CPU at 100% constantly when idling!!

I need help, please.
My reliable and old AMD Sempron 3600+ Single Core at 2.0GHz, which has done its job quite well until today and managed (somehow) to survive me, is strange today.

All day it has been hitting the 100% every time, and getting up to 90% when idling, running on 70-80% average.

At the moment I noticed this, I was using Skype only, no other background apps, nor anything. I even took the time to kill all unnecessary processes, getting down to 52, Skype using 2 of those. So basically 50 running processes behind Skype, most of which are SYSTEM-bound, and the others are the AV, or ATI CCC, the monitor, and such.

I took the time to kill iTunes, Safari, WLM, some others, such as CS2Tray that was running, and the such. Basically I was ONLY using Skype with video. This would normally not use many resources, but my CPU was constantly running on 100% of its capacity.

This is strange, since even at idle or at normal stuff, the CPU seems to be working all the time! The fans are off, I noticed that the HDD was extremely hot, but temp has gone down now, thankfully. I even removed a CD that was on the OD Bay, just sitting there.

In the attachments, you can see, that I am running not that many processes, only this website open, itunes is open and downloading some updates, and word is open, and I dont go down from 100.

Next pic. Itunes closed, no actions, no music, no streaming video, no nothing, and the CPU is going from 100% to 40-50% and I am in a 70% average.

The CPU is constantly peaking to 100%. This has never happened before. It just does not stop working. Fans are off, and I am running in AC.

What can I do? I am worried...since if the CPU fails on me, I am left with no computer...

HELP!

Note that CPU is almost at 100% even with less than 60 processes...

 

First thing to do serg is take a chill pill XD. Next would be run an antivirus/spyware scan. With something like that I'd personally go with Avast's boot time scan, and Spybot S&D. If that yields nothing, lets go from there.

 

does it do the same in safe mode , or run msconfig and disable all startup items, if that works , start re-enabling them one at a time until you find the culprit.

 

1. Back up all of your files.
2. Reformat your hard drive.
3. Clean install Windows.
4. ???
5. Profit.

 

I have Avira AntiVir Personal, Free Version.
Last updated today 5 hours ago.

I keep my security as good as I can. But it seems I need to reboot and run a scan there?
Sorry, I am not that good with these software problems, so take that into consideration please.

 

Alright Avira will work I suppose, run a virus scan with that. Also get your hands on spybot S&D (it's a free download) http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html and run a scan with that.

If that yields nothing...well honestly I'd just backup my stuff and try a fresh install of windows, but that's personal prefrence.

 

I have SUPER AntiSpyware, does that help?
Is it Spybot better?

 

Errr...never heard of it. I don't trust it. Go with spybot, people may have their alternatives but there honestly isn't anything better than spybot.

 

I just rebooted. It has slowed down a bit, but it is highly unstable, it hits a 100% then goes down to 20%, then 70%, then 100%, stays there, then drops, and goes again. It is an average of 50%...and again, I killed as many processes as I could.

 

Alright serg, now do what I said with running the AV scan and spybot.

 

Do you use cpu rightmark by chance?
When I installed it on my system, I accidentally checked throttling. It forced my processor to use its full power on useless applications.
Make sure throttling is disabled and report back to us.

Avira you can tone down, so it doesnt scan on startup.
Your task manager looks like an MSI program is using cpu power. Disable it

K-TRON

 

MSI program??
How can that be?
It is a Dell Vostro 1000...

CPU rightmark? No idea what that is, first time I hear from that, so I think no, I am not using it. Any other program that forces the CPU to full?

I honestly have no idea what is going on...

EDIT: I rechecked my taskmanager, and that msiexec is gone, both of them...any chance that is a virus? According to my Avira, I am free, but I am running it again, full scan, all types of files and archives.

 

Have you tried running in safe mode yet and seeing if you're having any problems there? That might help determine if it's hardware or software related. (if the problems still there in safe mode, it's more than likely a hardware issue)

 

Msiexec is an important windows process. It might be corrupted, since it has that much cpu usage related to it. You say it is now gone.. is the cpu usage still high? If so, which process is now using it?

 

How do I run on safe mode?

I just got a message saying:
Safari.exe - Corrupt File
"The file or directory C;\$Mft is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utiliy."
I was running CCleaner, and when running Spybot S&D I got a similar message on a corrupt file...

The good news are that my CPU usage has dropped to mid 30% while Avira is running on the back and I am writing this.

 

first: get some external disk and make a backup. it might be your hdd dying (you have a very high interrupt rate, which could mean the hdd reports tons of errors or similar).

so what ever you do, get your data out there!

then, consider a chkdsk (checkdisk)

 

Is there any third party software for this?
My windows built-in check disk reports that an error occurred and that it cannot run. No more info is given.
Textual message:
Tittle" Checking Disk Local Disk (C
Message: Windows was unable to complete the disk check
And there is an OK button.

Disk defragmenter needs me to run chkdsk.

Any ideas? And yes my CPU usage right now is jumping from 100-10-60-20-90-40-10-100-60-20-100 and so and so...is that normal? I am listening to music, and I have Safari 4 open.

UPDATE: Avira finished and reports nothing found, no infections.

 

again, first, do you have a backup of all your data? (and you're sure it's all your data in there)

then, you might boot from a windows cd, to go the commandline (don't know which windows you have to explain how exactly, but it's called recovery console i think), and then type chkdsk. maybe it runs trough, then.. (you can try "chkdsk /r", too).

 

i have had the same thing today with my dad's comuter (100% load all the time), it was some kind of spyware, file was called 'services.exe' (it was in c:\windows), delete it (i had to run my xp in fail-safe mode). dont be scared, it's not a system file (there is system file c:\windows\system32\services.exe DONT REMOVE THIS ONE)

by the way, i have only 22 processes running at the moment...

 

Ok. I tried simply idling to see how it is going.
My results are attached below.
Some pikes are when I opened my Avira to update (something that out of the sudden is not working...)

Today I am realizing that there are tons of things going wrong with my PC...Avira is not updating, CPU is like crazy and overall it is very slow.

Chkdsk does not work, nor does the defragmenter, the HDD is constantly warm (is this normal??) But I do not seem to have any virus of whatsoever.

 

Is your hard drive in PIO mode? Often when there are a lot of hard errors, the hard drive can revert from DMA to PIO.

 

afaik it does that only on xp (had it there several times).

do you use xp? (and please answer that you have your data saved in a backup.. i know i'm annoying about this, but if it dies, all is gone).

one sign of pio mode is terrible slow boot times (from 1min or so to 20min or so)

 

what is PIO??
I have a 320GB WD external drive, but not everything is there.

UPDATE: the CPU is a tad calmed downed, but Dell wireless utility no longer works, I have to fight with Avira for it to update.

I ran Spybot on Safe Mode, and nothing came up, everything working perfectly. But my laptop is VERY laggy.

 

Maybe u got a massive virus attack?

 

Avira reported no infections, running on safe mode.
Any other options?

 

in safe mode your graphics and hdd will be running in compatibility mode so it will be slow, but how is your cpu usage at idle.

 

Right now, I am with itunes 9 open, WLM and Safari 4 and I am in the mid 30s to 40s% so it is much better, but still as soon as a new command is issued, the CPU kicks in to 100% for quite some time, and it needs some time to regularize again and throttle down. When at full, there are some pikes down, but it is steady for around 2 minutes the least.

On safe mode, I noticed that when running Avira was 100% all the time, same as Spybot, and with nothing running, on safe mode, at 50s%

 

If you are using Vista , and have an install dvd , why don't you do a clean install.

 

I have XP, and my drivers are all in Ecuador and now I live in France.
I know, FAIL, I should have brought them with me, I dont know what happened that they stayed behind...but well, fate called, and my ironically it is happening what I said never would happen...

On a side topic, why is Avira not uploading?

 

Just because your drivers are in Ecuador, doesn't mean they're not online. Dell uploads your drivers to your serial number on the bottom of your laptop. Go to Dell.com, support, drivers and enter your serial number.

 

._. Why not check the processes in task manager and see which one's the real process that makes the CPU usage high or is it really the msi thingy? I get those spikes a while ago for sometime and discovered it's a corrupted file with a weird name o.o Fixed it with a clean reinstall

 

I have decided to do a clean install, and change to Vista. It has given no problems to the rest of the peopl I know using it..

Now, any precautions before I do this?

 

Backup all your important information, programs, apps, etc onto a CD/DVD or flash drive. Also, download all your drivers (most importantly your wifi/ethernet driver) and put those onto a CD/DVD or flash drive.

Also, why Vista? It'll only give you more headaches if your CPU is slow. If XP was running fine then just do a clean install of XP.

 

Why Vista? Cause I cant find my XP OS...I know, dont insult me for this...
The only ones I have are the Vista Basic ones that came along with my laptop...I hope no more headaches come (enough with uni)...

I have moved all My Documents to an eHDD, I have my drivers in their original CDs, and I am going to install only Dell Wireless assistant.
Anything else I should know before?
Now, How do I do it?

 

To be honest serg, I would toss those driver CDs and download the latest version from the dell website and back them up to your external hard drive. It will save you a lot of headache in the long run (no telling how old those drivers on the CD are). Also, a bunch of little things not to forget to backup, things like bookmarks, outlook settings if you use it, passwords for websites if you have them saved, etc.

Other than that, I say have at it, a fresh install fixes my problems 90% of the time I'd say.