Trouble Shoot - 100% CPU Load - Might Be GPU?

Soldato
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Hi guys,

Few months back my PC crapped the bed and would hit 100% CPU doing very little. This seemed to occur after a windows update. It's important to note that my CPU is not throttling and this isn't a heat issue.

I just reinstalled my PC and it seemed like perhaps there was a chance, but it's doing it again. This seemed to again occur after a windows update, but hard to tell since the PC was so fresh.

On this new install I can't seem to get my 1080 GTX drivers to install at all. It says they're not compatible with my windows version. I've also spotted that windows itself is failing to install its own graphics card drivers.

Could my issue in fact by my GPU causing this? I understand that the 1080 has trouble installing on the version I have, but windows also seems to be struggling to update itself. It inevitably just starts hanging and doesn't progress.

Spec:

2500k @ 4GHZ (downclocked from 4.5ghz for testing)
8GB DDR3
1080 GTX
Windows 10 - Version 10240 (v1507 I think)

Thanks for your help!
 
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Soldato
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What is the make and model of your motherboard?

Whichever brand/model it is did you update to the latest BIOS when you installed the 1080 (as most 1155 boards required an update to get these latest GPUs stable/working)?

Additional: While you're troubleshooting i would remove all clocks and run at defaults.
 
Soldato
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The current version of Windows is later than that - mine is 10.0.17763 - so download an updated copy of Windows from Microsoft via their ISO creation tool.

And what @Plec said.
 
Soldato
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That's interesting, I've not updated the mobo and didn't consider that at all . I've been doing a bit more testing and it definitely seems like the moment I play any video on YouTube my CPU spikes to 100%.

I've got Windows version 1809 "preparing to install" at the moment. It's taking an absolute year. Once that's installed, I'll look at updating my mobo.

I take it the best way to update a mobo is via a USB, if I can find wherever I stashed mine?

Mobo: MSI P67A-GD65 B3 Rev

:EDIT:

seems the latest mobo version is from 2013 - Do we think that's going to fix this if it's that old?

It also doesn't mention Win 10 support, but i assume that's not an issue.
 
Soldato
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I take it the best way to update a mobo is via a USB, if I can find wherever I stashed mine?
Yes, via the BIOS. Format the stick first (fat 32) install only the BIOS on to it - and follow boards/manual instructions.

Remove that clock first...
 
Soldato
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seems the latest mobo version is from 2013 - Do we think that's going to fix this if it's that old?
It did for my old MSI board when i tried to get a GTX 1070 working on it a couple of years ago.

New BIOS improvements:
  • Enhanced PCI-E display card performance
 
Soldato
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It did for my old MSI board when i tried to get a GTX 1070 working on it a couple of years ago.

New BIOS improvements:
  • Enhanced PCI-E display card performance

That's exciting. Got my USB ready to go, just need windows to finish its install. Seems to be progressing about 2% every 10 min, so going to be a while.

Will remove my clock before I make the update and report back when it's done. Probably won't be for another hour or two based on the speed of this update.

Thanks for your help.
 
Soldato
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Thanks for your help.
No problem - but really note the following so you don't brick your board - as this isn't a straight forward BIOS update - as it includes Ivybridge compatibility too (no way of avoiding this). Follow the instructions carefully - especially regarding restarts and drive removal etc:

*Please download and execute the file in USB pen drive only.
System will restart several times to update ME firmware after updated system BIOS. Please DO NOT remove the USB pen drive until ME update sucessfully.
*Please make sure you have read the SOP before you update the BIOS.
SOP Download: BIOS & ME update SOP

**Please reinstall driver after updating BIOS with ME8.
 
Soldato
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@MumboJumbo - could you confirm that you've read the above as it's not a straight forward BIOS update - this one unfortunately does involve a slight risk if not implemented correctly.
 
Soldato
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Hi Plec, thanks for following up. I was attempted to update it via the bios itself using the MSI flash utilities in there.

I can't actually get the MSI flash tool to recognise the file on my USB stick. At first it didn't even recognise a USB was there and that's because I had unzipped the file. Once i zipped it, it could detect the drive but not the file. Quite frustrating.

Will try following the instructions above instead later on. Need to step away for a while now.
 
Soldato
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@MumboJumbo - what size is the pendirve?

Ideally, 8Gb or less for a motherboard that age.
At first it didn't even recognise a USB was there and that's because I had unzipped the file. Once i zipped it, it could detect the drive but not the file. Quite frustrating.
The BIOS needs to be extracted from the .zip - before being copied to the stick.
 
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