System CPU at 100%

I have a IBM x250Netfinity server which was NT4 and has been wiped to install Win2000 but after install the system process shows 100% all the time even in safe mode. Have disabled all possible drivers and services in safe mode but after reboot still the same. Have another netfinity similar to above with no problems. Have never seen this before - any ideas?

 

As below,

Image Name=System, PID=8, CPU usage=100%

 

Have you tried looking at it with Process Explorer?

Have you tried Process Explorer to view what is going on? If you are not familiar with Process Explorer, it is a replacement for the Task Manager, and it does a lot better job. You don't need to install it either. You can run it from a CD or floppy. If you want it to permanently replace the Task Manager, you can do that too.

Also, is it generating network traffic or disk activity while it is busy?

Download Process Explorer from the bottom of this page.

 

Downloaded Process manager and the system process is the only process with any CPU activity - when I exxpand the system process tree nothing seems to be using CPU - smss.exe, winlogon lsas.exe aetc. are not showing any CPU activity.

The server is not on the network and there is no disk activity.

I also have another Netfinity with a similar setup and this is causing no problems at all!