Windows 7: System Interrupts

Hi,

Sometimes for no reason my CPU usage spikes up and makes my system very laggy and hot. I checked the resource monitor and I get to see that System Interrupts is taking up between 10-50% of my cpu...

I tried googling for the answer and it turns out that quite some people got this problem and it always comes down to a corrupt driver or a BIOS related problem. Unfortunately all those people know something about computers and I don't, so their fixes I'm unable to understand completely. Thus I just tried to do a full system recovery from my recovery partition but that didn't seem to fix things since it's still having the system interrupts.

Could someone guide me threw the process of finding out what the problem is step by step? Thank you very much.

My system:
ASUS laptop K53SV,K53SJ series
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Intel Core i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30GHz
4.00 GB RAM
NVIDEA Geforce GT540M 1GB

Hello Nard and welcome to Seven Forums.

You say you did a "...full system recovery from my recovery partition but that didn't seem to fix things since it's still having the system interrupts." Just for clarification, you restored your computer to factory specifications but the system interrupts are still occuring? Are these system interrupts occuring before you reinstalled all Windows Updates, programs, etc or did they occur only after you reinstalled everything? If after, it would probably indicate that something you've installed is hogging the CPU. You could try doing a clean startup (AKA clean boot) to see if you can isolate the problematic application.

Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup

You could also try using a free utility called Process Hacker. It's more powerful than the built in Task Manager and may provide a more detailed analysis of a specific process associated with the system interrupts. Or the Microsoft version called Process Explorer.

Overview - Process Hacker

Process Explorer

And one of the Forum experts prepared this troubleshooting tutorial that also includes some hardware diagnostic tests.

Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7

Thank you for the quick response.

Yes I restored my laptop to factory specifications. The problems seem to occur after initial windows updates.

I tried the clean startup and followed the instructions but the interrupts still occur after a certain time.
I downloaded Process Explorer and saw in the description: "Hardware Interrupts and DPC's" Attachment 250058
I then followed the troubleshooting steps link you provided and done the steps except 8 and 9 wich are time intensive. Gonna perform those, 8 seems to focus on RAM issues but 9 focusses on software as far as I can tell and PE clearly states Hardware Interrupts.

Will post the results of step 8 asap

Thank you for the clarification, especially about the Windows Updates. Did you let the updates install automatically? If yes, there have been several (many?) reports of issues after automatic updates. And the problem is, unless you get an error message or other indicator, it's usually impossible to know which update(s) caused the issue. Something for you to consider. It will be time consuming with no guarantee it will solve the problem. However, it may be worth it to do another factory restore but this time install the Windows Updates manually. (Select "Never check for updates (not reommended) Step 3, second screenshot.) Then use the manual check (Step 2 screenshot, left column.)

Windows Update Settings - Change

After the the manual check finishes you should have about 100+ updates labeled Critical, Important, Recommended, Optional. Make sure everything is unchecked. Starting with the Critical updates, select the first 10 and make note of their KB numbers. Install them and reboot the computer. Make sure everything is working correctly. If it is, select the next 10, note the KB numbers, install, reboot. Keep doing this until all updates are installed successfully or you begin having the system interrupts. If that happens you'll know exactly which 10 updates to uninstall. Then install them one at a time, rebooting after each one. They will either all install correctly or you will know exactly which update is causing the problem. You can save that update for last and continue on with the next group of ten. As I said, it's a much longer process but usually results in a cleaner install of updates.

Once the updates have been installed you might be interested in cleaning out some of the factory bloatware that can slow a computer down. One of the Forum experts prepared this guide:

Clean Up Factory Bloatware

Or you might even consider a clean install.

Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

I did them manually but all at the same time hehe. Guess I should try to do a full restore again and see when the interrupts occur. Gonna be time consuming since it are loads and loads of updates and the interrupts never happen right after startup...

The pre-installed useless software is something I always delete (no I didnt delete something wrong for the interrupts occured before I uninstalled any program)

With a clean install, isn't that practically the same as the complete restoration where I also wipe all my partitions and let it start from scratch again? They originial factory state shouldn't be the problem for my laptop didn't have this issue in the first months I used it.

Anyways I'm gonna try the recovery again and then the long process of updates when I get home tonight. But just in case it turns out that the updates weren't the problem (for I always immdiately started the updates after I booted my laptop), do you got any more idea's on how to figure it out?

A clean install does wipe the hard drive. So there should be zero problems once the OS is reinstalled (providing there wasn't some kind of glitch like a damaged install disk, a power outage during the installation, etc.) Since you're already familiar with removing factory bloatware, a factory restore from the recovery partition should work just fine (providing it wasn't damaged or corrupted in some way. )

At this time, I can't think of anything else that is software related. There's always the possibility that the CPU or some other piece of hardware is going bad. This troubleshooting guide has some suggestions for hardware diagnostic tests.

Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7

Ok so I did the 1 by 1 update thingy and after a while it started getting Interrupts again, but that was long after all the updates were done. I again did a full recovery and decided not to do any install to see how it goes. Turns out that it happens then aswell. Appearently it happens after my CPU has been spiked to like 70-100% for something (doesnt matter what). I first thought that it might be cooling related since the temp will spike up when the CPU goes into high usage. I opened the laptop and removed the dust (wich wasn't many). The temp dropped with 20 degrees though but the Interrupts where still there using up 20-25% cpu (wich is always only my first core).

Anyone has any idea? Seems to me that it is CPU intensity related since the interrupts only occur after a big cpu usage but the interrupts don't disappear when the CPU intensity is lowered.

In addition to the previously mentioned troubleshooting tutorials, you may find some additional motherboard and CPU tests here:

How can I test my computer motherboard and CPU for failures?

ok thank you, gonna look threw those in the coming days. Will post the results

Nard90,

I am running into the same problems, did you have any luck resolving your issue? After unboxing my new computer, I updated video drivers and switched McAfee to AVG. When playing games the system interrupts strike - the audio gets scratchy and the video performance becomes very choppy. If I alt+tab out and wait for a minute or two I can resume the game but the interrupts will happen again shortly.

At first I downloaded every update I could for all the drivers, and also downloaded all the windows updates as well. When that didn't work I reset the machine to factory status, but still have the interrupts.