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    Anything I do on my laptop results in all of the CPU being used. Whats going on?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by nolo451, Dec 19, 2007.

  1. nolo451

    nolo451 Notebook Guru

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    Im having this problem where Ill do anything, like open up Firefox or IE, or watch a movie using WMP, and it will use 100% CPU usage and it slows down my laptop. Its a 2 Ghz notebook with 3 GB of RAM. I have the sidebar gadget that tells you what % you are using of each core and it maxes out when I do any task like I said earlier. I don't know whats causing it, its only started to do this like 3 days ago, and Ive had this laptop since mid-October(new). Any ideas what may be going on here?


    I noticed that when I play a file on WMP, it spikes from an idling 15% CPU to 99-100%. What the heck is going on?
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    nolo451, Dec 19, 2007
    #1
  2. PhoenixFx

    PhoenixFx Notebook Virtuoso

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    What are the processes with highest CPU usage ? Is it dwm.exe ? switch to Vista Basic (disable Aero) and see if that has any effect. To check whether its a problem with Aero or not.
     
    PhoenixFx, Dec 19, 2007
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  3. jiwwy-ast

    jiwwy-ast Notebook Guru

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    81 processes is pretty high...(i'm more around 50-55)
    try disabling some bloatwares you probably have...
    desactivate unuseful windows services...and see if it's better...
    for exemple, disable search indexing, if you dont use much...

    there's plenty of guides out there (i mean here on NBR) about optimizing vista, just look for one...
     
    jiwwy-ast, Dec 19, 2007
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  4. zfactor

    zfactor Mastershake

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    have you double checked for virus/trojan/keylogger infection?? i would try a few of the online scanners just to double check..
     
    zfactor, Dec 19, 2007
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  5. adinu

    adinu I pwn teh n00bs.

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    Are you sure your cpu is running at the max speed? If it's downclocked then yes the load on it is going to be much higher. And like others mentioned, if it's dwm.exe that's eating up the cpu disable aero.

    Also, you need to tell us exactly what process is eating up ur cpu. Then we can identify what the problem is. But just saying that your cpu usage spikes doesn't tell us anything w/o the actual process(s).
     
    adinu, Dec 19, 2007
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  6. Sub-D

    Sub-D Notebook Evangelist

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    As above, check that you aren't on power saver mode. I thought I had a problem with my processor a couple of months ago due to problems similar to yours only to discover that I hadn't properly switched back to high performance after being on power saver.

    Aero really shouldn't affect the cpu to a great extent. Check for, and remove any bloatware on your system. You might want to try downloading and running CCleaner.
     
    Sub-D, Dec 19, 2007
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  7. orev

    orev Notebook Virtuoso

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    The number of processes running is completely irrelevant to performance -- that number means nothing. I do agree that removing bloatware is a good idea.
     
    orev, Dec 19, 2007
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  8. jiwwy-ast

    jiwwy-ast Notebook Guru

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    I agree completely. It DOES mean something though because it's an indicator that there might a lot of bloatwares or windows services running on his system, randomly waking up from the background causing his CPU spikes.
     
    jiwwy-ast, Dec 19, 2007
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  9. Sub-D

    Sub-D Notebook Evangelist

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    Or it could mean nothing. The number of processes could be related to numerous things. For example, I have 92 running processes and the ones outside of the OS I generally know what they do and need to have them running. Even though I have this many processes running I do not have any bloatware or performance problems. Whilst checking for bloatware is an excellent idea, the number of running processes shouldn't automatically bring bloatware to mind.
     
    Sub-D, Dec 19, 2007
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  10. jiwwy-ast

    jiwwy-ast Notebook Guru

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    I've made some assumptions of what kind of computer user he might be given what he told us.
    On a pretty standard install that you use to browse the web, watch movies...stuff like that I think it's a bit on the high side...unless you are aware of what's running or not on your comp, then it can be perfectly normal.
     
    jiwwy-ast, Dec 19, 2007
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  11. nolo451

    nolo451 Notebook Guru

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    The task manager I posted shows that the top two processes are dwm and svchost. I disabled the Aero features, but it still lags when I try to play a movie form my harddrive. Im not sure why this has started to happen, its been working fine up until 2 days ago or so.
     
    nolo451, Dec 19, 2007
    #11
  12. ScuderiaConchiglia

    ScuderiaConchiglia NBR Vaio Team Curmudgeon

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    No, it showed that dwm was using 23% and wmplayer was using 50%. You had the list sorted by memory use, not CPU use.

    Gary
     
    ScuderiaConchiglia, Dec 19, 2007
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  13. nolo451

    nolo451 Notebook Guru

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    My mistake, heres a screencap of cpu usage. Dont know what can be causing this issue though.

    [​IMG]
     
    nolo451, Dec 19, 2007
    #13
  14. ScuderiaConchiglia

    ScuderiaConchiglia NBR Vaio Team Curmudgeon

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    In this last image the system is only using the CPU at 50%.

    Gary
     
    ScuderiaConchiglia, Dec 20, 2007
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  15. orev

    orev Notebook Virtuoso

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    On a 2 CPU system, %50 = one whole processor at %100.
     
    orev, Dec 20, 2007
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  16. ScuderiaConchiglia

    ScuderiaConchiglia NBR Vaio Team Curmudgeon

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    Yes, however the previous screen shot posted (now deleted) had the CPU at 100%, aka both at 100%.

    Gary
     
    ScuderiaConchiglia, Dec 20, 2007
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  17. eyecon82

    eyecon82 Notebook Deity

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    eyecon82, Dec 21, 2007
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