New
#1
Hardware Interrupts causing 25% - 30% CPU usage
Hi, I recently bought a computer (8 months ago) for my university research and occasional gaming. Its a very fast i7 core based system. I have had no problems whatsover up until last week (Please see system specs)
I recently received a free upgrade to windows 7 because I purchased my pc after june 2009 where you get a special offer from the store. I really like the new OS. Its elegant, fast and looks good. I have had windows 7 for about 1 month. However, just last week I noticed the CPU usage was between 25-30%. Core 3 was completey loaded while others are partially coping. Three are still parked at idle (see attached) . The PC still runs fast but I have noticed slight performance degradation occasionally as the CPU load fluctuates. In addition, whenever I restart the system appears to HANG, after a delay it resumes its normal cycle and the OS starts.
I therefore proceeded to try every trick in the PC book (including hitting the desk!) to try and resolve the problem. This is what I have tried so far as well as the facts to this point. The bold points are the problem areas. Are they related?? I wonder.
I also noticed that when powered up cold where I have not used it for a while there is a delay in the Hardware interrupts appearing of approx 1 hour. Now, what I want to know is what the hell is going on with the system and if I have any options left other than performing a full wipe and starting over again (my worst case scenario as I have a lot of custom settings invoked).
- Memory test (OK)
- CPU temp (OK)
- Graphics card temp (OK)
- Drivers (Up to date however the driver scan reports and error on the keyboard and mouse not being fully installed or bad ACPI driver error)
- Ran in safe mode. Problem still there.
- Turned off all unneccessary services and strartup tools. Problem still there.
- ChKDisk (OK but reverts to BSOD driver_power_state_failure, is this related?)
- Ran process explorer to determine the process causing problems (Apparently there is around 10% towards hardware interrupts (see attached diagram)
- In looking at the internals of the 'system' process it appears that a file called ACPI.sys+0x1af44 (see attached diagram) has reared its ugly head and taking 8%.
Just to let you know I have searched the forum extensively with the topic based on hardware interrupts but as always each mans story is always told a little bit different.
Any suggestions?? I would really appreaciate ANY pieces of advice or ideas on how to get rid of this annoying problem.
Thank you for your time.
Benny