Can anyone please Help!!! High Useage of CPU after my PC running for a while...

"3 months ago" - have you considered taking it back?
Only thing I can think of to peg hardware interrupts is some sort of hardware malfunction/failing component..

But how I can show to the store that my PC got problem? because the problem happens after PC running for a while..... and "a while" might be 10 mins, might be few hours....... that's the problem :`(

Personally, I don't think it's "your" problem.  
But, if you want to try and tackle it, try these suggestions:

Regain wasted resources by disabling/stopping services you don't need: http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Try removing items from Startup:
  Click Start
  Click Run
  In the Open box that appears, type->
  MSCONFIG <ENTER>
  In the Startup tab, start out by disabling everything you're unfamiliar with (or everything if you're  unsure).
  Optionally, you can also disable non-Microsoft services from the Services tab.
  If the problem no longer exists after a reboot, then you can narrow it down as one of the items in your
  startup.  To permanently remove these item(s), proceed as follows...

  Click Start
  Click Run
  In the Open box that appears, type->
  REGEDIT <ENTER>
  *Be careful when editing the registry as an accidental deletion can render your system inoperable.
  First navigate to the following key in the registry:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  Once found, click File, Export to save a copy of the key before you delete any items (if necessary).
  After the file has been saved, delete items as needed from the right pane.
  Now find the next startup key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  Follow the previous procedures to export a copy before deleting items from the right pane.

Are you running any peer2peer networing programs, or anyting else that uses your machine to serve information to others?

Also, many programs configure themsleves to start automatically when you start Windows, and they can eat up a lot of system resources. Especially RealPlayer Console. ARGH!

Start --> Run --> MSCONFIG Click on the far right tab (Startup) and then get down to business. Almost all of the programs set to run here are not needed. On most machines the only thing you need is your anti-virus program. If there is something else you know needs to run everytime you start Windows, then that is fine. There are two ways to go about this. The easy, but less cautious way, is to uncheck EVERYTHING except what I mentioned above. The harder, but safer way, is to uncheck the things you recognise and don't need, and then do a search for everything else, individually, to see if you need it or not. Even if you choose the easy way tho, there isn't anything there that Safe Mode can't fix if you do bollix it up. Also, remember that this just disables the auto-start function. If you uncheck, for example, Quicktime (qttask, another likely culprit) you can still run the files associated with it, it will just take 5 milli-seconds longer because it has to start the program.

Hope this helps you solve your issue!

ChrisPy

there are something like "C:\WINDOWS\System32\IME............" and I don't sure about those at all, what shall I do? are all the things under"C:\Windowns\System...32" is needed?

thx again everyone!

Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.5
Scan saved at 15:11:26, on 13/03/2004
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccProxy.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cisvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\crypserv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\inetsrv\inetinfo.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE
C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security Professional\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security Professional\Norton AntiVirus\AdvTools\NPROTECT.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\symlcsvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security Professional\Norton AntiVirus\SAVScan.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE
C:\Documents and Settings\Libo BIAN\Desktop\procexp.exe
C:\Program Files\FlashGet\flashget.exe
C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\WinZip\winzip32.exe
C:\DOCUME~1\LIBOBI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\HijackThis.exe

F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {9ECB9560-04F9-4bbc-943D-298DDF1699E1} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\AdBlocking\NISShExt.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {A5366673-E8CA-11D3-9CD9-0090271D075B} - C:\PROGRA~1\FlashGet\jccatch.dll
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security Professional\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {C56CB6B0-0D96-11D6-8C65-B2868B609932} - C:\Program Files\Net Transport\NTIEHelper.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx
O3 - Toolbar: Web assistant - {0B53EAC3-8D69-4b9e-9B19-A37C9A5676A7} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\AdBlocking\NISShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security Professional\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: FlashGet Bar - {E0E899AB-F487-11D5-8D29-0050BA6940E3} - C:\PROGRA~1\FlashGet\fgiebar.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [URLLSTCK.exe] C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security Professional\UrlLstCk.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PHIME2002ASync] C:\WINDOWS\System32\IME\TINTLGNT\TINTSETP.EXE /SYNC
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PHIME2002A] C:\WINDOWS\System32\IME\TINTLGNT\TINTSETP.EXE /IMEName
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Advanced Tools Check] C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NORTON~1\AdvTools\ADVCHK.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSConfig] C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\MSConfig.exe /auto
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NVMCTRAY.DLL,NvTaskbarInit
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download All by FlashGet - C:\Program Files\FlashGet\jc_all.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download all by Net Transport - C:\PROGRA~1\NETTRA~1\NTAddList.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download by Net Transport - C:\PROGRA~1\NETTRA~1\NTAddLink.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download using FlashGet - C:\Program Files\FlashGet\jc_link.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: Joyo (HKLM)
O9 - Extra button: Research (HKLM)
O9 - Extra button: PowerWord (HKLM)
O9 - Extra button: Related (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Show &Related Links (HKLM)
O9 - Extra button: FlashGet (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: &FlashGet (HKLM)
O9 - Extra button: Messenger (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Messenger (HKLM)
O16 - DPF: {31B7EB4E-8B4B-11D1-A789-00A0CC6651A8} (Cult3D ActiveX Player) - http://www.cult3d.com/download/cult.cab
O16 - DPF: {9F1C11AA-197B-4942-BA54-47A8489BB47F} (Update Class) - http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/CAB/x86/unicode/iuctl.CAB?38042.5494444444
O16 - DPF: {EF791A6B-FC12-4C68-99EF-FB9E207A39E6} (McFreeScan Class) - http://download.mcafee.com/molbin/iss-loc/vso/en-us/tools/mcfscan/1,5,0,4333/mcfscan.cab

Click Start->Run->Services.MSC <enter>
Stop and disable the Norton/Symantec Autoprotect service.
Reboot and see if it continues... :)

Also try these


SpyBot-S&D : http://www.webattack.com/download/dlspybot.shtml 

Ad-aware : http://www.webattack.com/download/dladaware.shtml 

CWShredder: http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/10/17/10-17-150.shtml

Download them , install , UPDATE and then run them

These can help in reducing lot of spywares and other unwanted files..

By the way, can anyone please tell me what "Hardware Interrupts" is, where it appears in the "System Idle Process".

The system is runing perferct well now,.. but I am not sure about later... :::::<

Anyway, thank you everyone!

please keep your eyes on this post , just in case I found the problem again later..

When you say it's running perfect - what did you do?
I've seen Norton AP service cause similar issues...

We'll all still get emails anytime anyone posts here, so don't worry about being overlooked.  :D

I just disabled few things at the MSCONFIG for the startup.

And the fact is that, the PC will start getting slow after it runs for a while, might be 10 mins, might be few hours.... so I just can say it is running well at THIS MOMENT. Not sure about what gonna happen later on.....

I don't feel like to disable Norton AP services, coz it helps a lot to preventing virus. Does it really cause the problem??

>>I don't feel like to disable Norton AP services, coz it helps a lot to preventing virus<<

The techs here are helping you through troubleshooting. When troubleshooting
you do many things you wouldn't normally do. Go with the flow and you'll get your
solution faster. Nobody asked you to delete C: all that was asked was to stop a
Norton process from running. Norton can be turned off and on.

>>I tried almost all the proposed solutions<<
Suggestions that cure many people may be overlooked here because people helping
might assume you've done many things you didn't actually do like running Spybot.
A list of what you already performed would help here.  

>>Hardware Interrupts<<
This means nothing it's too generalized.

I have disabled few things at startup from MSCONFIG.
installed and upgrade the Spybot,
installed Ad aware,
disabled Notion AP....

now, the PC running normally, the CPU usage appears 0%min to 8%max... hopefully the problem has been solved, however will still keep tracking on it.

lbioking,

Excellant..

Please come back and close the question ( if you feel the problem no longer exists) , accepting the appropriate comments

Ohhhhhhh. nOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..............

It happened again!

I have kept my PC running for a while, and I started to use BT to download something, but after like half hours later,... the CPU usage goes up above 50% again!!!!!!!!!!!!! then I paused the BT and from the task manager, it shows 0 CPU usage for BT, But still 80% usage for the whole system..... why? why? why?

PLease do do help me!!! thx :"(

and now I have closed all the program except windows messanger and IE... the  CPU usage still stays at 50% to 90%....

And through the Process Explorer, I found that under System Idle Process, "Interrupts" is taking most of the usage.

System Idle Process     43
Interrupts                    56...

System Idle Process     14
Interrupts                    82...

System Idle Process     10
Interrupts                    85....

System Idle Process     17
Interrupts                    80.......

Check the MSCONFIG again, and see if something added itself back in. This happens often. You may have to remove a program or something to get it to stop. And remember, the whole idea is that your CPU is going to be USED. It may not be supposed to be at 100% all the time, but it should be doing SOME work. It almost sounds as if you have read something somewhere, or someone told you something, and you have taken it to an extreme, and expect your CPU to be running at 20% all the time. Nope.

How many windows do you have open in IE? I have seen it take a lot of resources. And what is 'BT' that you are downloading with? Perhaps it has issues.

ChrisPy

OK, so are we still having issues, or is everything happy? :)

ChrisPy

The BT is Bit Torrent, for downloading. and the times that high usage of CPU is reduced a lot recently. But it still happenes like once 2 days, which i am not really happy with that.

So far, the only solution is that I shut down the PC for a while, to let it "healing" for a bit, then restart it again, and it seems that the problem got recovered.

Anyway, thx a lot guys!

I would say BitTorrent is a large part of your problem. It is used to serve large files from/to BitTorrents large business clients and their customers. See my 3/13 post.

Hmmm... I just noticed you had accepted an answer? Is your issue resolved, or was that a mistake?

ChrisPy

You get an high level of interrupt, that means that some hardware component is heavily used. Since you use BitTorrent, I suppose it is your network card/modem/device you use to connect to internet.

BitTorrent is used to dispatch downloading of a file between several internet users.
When you keep it running, your computer will accept connections from others to download parts of the file shared by BT.
That will kick a high CPU usage because of the network activity.
Closing BT will not resolve the problem immediately because the other computers will take some time to detect,
that your BT client is down and will still try to connect to your computer for a while.

So the cpu usage you see is normal. If you don't want it, close BT as soon as the download is finished,
then unplug your computer from internet. But this is against the sharing principles promoted by BitTorrent :)

This is from the Official BitTorrent Site:

http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/introduction.html

     "You have a great product, many customers, and are delivering your product to hordes of happy customers online. Serving large files creates problems of scaling, flash crowds, and reliability. As you grow, they become more central to your business, but your bandwidth costs go up as well. It's a vicious cycle.
     There is a solution. BitTorrent is a simple software product which addresses all of these problems.
     The key to cheap file distribution is to tap the unutilized upload capacity of your customers. It's free. Their contribution grows at the same rate as their demand, creating limitless scalability for a fixed cost."

So what you probably don't realize, is that this is not like Napster or Kazaa, BitTorrent is selling itself to businesses to distribute their data to their customers... and BitTorrent is using YOUR "unutilized upload capacity" and processing time to supply their cusomers with "limitless scalability for a fixed cost".

So shutting down the program when you are done is not the problem. As soon as you connect to Bittorrent, you are available to be used as a transfer point for Bittorrents corporate users. Is it any wonder your CPU usage spikes after a short time?

I would suggest K++ as it is a version of Kazaa that has had the spyware and adware removed, and it's not selling your bandwidth to corporate customers.

ChrisPy

Since it happens after some time just check if  some program is in not reponsding state.
Check if u have not kept anything under scheduler task.

Are you sure it isn't anything like a dislodged fan that is clogged up with dust and therefore isn't cooling the processor properly and causing it to overheat?

ibicking,

I agree with buollot.  Tell us, when you shut down the PC to reset the system, do you have to wait for a long period of time before you can restart it and have it run normally, or will a simple restart to the trick.  I'm wondering if you have a heat issue with one or more of your components in the system.

You may also want to try to remove or replace any expansion cards such as modems, sound and NIC.  Try running the system with as little as possible and see if one of those items is the one who is interupting the CPU.  Also, check the device manager-if you haven't already done so- for any device problems.  Sure sounds like a hardware issue.

Software issues typically are very repeatable.  Hardware issues can be more fickle (one minute it works and the next it doesn't for no particular reason).

Good luck.

First of all, i would like to say thank you again to everyone who replies me.

Normally when the problem happens, i just show down the computer for about 5 to 10 mins, and then turn it on, the system will be running normally. BUT still could't 100% sure the problem will happen again as the computer runs for certain times.

Did you try uninstalling BitTorrent and see if the problem goes away?

ChrisPy

Why don´t you download the Knoppix Linux Distribution CD ( http://www.knoppix.net ) which is a version of the Linux Operating System you do not have to instlall and it can run straight from CD.  It does not modify any files on your hard disk unless you specifically allow it to.

Run this OS for a while, for some hours maybe.  Try it out (who knows, you might even like it!).

If you have speed problems then you can be pretty sure you have a hardware problem, otherwise you can assume it is a Windows problem.

My Problem is worse than this..recently my DELL laptop running XP (P3 - 1GHz, 128 MB RAM) which shud b fast has become slow & I found that the CPU usage is 100% all the time... and the laptop becomes damn hot and heated up after a while..I see most of the usage from spoolsv.exe and svchost.exe..What is recommended here?

jyotz,

Open a question under under Hardware... but I would check MSCONFIG.

ChrisPy

peekay32 maybe right. usually MSCONFIG does the trick. this maybe a hardware problem. regarding your Dell Laptop, may I know which specifc model of laptop you have?

This is a hard ware problem you having.... Some piece of hard ware is constantly asking to Interrupt and take CPU Resources away from all other programs.  I would probably start pulling hard ware if you feel comfortable doing so if not take it to some one that does....Also do you have Broadband and if so un plug it to see if the nic is causing all the activity.... also It is more than likely going to be a pci device because it is not locking up you computer completely.... Also if you want to be completely sure that it is not software go to msconfig and disable everything in both start up and in services that is not a microsoft product ( click the hide microsoft service checkbox)....

It may also be the XP File Indexing Service, when the system is Idle or files are altered a lot the indexing service starts, the benefits of this over the resources it uses are small, I would try disabling this service to see if it calms the system down.
You can do this by going to:
Start > Run and type Services.msc
In the Window that opens scroll down until you see Indexing service and double click.
The indexing service properties window opens.
Look for service Status and if running click Stop.
Next look for Startup type: and click the little black V to the right, from the drop down list choose disabled.
Click Ok.
Reboot the system and see if you get the problem now.

best regards Lee

Hey,

Do you have any anti virus software running on your system???

Install norton antivirus, and scan your system first???

If your system hangs again, please remove the processes running, as you are using internet any software can be installed on your system without any notice and you may not know when it got installed.....

Please stop the waste processes running on your system and you will see the result drasticly, take a not of all the processes you are ending and find out the process which causes this slowness. As you said you are using bit torrent, it is the most dangerous software, which crashes your system. Are you downloading anything from http://www.suprnova.com.

Uninstall all the unnecessary softwares which are installed on your system (including Date Manager & Precision Time)

You will feel the change.

Rakesh.

Here is another suggestion:
I had very similar problems like “Ibioking”.
And I was searching the net...but nothing really fixes "my" problem.
But while searching I received several hints, and I could finally bring it to a good end.

First:
I also use the recommended "process explorer" (download procexp.exe from the net) that supports the vague displays of the task manager.
And I had this problem with the "Hardware Interrupts" using large amounts of CPU  power (sometimes about 100% CPU usage) in alternating cycles which causes a severe slowdown of the system performance.
Although there are several suggestions to fix this point looking at installed software - I can realistically only see a hardware problem behind this.
So I closed down everything in the "autostart"/"startup". I also used the "old" msconfig.exe (from the net) to shut down autostarted tasks/programs that are not shown by "autostart"/"startup".
I also stepped to the control panel and there to the administrative tools.
There I looked at the services and set most of them to “manual” by editing.
Of course I looked at the device manager – but there was no conflict shown !!

But the problem WAS in the device manager !!

I am located in Germany with a DSL (Telekom / T-Com) connection and a 3-PC-home network (with router).

So – what I did was:
I left the programs installed – no changes here.
I tried to work in the “safe mode” – everything’s fine.
Then I brought all “extra” devices like printers, network adapters, infrared devices, imaging devices and modems to “disable” and started in normal mode again.
Everything was fine again.

Now I put the devices one after another back “to life”.
To make it short:
In my case the “modem” was the problem.
There is no modem in use.
And there is no other “similar” device (e.g. ISDN-card) installed.

So now I have everything back in use – with the modem “disabled” and the long time stability in “normal” CPU usage values.

What was the reason for the appearance of “my” problem ?
I had installed an extra software for my online banking account. This program package uses another internet account, which I normally do not use – only for the few seconds of banking. But this package recognizes my DSL-line and installs also the “virtual” modem. And this seems to “collide” with my (also “virtual”) ISDN/modem line from “PPP over Ethernet”…

However: My conclusion for all the others who have this awful problem with the alternating and excessive CPU usage occurring after a “while” – not really depending on any kind of PC-activity – is as follows:
If there are no shown conflicts in the device manager and cleaning up the autostarted programs and many of the services does not fix the problem…

1.      Ask yourself what kind of change you have done before the problem occurred.
Is it fixable to only one specific change ?
Then try to bring your system back to the “old good” state.
If you have made several changes before you have been faced with the problem or if the first suggest does not fix it…
2.      Disable your devices (do not uninstall – only switch to “disabled”). If necessary go as “deep” as possible – but be careful and keep the machine’s least devices (floppy, at least one CD-ROM etc.) “at life”.
If this has no “good” effect…
3.      Uninstall firewalls and antivirus programs. Look for software you’ve thought to be uninstalled but still has “fragments” on your harddisk – move it to a temporary folder or better delete it.
Still unsolved ?
4.      Look at your BIOS settings. Is there “something” in use, that should better be off ? (I use an extra sound card – but also have audio on board – so I switched it off in the BIOS !!). Typical devices that could be in “double use” (because you have “forgotten” the on-board-devices of your motherboard) are network adapter, modem, graphics card, sound… (of course – such a double installation CAN work – but also can be the origin for the troubles…)
Not better … ??
5.      Demount hardware now. I would suggest – everything that is not really necessary. In my case this would have been the soundcard, TV-FM-card. And if you have an extra graphics-card…pull it out, if there still is an “on-board-solution”. Bring your system to a “raw but runnable” state.
Satisfied now with the stability ?
6.      If not - run registry optimizers / -cleaners – and, if necessary work “manually” with regedit(32).exe and look for the above mentioned “fragments” again and clean manually if necessary (I have often found pogram names or company names etc. from software which I had removed by normal uninstall routine. I could delete those lines without bad effects… but plz be very carefull with all kind of registry changes !!! And if you search for company name – be sure you do not run another NEEDED software from this company…;-))).
Still in the “old trouble”…ooops…
7.      Now I would say it’s time to save my data and install a fresh OS (really fresh – complete format – new partitions ?? so there should be no trace of old data !!…). Then bring in your devices step by step (think of the “raw but runnable” state) – always let enough time for stability check. Look at these alternating CPU usage values – growing again ???
I think, this step needs your patience if you want to be successful.
Here you should fix it finally… if not…try a prayer…perhaps you can try the warranty suggest ??? I don’t have any further suggestions.

But if you had been lucky in an earlier state…
8.      Bring your disabled devices back to “enable” again – one by one…and be patient with the “stability check” here, too. If you have demounted devices before also install the hardware “one by one” – leave everything not in use still in “disabled” mode.
In my case there was no need for the modem (because there is none). So it is still “installed” – but disabled in the device manager – and my PC works fine…
So you should do either with all the devices you are not using (e.g. imaging devices or infrared devices).
9.      Re-install software and / or services, and bring your wanted startups back to life.

I know, that was lots of stuff. But I’m quite sure that this will help in most cases, before a complete fresh OS installation is necessary.

Now folks – good luck !

runningbernie

runningbernie.. thank you  very much for ur personal experience.

To be honestly, I haven't had such problem for a bout one month already (I didn't do anything, or even I did which i forgot). anyway, your advice is really helpful, it might helps the ppl who will have the similar problem with us..

Thanks again deeply!

And good luck to the ppl is going to read this message. :)

lbioking