50% - 100% CPU use at idle - solved

Hi all, I had some massive problems following either a power outage or Windows updates (not sure which as they happened around the same time).

Basically, my HTPC CPU would be at 50%+ at idle and the smallest task would have it spiking to 100%. Obviously not fun and does nothing to engender wife support for HTPC.

I tried disabling the Windows High Def audio, ATI audio and stopping various processes as suggested on various forums, all to no avail. Even when booting into safe mode the high CPU idle problem didn't go away. In desperation I did a clean install of Windows 7 and still no joy.

In a final act before reverting to cd player, VHS recorder and photo albums I turned off the pc and removed the audio card and the tv tuner card. Upon rebooting the PC, sans these two cards, the PC CPU idle returned to normal at less than 5% load. I put the cards back in one at a time, rebooting each time and the problem has disappeared.

To my reckoning it seems that Windows 7 may get a bit tempremental when doing a clean install and all add-on cards are in situ. I wonder if best practice would suggest that it is best to install W7 first with nothing other than the motherboard and then add the cards one by one?

Anyway, I am happy, wife is happy and that means house is happy.

Great to see that W7 has solved the standby problems that plagued XP.

stripes said:

Hi all, I had some massive problems following either a power outage or Windows updates (not sure which as they happened around the same time).

Basically, my HTPC CPU would be at 50%+ at idle and the smallest task would have it spiking to 100%. Obviously not fun and does nothing to engender wife support for HTPC.

I tried disabling the Windows High Def audio, ATI audio and stopping various processes as suggested on various forums, all to no avail. Even when booting into safe mode the high CPU idle problem didn't go away. In desperation I did a clean install of Windows 7 and still no joy.

In a final act before reverting to cd player, VHS recorder and photo albums I turned off the pc and removed the audio card and the tv tuner card. Upon rebooting the PC, sans these two cards, the PC CPU idle returned to normal at less than 5% load. I put the cards back in one at a time, rebooting each time and the problem has disappeared.

To my reckoning it seems that Windows 7 may get a bit tempremental when doing a clean install and all add-on cards are in situ. I wonder if best practice would suggest that it is best to install W7 first with nothing other than the motherboard and then add the cards one by one?

Anyway, I am happy, wife is happy and that means house is happy.

Great to see that W7 has solved the standby problems that plagued XP.

Stripes hi and welcome to SevenForums

Not only is this a good first post, but a solution as well. That helps other users and shows extra effort



Let us know if you need assistance



Jan

Not sure if this applicable, but see this link... Wrong clock speed!

You might also want to check your power management settings...




Here's a good tutorial - Power Plan Settings - Change