uses the laptop for her University course.
This is the fourth Acer I have purchased - 1 x work, 1 x friend, 2 x home
all have been great machines - untill now.
The cursor would not move across the screen smoothly.
When I checked the Task Manager, the CPU usage was running between 55% and 100%
Apart from the odd process that flashed up at 2% the only other process using the CPU was "system" - this was using unto 40% and nowhere near the 55%+ task manager was showing.
There was no indication as to what could be using the rest of the CPU.
After several hours of transferring photos music and the odd work file over to my Acer, fearing there was a virus at work using the system process, I restored the laptop back to it's original settings using the Restore CD's.
All went well, the pointer moved around the screen to enable me to click "OK" when the next CD was inserted into the drive - everything looked good. Once the process was complete and the laptop re-booted, at the first set-up screen the machine now freezes. It won't even turn off by holding the power button - I had to remove the battery.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

it could possibly be a hardware problem...motherboard maybe...did you run a virus scan before you formatted everything?
i'd take it in to have it looked at. b/c if it is the motherboard there is not much you can do about that one but have the company replace it...
do you still have an active warranty?

 

No I didn't run a virus scan, the way the machine was running it would have taken over a week to perform.
I turned it on last night and it worked perfectly long enough for me to get XP's basic configuration complete, log onto the net and get the the first 3 updates from Microsoft - then after the first reboot, it started playing up again with the CPU usage at over 45% aain with no obvious reason.
There is a section in the middle of the base that was running hot - according to the manual it is the memory compartment - if this overheats can it cause the problems I'm having?

Thanks for your help.

 

Schindler-

It could be an overheating issue. Is the laptop on a flat surface like a table, or on a couch/carpet/blanket? Usually though, in my experience, what you described is caused by a flaky stick of RAM. I've got a 1GB DDR module like that. It passes POST, even runs fine for a while, but then the math starts going foul (causing the system to eat up CPU crunching 'leaking' numbers). If you have more than one stick, try removing one and seeing if the issue is solved. You may also notice that the problematic stick is rather hot- either a symptom or the cause of the troublesome stick. This is why often after waiting a few hours or overnight, it frustratingly seems to act normally again... for a bit.

If this is the case, I wish I could say it's fixable, but bad RAM is simply dead. DDR (what your 5000 takes) isn't super cheap, either, unlike DDR2. You could look on the bright side and just use this as an excuse to upgrade the original amount of memory, though! Unfortunately for me, my 1GB Kingston stick wasn't original, it bought AS an upgrade- and because I can't find my original receipt, they won't honor the lifetime warranty. (Always keep your receipts!)

Let us know how you get on!