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    40% cpu system usage?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by rydude07, Aug 10, 2006.

  1. rydude07

    rydude07 Notebook Evangelist

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    I just reinstalled my os, and installed firefox, starcraft, wc3, ad aware, crap cleaner, AIm.

    When i go to task manager, there are 49 processes which seems ok.

    But, my cpu usage was around 40 % and then dropped to 27 and then back to 40 and I am ONLY using firefox. I clicked on processes tab, and then checked the cpu usage, and it says that SYstem Idle Pr... was using 76 Cpu.

    Is that a lot? By the way, I have duo 2.0 ghz.
     
    rydude07, Aug 10, 2006
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  2. compsavy

    compsavy Notebook Deity

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    turn on speedstep
     
    compsavy, Aug 10, 2006
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  3. rydude07

    rydude07 Notebook Evangelist

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    how do i turn on speedstep? Do i have to dl it? Also, i just checked now, and my cpu usage is from 2 %-20 %. Is it normal to fluctuate that much with me not doing anything other than firefox? CPu usage for system Idel Pr is 96-99 now.
     
    rydude07, Aug 10, 2006
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  4. Emotion

    Emotion Notebook Guru

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    check the bios... you probably have something running in the background
     
    Emotion, Aug 10, 2006
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  5. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

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    It would help if you said which processes it is that are consuming cpu time. :)
     
    Jalf, Aug 10, 2006
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  6. rydude07

    rydude07 Notebook Evangelist

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    um...well the system idle pr....is taking around 94-98 cpu. Firfox , taskmgr, system are running about 1 cpu. And, i do not really know how to check the bios. I am running 08 dell bios. But right now, the cpu usage is 3% to 20% right now. It seems to be fluctuating a lot.
     
    rydude07, Aug 10, 2006
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  7. galaxy121

    galaxy121 Notebook Geek

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    Better start using IE or something .... FF is a memory hog .... :D
     
    galaxy121, Aug 10, 2006
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  8. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

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    Memory hog is not the same as CPU hog (and if you don't want to run Firefox, go with Opera, or at least IE7. Don't, ever use IE6. Please.

    Anyway, taskmanager always takes 2-5% CPU when it's running.

    I assume you mean 1 percent?
    But I still don't see how the cpu usage can reach 20 or 40%, if that's the case. And if the system idle process takes 94-98%, then only 2-6% is used for other processes, which doesn't seem too bad. Maybe I'm just slow, but I really can't make sense of the numbers you're giving...
     
    Jalf, Aug 10, 2006
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  9. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

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    Are you on any sites with a flash animations or heavy javascript usage? That will slow things down and cause CPU usage spikes like you're experiencing. You may also have some different utilities like a real-time virus scanner and such that scans every file access, etc.
     
    Pitabred, Aug 10, 2006
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  10. Final_Spirit

    Final_Spirit Notebook Consultant

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    Just so you know, System Idle Process is supposed to be running that high. It's basically just a marker to indicate how much of your cpu is unused. It should be in the 90s when not doing something cpu intensive, so if anything, your problem is another process is eating up the cpu.
     
    Final_Spirit, Aug 10, 2006
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  11. rydude07

    rydude07 Notebook Evangelist

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    Ahh i c. And Jeff, I meant 1 percent...sorry for the confusion.
    Yeah, right now it seems that the system idle is fluctuating from 95-99 percent...which from what i have read on this thread, means its a good thing. And no, i was not on any sites that was required flash.

    My cpu usage now is around 2- 10 %. I dont know why earlier it was around 40%. That scared me.

    Sometimes, there is a sudden spike of 40% which i dont know why...

    I appreciate everyone's help
     
    rydude07, Aug 10, 2006
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  12. Final_Spirit

    Final_Spirit Notebook Consultant

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    There could be a background process for updates. Actually, do you have Mcafee? Because if so, I can pretty much guarantee that it was a process related to mcafee involved with background scanning and updating, forget the name of it now, needless to say I uninstalled Mcafee and installed AVG.
     
    Final_Spirit, Aug 10, 2006
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  13. rydude07

    rydude07 Notebook Evangelist

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    I actually do not have mcaffee. I only have avg antivirus, the free version.
     
    rydude07, Aug 10, 2006
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