CPU getting tired?

Does the cpu show any kind of a sign before it stops working? I'am wondering because whenever my screen saver starts, my screen goes black and the mouse curser turns into a hour glass and that is it, so i have to ctrl-alt-delete to return back to the desktop. When the task manager opens, it states the screen saver is not responding and when i click over to the performance tab, the cpu usage is topped at 100%.(winXP) Sometimes it will lower to 2 or 3% , but once in a while it just stays at 100% and i have to reboot because my desktop is just frozen. (the cpu is about 3 yrs old and is a celeron) Thanks

 

What I would say is happening is that the computer is getting stuck in a "loop" (what happens sometimes to cause freezes/crashes). The processor is rerunning the same processing task over and over. That's why you see 100% usage.

It may well be that the Power Saving/Management is starting at the same time as the screen saver or that there is something wrong with Screen Saver program (corrupted? / too much for your graphics to handle?).

Try setting the screen saver to "none" and/or check that the power saving settings don't kick in untill well after the screen saver.

Think that's where you'll find the problem, CPU should be OK.

Matt

 

Could be all kinds of things. The first thing I look at (which is the quickest, easiest, and rules in or out very fast) is to check the processor heatsink and fan for dust!

 

Thanks guys for your quick relies.

mattman--Power Saving/Management was/is never on. Screen saver is windows xp logo w/black screen. (default i think) I did turn it off though. Maybe i should try other screen savers and see if it still happens. [If a screen saver is corrupted, how can i repair that?]

RayH--I live in the country so i have to dust around here a lot. I usually open up the box at least 4x a month and clean it just to be sure.
thanks again

 

Ozzydawg, I am not much of a software person, but have had a few successes like the workaround for the screensaver/power saving problem (could not find much at MS knowledgebase).

Yes, experiment with the screensaver settings if you suspect that this is causing the problem, but don't change too many settings and not be able to reverse what you have done if things go astray.

It may be worthwhile checking your BIOS setup. There are settings for power saving there that may be conflicting with the screensaver. If you don't want to use power saving you could disable them (Although Windows should take control of the power management).

Like RayH says about hardware, it could be hard to say an exact program/setting/combination that may be causing it. I might put the "corrupted" tag on a third party screensaver because some of them are badly written. It is more likely that the screensaver is conflicting with another background program...the screensaver tells the system to show pictures on the screen, another program is telling it to do something else....try closing some programs in the System Tray before letting the screensaver start.

If you want to note exactly what happens when the problem occurs, you could try a post in the XP forum. If you narrow it down to a background program you may be able to get help in the applications forum.

 

system hangs with certain screen saver

I've noticed some screen savers will lock my comp and others will not. Did it in both Win98SE and WinXP Pro. These are just the screen savers that came with the os. Is there a way to fix the screen savers they lock up with??

 

Windows screensavers in two different operating systems. Would seem to point to the video card. You could remove and reseat the video card and even clean the connectors (I use Contact Cleaner, one of the guys had success using a soft pencil eraser).
If you have built in graghics it may possibly be due to incorrect BIOS setup settings, but I haven't dealt with onboard graphics much. (You need to be careful with some graphics settings. It is possible to disable them, meaning no screen and having to reset the CMOS).

Matt

 

If you have done the above and know that the video card is functioning properly, you can test the video drivers by running dxdiag. Go to Start > Run and type dxdiag [Enter]. This should test the function of the card with the graphics drivers you have installed.

Matt