Strange high CPU problem

Hello,

Following a recent format of my hard drive, i reinstalled my version of XP Pro to find that the CPU is dramatically higher than it was before.
Even in an idle state, the CPU is 6% and upon moving the mouse, it rises to around 33%.
Any program results in a CPU usgae of 100% and the system becomes incredibly sluggish.

I am confused because i have not installed anything which i didnt have before, have tried the usual spyware and virus checks and there appears to be no single process which causes the high CPU.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

PS: The problem still occurrs in safe mode

 

start~run~perfmon.exe and set up to monitor various CPU-related processes to get an idea of which are going crazy.

or

start~run~taskmgr.exe and see which, if any, process is taking over the system.

or

start~run~services.msc and begin stopping services to see if the stoppage of any of them cures the issue. Note that while most critical services will not allow themselves to be stopped, you still may lock or crash the system doing this but a reboot and things will be back to normal.

 

No, stopping the services doesnt resolve the issue and dont appear to be any guilty processes.

The computer appears to be acting far slower in general than it did before i formatted the hard drive. There seems to be a general decrease in performance as stopping the 'themes' service slightly helps.

Does this mean that it could be a hardware problem of some sort?

 

Why did you reformat?

My first thought is that some OS settings are not the same as before, for example: Indexing service which for some causes symptoms such as yours; is the HD churning more than previously for no obvious reason?

Always a possibility. Perhaps the HD MFG's web site has downloadable diagnostic tools.

Regards - Charles

 

Yeah the HD is definitely churning more than before and there is no obvious reason.

I reformatted just for a general cleanup as i had a build-up of one-time-use programs due to uni coursework and stuff, not becuase there was any problem.

I'll give the diagnostics a go.

Thanks

 

Just noticed something!!

When i go to system properties, it tells me that the processor speed is 697MHz... but it isnt!! It is supposed to be 1GHz...

Where have my Hz gone???!!

 

It's now gone back to 1 GHz!!!!

Don't know what's going on but there is still no improvement in performance!

 

Have you checked your BIOS settings?

Johanna

 

Yeah but i'm not really sure what exactly to check?

It says Processor speed 1GHz/700MHz, dont know if that means anything?

 

specs?

Maybe if you give us the specs. for your computer, we may be able to help more.

 

start~run~taskmgr.exe and see which, if any, process is taking over the system.

When you did this, what process was showing the most CPU usage?

 

Right OK....

My system is a Dell Latitude C800 Laptop

OS = XP Pro 2002 SP1
1GHz Pentium III processor
256MB Ram

As i said before, there doesnt appear to be one single process which is causing the problem, it appears to be more a general reduction in performance as if it is a lower spec.

task manager.exe takes up a constant 5% CPU with explorer and lsass taking up 1% each. When the mouse is moved, the CPU rises into the 40%'s due to csrss.exe.
Any program constantly runs at 100% making everything incredibly sluggish. This was not the case before.

Any ideas what is wrong?
Thanks

 

Just wondering.

You could have some pest infecting your computer. Maybe tell us about your security and check out this thread and consider posting a hijackthis log here for the experts to look at and advise you.

 

Thanks Sparrow

I'm pretty sure that isnt the case though as i regularly use spybot, norton etc.
Here is the hijackthis log but it appears to be clean, that's why i'm confused

Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7
Scan saved at 23:06:44, on 25/06/2004
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:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
C:\Program Files\Creative\Sound Blaster\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\RunDll32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\Atievxx.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTsvcCDA.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton SystemWorks\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton SystemWorks\Norton Utilities\NPROTECT.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\SPEEDD~1\nopdb.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Scott Winterburn\Desktop\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar1.dll
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - C:\Program Files\Norton SystemWorks\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton SystemWorks\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar1.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe "
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccRegVfy] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccRegVfy.exe "
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroFilterCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\NeroCheck.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTSysVol] C:\Program Files\Creative\Sound Blaster\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe /r
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SbUsb AudCtrl] RunDll32 sbusbdll.dll,RCMonitor
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdReg] C:\WINDOWS\UpdReg.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPDJ Taskbar Utility] C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\hpztsb04.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.exe.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Google Search - res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmsearch.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Backward &Links - res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmbacklinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Cac&hed Snapshot of Page - res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmcache.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O8 - Extra context menu item: Si&milar Pages - res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmsimilar.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Translate into English - res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmtrans.html
O9 - Extra button: Research (HKLM)
O9 - Extra button: AIM (HKLM)
O16 - DPF: {2A32B14F-4D29-4EA3-AC54-E9B19F436CE7} (Scanner Class) - http://www.windowsecurity.com/trojanscan/TDECntrl.CAB
O16 - DPF: {90A29DA5-D020-4B18-8660-6689520C7CD7} (DmiReader Class) - http://support.euro.dell.com/global/apps/systemprofiler/PROFILER.CAB
O16 - DPF: {9F1C11AA-197B-4942-BA54-47A8489BB47F} (Update Class) - http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/CAB/x86/unicode/iuctl.CAB?38151.2205324074
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab

 

The log does look clean - and the system appears pretty streamlined from the looks of the log. Interesting problem then.

On the chance that you have picked up an infection that has done evil things to your onboard AV, I'd suggest a scan with an online scanner. Check the quicklinks in my signature and it should point you to a couple.

If that comes back clean, it may be time for some serious detective work. I'm really puzzled (but clueless) about the processor speed issue. I still think that some time with perfmon.exe would be good and This free tool helps flesh out that information.

If nothing there, maybe time to look further. All these are good but will require some time to wade thru the results they offer you.

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/filemon.shtml

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/handle.shtml

As a side note, have you opened the case and tried reseating the processor? I'm not anywhere near hardware literate but it would seem that if you had a marginal contact with one or two of the pins it might cause some really strange behavior.

 

more thoughts

I agree, it looks clean, but I hope one of the more knowledgeable folks here will comment.

I had a difficult problem some time ago that looked like a failing disk (not similar to your problem, but...) and I solved it by cleaning the disk as follows (only one way of several). I put a linux file system on it, then a fat32 dos partition and a format and reinstall. It runs like new.

I just mention it 'cause your problem started after you reinstalled, and normally a reinstall doesn't lead to any problems. I think, as a last resort, I'd repeat the reinstall, cleaning the disk as well as you can first (at least an fdisk to delete and remake the partition. Something is running that shouldn't be, to use up that much cpu time.

 

Oops!

We crossed in the mail Newt! Your suggestions trump mine, which is a last resort idea.

 

Another possibility:

Have you looked at the page file?

Size - s/b 1.5 x RAM - and the possibilty it may be currupt - do you know how to recreate it? Post back if not.

Regards - Charles

 

I've seen this! We have dozens of Dells at my company.

Are you using all of the recommended drivers for the system, from the Dell CD or web site? Start with the latest video and chipset drivers.

The changing processor speed can come from battery operation vs. AC power operation (energy saving).

I hope this helps!