CPU always 100%

Whatever computer I go on (starting from scratch) practically from as soon as the drivers are in the cpu rating is always showing at 100%. I have been on three different computers over 4 years with different specifications. I have closed down everything in the startup and it still shows a 100%.

Before you ask, yes, I have a multitude of anti-spyware programs, malware detectors and all the rest. At first I thought it Spyguard causing this, but it was just co-incidence.

Any advice appreciated.

 

Do you have any kind of CPU cooling program such as Rain installed? If so, this would cause this. When an app like this is installed on Win9X, Windows will always see the CPU usage as 100%. This is because when nothings happening the program is constantly sending a halt signal (so to speak) to the CPU. When it's doing this, Windows sees it as using 100% of the CPU. It's perfectly normal and if you have one of these programs installed you can just ignore it. It's just doing what it's supposed to do.

Some motherboards come with software that will do this. Asus is one that comes to mind. In their Asus Probe program theirs a box you can check to enable CPU cooling. So, if you don't have any cooling program that you know of installed, have a look at the options of the programs you have running all the time. You may find something in one of them.

How does the computer perform? Is it extremely slow or does it seem to run ok?

 

Strangely enough this latest PC which I am trying out for husband. (He says if it runs with all my junk on it will run with anything! Cheek) has an Asus motherboard with probe program. I have now set it to enable cooling. Do I have to have probe running in the sys tray? Or will it do this anyway?

I did tray Rain with a previous computer but had lockups.

My PC's have run reasonably well except for the usual 98 stability problems that can rear their ugly heads.

Usual programs at startup are:

AVG for bootup protection only. (Everything else closed down.)
Antivir
Spybot Teatimer
Nero InCD
A2 squared Pro
Tclock

I have tried various freeram programs as well but doesn't seem to make any difference.

 

Capy,

I wonder if you have a run away spoolsv.exe process that is eating up your CPU time. It does not always appear as spyware or a virus but it is a virus that causes this standard process to run continuously.

George

 

I've done a search George and nothing has come up. Bear in mind this problem has occured on different computers with different motherboards.

 

What are you using to monitor the CPU activity? If you're using Window's native system monitor it might not be a bad idea to try another app. Over the years with Win9X I've learned to not take to much in stock when it come to system monitor. You might try downloading TaskInfo and give it a try to see what it comes up with. I have a Win98 installation in which system monitor always shows 78% or higher CPU usage. I know it's not right just by the way the computer runs. TaskInfo will show 2% usage at the same time system monitor shows 78+. Every other app I've tried (that's not somehow tied to Window's system monitor) agrees with TaskInfo. That fact plus the the amount of info I've read on the net with regards to system monitor's reliability combined with the way Windows 98 runs for me makes me quite confident that system monitor is wrong (on mine anyway). TaskInfo's not free but you get a 30 day free trial. Give it a try. It would be interesting to see what it shows on your system.

 

The 95 Kernel Toys has a utility called Wintop that will show everything running, their percentage of the processor time, the amount of used processor threads, and the ability to stop non-system processes.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/WUToys/W95KernelToy/Default.asp
Put the downloaded file into a temp folder and then double click it. It automatically extracts the it's files into the current folder. Right click on Wintop.Inf and select Install. When done, copy the download out of the folder and you can delete the temp folder as you do not need the files any longer.
Uninstall is through Add\Remove.

 

Zander and Mark

I have tried various monitering programs T Clock Freeram and Winram plus others. Saying that these are as far as I am aware possibly taking their info from the Windows Task monitor even though I don't have that running. I say this because when Installing TClock and configuring it to show the memory line and cpu line it tells you it can't do it unless the task monitor is installed from the disk. I shall give your two programs a try and report back.

 

No Change

Tried these two programs guys, but again both show the cpu at 100%. I took some screenshots and was going to post, then found out I can't do this, so you will have to take my word for it. Again, the few running processes were minimal i.e. 0.4 up to 0.98 (the actual task info program, with cpu again at 100%.

"He who must be obeyed (some of the time.)" has decided I have had long enough testing this one and has very kindly given me the hint to get ready to go back to my normal one. As this one too had the same problem I would value any other ideas. Or is it a peculiar quirk with 98se that it does this?

 

Look in the left pane in TaskInfo. It should show you a list of all the processes that are running and what percentage of CPU cycles each process is using. Which one is using most or all of the 100%?

 

Have you installed the motherboard/chipset drivers? This may explain some of the "phenomenons" (sorry, catching up on Star Trek ).

Matt

 

Would you believe we have found out what it is...?

First just to reply to both of you. Yes, to Mazzman. Zander, if you look at my previous post you will see I put what the percentages were of the few programs that were running in startup. CPU was the one showing 100%, everything else 00.78 for example.

Now, today I came in from being dragged around town by one fourteen year old to switch my PC on to try and unwind. The first thing I noticed was the usual cpu line on T Clock was right at the bottom showing around 8% - !4%. This I thought was a miracle, so I ran a few things and sure enough it was behaving. To cut a long story short, "He who must be obeyed, (some of the time.) Had been on while I was out investigating. It seems what has caused it has been the "View desktop" option was switched off. When this was re-ticked the cpu line dropped right down. Weird as I would have thought that having this off would have used less power. The strange thing is, that I have actually had this option ticked prior, and still had the problem. The only thing I can think is that is it possible some other program has re-set it to disabled? Can this happen?
Thanks for your help guys/and/or gals I have still learned some options to try if this every happens again. Thats assuming everything will be okay, one can never tell.

 

CPU at 100%

What are you using that shows the CPU at 100%? Some programs for watching/tracking what your computer is doing will show the CPU at 100% when in fact the program is looking at the "System Idle Process ", which will show every CPU cycle not being used by anything else. If the computer is performing ok, this is probably what is happening, especially if you are viewing the same phenomenom on several computers.

Looks like I got to the thread late; I came in from the newsletter and it looked like I was the first post--sorry!

 

Solved? yea! but.. "View Desktop "?? what's that?

Gee that's great... but what is "View desktop "??? I have same 100% CPU nonsense but with ME (familiar w/ 9X and editions/differences). Tried blowing away reactivating "system restore" (ME feature) disbaling everything in startup etc etc and different taskmon... and like you still 100% CPU ... so naturally I am VERY interested to know what your solution turned out to be... only... what IS it? lol

 

Hi Deadwrong,
My slightly wrong wording I think looking back. It should have been Active Desktop. Now since then there has been further developments. At some point later the same problem came back, even with this setting corrected. I then decided to give XP Pro a whirl as I had heard it was so much better than XP Home. I managed to get a legitimate copy at a greatly reduced price, and hey presto! I haven't had this problem since. CPU on average, is running at 2-4%. I thought maybe it was a puculiar quirk with 98, but seeing as you have ME maybe not. I must admit I tried ME twice in the past and everytime I suffered with constant lockups and freezes. I think so much depends on the computer and components. I had heard all sorts of bad things about XP which put me off, but now I wish I had migrated sooner.