SYSTEM process in XP at 13% even after reformat, causing choppy video output

Alright I have a very difficult problem. I have tried everything known to man and
contacted many knowledagble people and still no luck.

The main problem that I physically see is choppy video. This means everything from
the simplest screensaver (Mystify, for example) to the most complex game - and everything
in between has a half-second pause every 2 seconds or so. As you can image this
is VERY annoying and causes a ton of problems.

With the help of some others, I have reduce the problem to the main SYSTEM process
in the TaskManager. It is constantly stuck at 12-16%, EVEN after a fresh format
without installing a single thing. I am assuming that this unsually high CPU rate
is causing my choppiness problems, but I may be mistaken.

The most interesting thing is that when I boot into Safe Mode, the problem is gone.
Of course the video looks bad becuase I am using default drivers and such (whatever
Safe Mode uses) but what I use to test (Mystify screensaver) and everything else
works just fine. To me this means my problem has nothing to do with hardware - either
certain low-level drivers loaded with XP or my OS itself.

As a final step I got a newer version of XP that had SP1 included - but no luck,
the first time it booted up normally that SYSTEM process was stuck at 13%.

If you have ANY ideas, no matter how insane or unrealted it may seem, PLEASE let
me know - I have become desparate to fix this.

 

What CPU, motherboard, chipset, and video card?
How much RAM?
Have you looked at http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

 

My specs are:

Pentium 4 1.8ghz
Chaintech 9EJL1 Socket 478 Motherboard
Intel 845E chipset
512mb PC2100 DDR RAM
Gainward GeForce 3 Ti200 128mb

Please note that all this hardware WORKS when I boot in safe mode - my choppiness problem is nonexistent in that mode. This leads me to believe that it is not my hardware that is causing the problem.

I have also looked at http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm and tried using their patches that turn down some of the services, but to no avail. Using a program that analyses system processes, I have found that it is 1 of 3-4 threads under the main SYSTEM process that is hogging the CPU, not a Windows Service.

 

Its not a combination of sysmte process, it is the main process labeled simply as SYSTEM. it's using 220k of memory and hogs 13%. I am not loading ANY drivers and it is still that high. Before I had updated everything and it made no difference. I even bought a new gfx card and motherboard hoping that would help it, but nothing. Updating my BIOS is unnecessary because the problem existed on my old mobo as well.

The drivers that are loaded with windows MUST be the low-level ones that windows uses for simple taks because I am not loading anything and hte problem is still there.

 

yeah ive tried chipset drivers and everything...it must be something dumb that windows is loading. everytime i say "oh it must be <insert hardware here>" i realize that no, it works in safe mode so its just matter of drivers...something, i don't know. I'm just going to get Windows 2000 and see how that works i think.

 

It's in "System" processes, thus it's probably a driver issue.
Have you checked modem, sound, and video drivers in particular?
It's got to be a driver for some piece of hardware you have.
You could narrow it down, by removing one piece at a time (sound, modem, NIC, etc.) and if it's still there, it must be video.

I don't know what makes you think that Win2K is going to be any better...probably worse, because of older hardware (lack of) support.

 

Not that this is going to help, but I have the EXACT same problem with Windows XP. I've done my research and also narrowed it down to the system process. And I too, am looking for a solution mainly to stop the video and screen saver stuttering. I'm on a P4 2.4 ghz, with a 600 dollar NVidia Quadro 4 video card, which is almost going to waste because of the problem. I haven't tried safe mode yet, nor changing the OS (win2k?), but if I ever find a solution, I'll post my findings.

 

If anyone has with a similar problem has come up with an idea please let me know - i still struggle with my video output everyday!

 

Have you checked your event logs for errors or warnings that look related?

How about How to Use Pageheap.exe in Windows XP and Windows 2000 for a diagnostic tool?

How about Performance Monitor? It may take some trial & error but you can pinpoint exactly what is causing your problem. Start~Settings~Control Panel~Administrative Tools~Performance

 

Well I tried the Performance tool like you said and it shows now alerts and nothing in the logs - just my constant 13-16% CPU usage heh. Not quite sure what I'm looking for in this but I will also try the Pagehelp thing later on. Let me know if there is anything specific I might be looking for. Keep in mind I don't think my problem has anything to do with a particular application, rather low-level drivers that are only present in XP and NOT in windows 2000.