Various problems

I have an Asus K50AB with an AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core Mobile RM-75 2.20 GHz
Windows 7, 64 bit and 4GB RAM

Several months ago my CPU began to max out. A scan revealed a few viruses AVG had missed. I removed them, but the problems persists. Previously I could multitask without issue; now I can barely do one task without serious problems.

All programs can be shutdown, internet disconnected, and I attempt to play a video and it will show CPU at 100% for a moment. Will often skip initially and I get robotic audio temporarily, then it's fine. For another example, today I had a few tabs open, one of Hulu wherein a video was playing, and I attempted to open a PDF downloaded from an email. CPU at 100% and the robotic audio for about minute, maybe a little over. Ended task, tried again. Same thing, but it only lasted about 30 seconds and then it opened the file and was fine.

There are a few other things that may or may not be relevant, related, or the cause of another (I'm sorry I'm a newb):
* Typing a sentence and it stops displaying for a few seconds, then what I've typed during those seconds will appear all at once.
* Connectivity has always been an issue on this laptop, but has gotten significantly worse in recent weeks.
* Windows Explorer was constantly restarting a few days ago. That lasted a week and hasn't happened again.
* I have had an issue for more than a year where Java cannot update (error 1606). I've followed recommendations for how to fix it including using offline installation. None of them were successful.

I'm about at my wit's end. I've ordered an external hard drive to backup my system. If I can't get it working better this week, I'm just going to wipe it clean and reinstall. I would really love to avoid that.

Sorry for being verbose. If you have any suggestions for any of these things, I would appreciate it. I'm a full-time student and active volunteer and this is making my life extremely difficult when I have so little time to deal with it being slow to non-functioning. Please help.

 

Hi ElleT23 - I haven't any experience with them, but one of my friends improved his system's performance by running a registry cleaner utility. registry cleaner downloads - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET lists some popular ones. I'd choose CCleaner or Advanced System Care Free. Both utilities are free, so read the reviews and choose one if you wish to try this.

Perhaps more knowledgeable folks can weigh in with their recommendations.

Prior to attempting registry cleaning, I recommend performing a backup, then launching Windows Explorer, right-clicking on your drive(s) and choosing Properties from the popup menu. Look at the amount of free space available on each drive. It is recommended to have at least 25% free space. If you have less, see what you can delete or move to other media. http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/380681-asus-utility-bloatware-guide.html is a good guide to what ASUS pre-installed programs you can remove to gain free space. Then deragment each drive, by clicking on the Tools tab in the drive Properties, and clicking on the Defragment button in that tab.

If defragmenting and regostry cleaning fail to give you the performance you need, then you probably want to do a Factory Restore or a clean install of Windows. The ASUS Factory Restore, will bring your system back to how it was when it came out of the box. The disadvantage is it will contain the ASUS Bloatware and outdated drivers. An ASUS Factory Restore can be performed from the DVD's you created, or by hitting F9 repeatedly at the ASUS splash screen (provided the ASUS hidden partition with the Factory Restore files exists on your system) and then following the prompts.

If you perform a clean install of Windows, you'll need to install the drivers specific to your system and the ASUS ATK Package to get your Function Key functionality (see http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=K50AB&p=3&s=188). You may wish to copy the Wireleass Network Adapter driver to a flash drive to allow you to quickly restore wireless connectivity if you are unable to use an ethernet connection.

Be aware that it is not unusual for the CPU to spike to 100% when launching a program. It should not drastically affect the performance of another running application unless you are at the limits of memory and disk resources on your system.

One more thing, if you launch MSCONFIG.EXE and select the Startup tab, you can uncheck the checkboxes of those applications you do not need running at startup. You can launch them afterwards, but removing those that are not necessary at Startup will free resources for your work.

Good Luck!

 

Thank you so much for your detailed reply, dstrakele.

One drive is at 75% and I no longer save anything to it. The other drive is at 25%. I run CCleaner regularly and I also have scheduled defragmenting, which has been the case for quite a while now.

As for the CPU at 100%, it does it frequently, not just when something is launching. And it freezes pretty much everything. Videos plays being to skip and the robotic sound starts. I can't click anything, esc doesn't work, ctrl-alt-delete will work but doesn't launch until the CPU simmers down. And it wasn't like this before. I could do all sorts of stuff and it was butter. Now it's like trying to run under water.

I appreciate the details on restoring/reinstalling. After reading it, I feel very overwhelmed! But I have to do something. It's driving me crazy. I was wondering, though, if part of it could be a dying video card... any idea?

 

When I get a machine that becomes unresponsive due to 100% cpu utilization, I like to get Task Manager open to the Processes tab and see what process(es) are taking up all the CPU time. That can help troubleshoot the issue.

From your description, it doesn't sound like a dying video card. That type of issue is usually accompanied by video effects such as reddish dots, lines, or patches (called artifacts), or getting a black or a white screen. You are not reporting these symptoms.

From your description, it sounds like a software issue. To troubleshoot further, you could launch Event Viewer, and expand the Critical, Errors, and Warnings under Administrative Events. This may give you an idea if there are any hardware type errors (i.e Disk or Memory errors). But I'm betting you find errors that are more attributable to some software issue.

Since you've already been registry cleaning and defragmenting, the next step would be a Factory Restore or a clean Windows 7 installation. I believe there are detailed guides on these ASUS forums that discuss these opetations in more detail. Here is one: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...lk-through-doing-clean-windows-7-install.html I realize it sounds overwhelming. You just might have to go down to your local high school and get some 14 year old out of the computer lab to do it. ;>{)>

Seriously, if it seems like a daunting task, and you can't have a knowledgeable friend help you, I recommend farming the job out to a qualified shop. I typically use Google Maps and read the reviews on the local establishments I find to determine where to go (if I don't have any word-of-mouth recommendations).

Your time is worth something and if you choose a reliable shop, they are on the hook to get your system working right so they can get paid. See what someone would charge for a clean Windows install. Tell 'em you want the current drivers for the hardware on your system as well as the ASUS ATK Package so your function keys work correctly after the install. If they tell you your hardware is bad, ask them to show you what hardware and why they think that. You can still get a 2nd opinion...

 

Well, the problem is that when my CPU maxes, task manager won't launch until it calms down, and then I don't get a real indication of the cause. Also, though, it happens when there are different programs running. For example, I can have a single tab in Chrome open and nothing else, and I'll have problems. I can have absolutely nothing but DivX going (internet disconnected, security programs disabled, task manager empty except for the video player) and it'll have its moment.

Okay, so not the video card. Crossed off the list, thank you. As for the administrative events, I actually did that last week on the advice of my boyfriend who is currently in another state or he would troubleshoot for me. There were a TON of events. I need to go back and start Googling down the list. Thank you for mentioning it. I'd forgotten to finish that.

If I end up reinstalling, I'll see about getting my boyfriend to do it in a few days when he's back here for a weekend. My ex, who does this stuff for a living, used to fix my computer whenever something went wrong. I'm actually beginning to think the last few failed attempts were him sabotaging it, but I'm trying not to be a paranoid person, so I try to lean more toward him just being an incompetent d-bag.

I'll try these things you've suggested and post an update when I have one. I appreciate your help.

 

Try launching Task Manager, setting it to the Processes tab, sort by CPU column so highest is at the top, then attempt to reproduce your 100% CPU Utilization issue, constantly taking note of which processes are floating up to the top.

Do a google of "Chrome 100% CPU Utilization" and check out some of the hits. Many are old, but it may be worthwhile to try another browser to see if you can reproduce your issue. Or at least keep eye on Chrome processes. It launches a bunch of them.