CPU usage keeps shooting up to 100% for no reason?

[darkizzle]

My PC has the habit of randomly and suddenly using up CPU to 100% for no apparent reason. My computer slows down to a crawl and I can't even shut down as it stays on the "shutting down..." screen. There's no rhyme or reason to it, though it never happens if I don't have the pc on for at least an hour or two. I checked the processes and there's nothing out of the ordinary running. I don't even know where to look. Help? This never happened when I was on Vista...

 

[Jonathan_King]

Hello, Welcome to the forums!
Could you please post a screenshot of your task manager during one of these High moments?
Also, what anti-virus are you using? That could be the problem.
~Jonathan

 

[darkizzle]

Hello to you too! I'll make sure to try to take one the next time it happens, if it will even allow me (even vlc and firefox dies when this happens). I'm pretty sure its not AVG. Nothing at all happens when its doing a scan and such. There's never anything in the task manager that indicates something is sucking the resources dry. Firefox is typically using up the most memory and svchost...

 

[Jonathan_King]

It's not usually the scans that bite you. It's memory leaks. AVG has been know to cause problems. It is not just my bias. I used AVG for a long time, till it developed a memory leak on my machine. Try uninstalling it and installing Microsoft Security Essentials. MSE works very nicely on Windows machines.

 

[darkizzle]

Ah I see. I'll do that right now (install MSE). Should I uninstall AVG too?

Edit: Oh, duh. Stupid question.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Yes, certainly. Always uninstall your previous AV before installing a new one. I don't think MSE will even let you install if it detects another AV.

 

[MDB808]

I've been having this problem too. Sometimes it happens straight from bootup and the gadget I have that shows processor/RAM use doesn't even come up. I think it's been what's kept my login screen from coming up somtimes too. it just hangs at a black screen.

Sometimes it happens within 30 min or so after boot-up. When I've managed to get a task manager up, there's nothing to indicate a process that's maxing out the system. It might say '100%' at the bottom, but adding up stuff in the CPU column doesn't add up to that, even making sure to show all the processes, not just mine.

Most recently after booting up my Norton was turned off or thought it had expired or something. I downloaded AVG and got it to run a full scan and all it found were cookies.

 

[Tews]

To avoid confusion, please start your own thread... Thanks..

 

[darkizzle]

Nope, didn't work. Happened again while I was playing Fallout, 3 hours after start up. I couldn't even take a screenshot, nothing would work. But I tried to look for anything in the processes that could be doing it...nothing. This is getting tiresome...

 

[Frostmourne]

Filll in your hardware specs and use the guide in my sig to update your drivers. Can you also post a screenshot of the msconfig startup tab and your installed programs?

 

[gregrocker]

Ah I see. I'll do that right now (install MSE). Should I uninstall AVG too?

Edit: Oh, duh. Stupid question.

AVG was once as lean and mean as Avast (and now MSE), but has become problematic and unrecommended by tech enthusiasts in recent years.

You'll need to root out the entries in Registry manually after uninstall from Programs and Features. Here's how:


To delete all registry keys with reference to AVG , run Registry Editor (regedit). Navigate to the following registry key branches:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AVG
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AVG8Uninstall
Right click on AVG and AVG8Uninstall respectively, and select Delete to remove the AVG related registry keys. These are two known registry keys that installed by AVG, and should only be removed if there is no longer any AVG programs installed on the PC. User can also click on Edit menu and use Find command to search for AVG related registry keys, but make sure to use common sense to identify which keys is belonged to AVG and which is not. For example, “AVGeneralNotification” is system added key, and should not be deleted.

 

[reghakr]

As Jonathon asked, a screen shot would be of help to use.

Make sure to expand the Task Manager windows so e can see all item clearly, including their path.

Noe kick on the memory tab which wili show you what progan is using the most amount of memory,

 

[darkizzle]

Okay, I had actually thought it had gone for awhile after I uninstalled Ad-aware. But no, its back. With a vengeance. I'm getting lag just from typing this lol. I don't have the first clue where to begin looking for this, so here the shots of the taskmanager and one from process explorer. Hope someone can figure it out...I cant live like this...

 

[musiclover7]

I had this problem for a bit, until I found that it was a desktop gadget periodically updating, snagging all my cpu, then releasing. My gadget was one that tracked drive space across all my hard drives, and provided a handy link to them on the desktop. I have since let it go.. Just offering this up as something to check..

 

[darkizzle]

A gadget? Can you be more specific please?

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

Hi Darkizzle,

Seems like wmiprvse.exe is taking your memory ... I did a search found that Imon 7.77 used tp cause some problems ... Do you use that ??

 

[musiclover7]

A desktop gadget... Do you have any desktop gadgets running.. If so, try closing them one at a time, and see if the problem goes away.. Just something to try..

 

[darkizzle]

Imon 7.77? I've never even heard of such a thing let alone use it! I googled it and there are others who are having the same problem with wmiprvse...how do I get rid of it?

EDIT: I can't seem to kill it with the task manager. Figures. So I how to get rid of it permanently?

 

[darkizzle]

Ok, now its happening about 20 minutes after startup...every time!! This is getting ridiculous...

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

Ok, now its happening about 20 minutes after startup...every time!! This is getting ridiculous...

I truly apologize for inconvenience. I guess we cannot kill that because i saw you Task Manager and you are using SQL Server and WMI(Windows Management Instrumentation) is one of the dependencies. Maybe you could try to rebuild them i will attach a bat file

View attachment WMIfix.bat

Download this bat file then Right Click on it and Run as Administrator

It will ask you whether you need to shutdown the Firewall and you could agree for that. Once it's done reboot the system.

Also run the HijackThis and post the log

Hope that helps