Can a dodgy mobo cause randomly high cpu usage?

[Jaffa_Cake]

Let me paint a picture of the "symptons" I have spotted so far for this problem that has stumped me so far.

3 hdd's slowly died on me so far, after some testing I guessed it was the PSU and have no replaced the PSU and got a brand new HDD. I now have a new hdd and a new psu and I eventually got windows installed after several BSOD's during installation (bit odd I thought).

I now am getting randomly sporadic high CPU usage and random computer "freezes" which last about 4 seconds where everything except the mouse just freezes.

When installing programs I am getting disk read/write errors relating to the I/O. I am confused by the fact the total cpu usage according to task manager is MUCH higher than the amount used by all the processes in the list added together and the usage is fluxing between 30% and 0% when nothing is running.

My finger is now pointing at my mobo, possibly a IO delay of some sort causing the cpu usage to stack? I would really like to work out for sure what this is before i buy a new mobo.

 

[CaseyChaos]

I was getting blue-screens with my new CPU because the bios couldn't handle it so had to flash to a newer version, not sure that would cause the high CPU usage or kill the HDD but it is maybe worth some thought.

Spec list and a screen shot of the blue screen would probably be good info for anyone else on here to help you.

 

[Jaffa_Cake]

I was getting blue-screens with my new CPU because the bios couldn't handle it so had to flash to a newer version, not sure that would cause the high CPU usage or kill the HDD but it is maybe worth some thought.

Spec list and a screen shot of the blue screen would probably be good info for anyone else on here to help you.

Oops, Spec! Here it is:
Mobo: Abit IP35-E
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.20GHz (800FSB)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)
PSU: OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply
GFX: BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC 512MB

I will try flashing the BIOS but tbh with you I didn't have any problems when the system was new, I fear it may be damage caused by the PSU and the only old thing left is the mobo. I just want to be sure.

 

[CaseyChaos]

Oh it's not a new system, shouldn't need to flash the bios then. It could be the PSU that killed the HDDs, maybe it's damaged the motherboard and is now causing the CPU issues, random guesses though so I hope someone else is able to help you.

 

[errata]

if the IO is getting a lot of errors during transfer it will requrie the cpu to get more involved so its possible a cable or duff chip on the board.

repalce cables and maybe try different disc connections to see if its specifc or general problem