Help! - CPU usgae high (Crap title edited)

boris · 12 Mar 2006 at 00:34

Hi,

I recently got a new system (athlon x64) and was running 64 bit XP happily for a few weeks, until i noticed that if i left my computer on for a few hours (even if not doing anything) then the CPU usage began to go up, and yet the system idle process in task manager showed 99% (even when just below it said that 100% of the CPU was in use). Process Explorer later showed this as being DPC's (deferred procedure calls), which i have no idea what they are. The really weird thing is that if i reboot my computer, there is no change - sometimes the problem gets worse (the temperatures are usually around 40 degrees, so not that). The only way iv found to get rid of it its to turn off my computer for a few hours (it also doesnt occur in safe mode, but comes back after rebooting). Iv tried disabling various drivers in device manager, and this may or may not help (hard to tell as the percentage used by DPCs seems different every reboot anyway), but the problem certainly doesnt seem to go away...

Any ideas? :confused:

ns400r · 12 Mar 2006 at 06:21

Boris...............

even if not doing anything

the system idle process in task manager showed 99%

System and idle are the key words. Your system is idle i.e. it's not doing anything for 99% of the time. That's EXACLY what is supposed to happen.

boris · 12 Mar 2006 at 08:35

ns400r said:
That's EXACLY what is supposed to happen.

except surely the cpu usage metre on the bottom of task manager shows its using 100% of the cpu - iv not seen this on any other computer - usually when the system idle is at 99% the usage metre is at around 2%, not 100%. Also, when i am trying to do something, the DPC process appears to take priority, and my computer grinds to a halt (to the extend that it takes around 5 mins to open up 'my computer'

Thanks for the reply...

BigBoy · 12 Mar 2006 at 09:49

Have You Checked For Spyware and Virus checked?

boris · 12 Mar 2006 at 17:49

yes, several times - nothing found

Neoni · 12 Mar 2006 at 17:52

its sometimes when your settings in erm bios are set to SATA not IDE, that shwat happened with me

Amp34 · 12 Mar 2006 at 18:42

I had a problem with this twice on one of my PC's. The only thing people came up with (not on this forum) was a problem with a microsoft patch. I had to format and reinstall windows for it to go away, although as i said it came back about 2 months later and i had to reformat and install windows again.

boris · 12 Mar 2006 at 21:32

Amp34 said:
I had to format and reinstall windows for it to go away,

think that's what ill do as well.

thanks anyway

chex · 12 Mar 2006 at 21:35

what virus guard are you using?

boris · 15 Mar 2006 at 21:11

ok, iv reformatted, and the problem's still there, and doing exactly the same thing, so it has to be either a driver or hardware problem...any ideas?