Solved 100% CPU

[Tetramesh]

Hello

Hopefully I can get some help here. A friend has given me their laptop to look at, they said it was running very sluggish. Previously when I have been asked to have a look at why someone's computer is running slow it has been easy to sort out, usually there has been a virus, malware, too many items at start-up etc.
After starting the laptop it took absolutely ages for anything to start, the sound is very distorted and when I open the Task Manager it shows the CPU at 100% and seems to stay at that usage for quite some time, there are hardly any processes running.
I've tried updating and running a full virus scan (MSE), Malwarebytes, SUPERAntispyware, Spybot - Search & Destroy, HijackThis (without changing anything), run a memory test and also ran sfc /scannow but no problems have been detected apart from a couple of ad cookies.

Below are a couple of screenshots of the Task Manager, the first showing a modest amount of processes and the second showing high CPU usage.

I've filled in the system specs for this laptop in my profile.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem might be?

Thanks.

 

[StalkeR]

Select Show processess from all users,or in your language...Processen van alle ... to see what proccess use your cpu all the time.

 

[cluberti]

Also, this is easier troubleshot when using ResMon than task manager for inbox components, and best when using Process Explorer rather than the other two.

 

[Tetramesh]

Select Show processess from all users,or in your language...Processen van alle ... to see what proccess use your cpu all the time.

Also, this is easier troubleshot when using ResMon than task manager for inbox components, and best when using Process Explorer rather than the other two.

Thanks for the quick replies.
The first image is a screenshot of Process Explorer and the second from Task Manager showing all users.

 

[StalkeR]

I noticed high cpu usage from WmiPrvSe.exe. Searching over the internet found this. Take a look it,maybe it will helps you.
WmiPrvSE.exe very high CPU consumption on Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Also what's the second proccess on the screnshoot from Task Manager? Net Actieve.. It also use 40+% of cpu?

 

[cluberti]

That's the idle process.

 

[Tetramesh]

Yes, that is 'System Idle Process'.

 

[cluberti]

ProcExp would indicate no issues, whereas task manager shows the WMI provider process consuming CPU. Do you happen to have a screenshot of procexp showing the high CPU in wmiprvse? You can also go to the properties of that process and get a breakdown of which threads are consuming CPU in the process as well.

 

[Tetramesh]

ProcExp would indicate no issues, whereas task manager shows the WMI provider process consuming CPU. Do you happen to have a screenshot of procexp showing the high CPU in wmiprvse? You can also go to the properties of that process and get a breakdown of which threads are consuming CPU in the process as well.

I took these two screenshots. Do they show what you asked for?

 

[cluberti]

The CPU time was in svchost.exe from your screenshot - it would be helpful to look at the process consuming the CPU time when it is happening. Does that make sense? No matter which process it is, get a screenshot of the process list, then double-click the process consuming the CPU and take a screenshot of the image tab, and then a third screenshot of the threads tab.

 

[Tetramesh]

The CPU time was in svchost.exe from your screenshot - it would be helpful to look at the process consuming the CPU time when it is happening. Does that make sense? No matter which process it is, get a screenshot of the process list, then double-click the process consuming the CPU and take a screenshot of the image tab, and then a third screenshot of the threads tab.

So I should take a screenshot of Process Explorer and also a screenshot of the threads and image tabs of whatever is using the most CPU at the time?

Going by what you have seen so far do you think this is a hardware problem or something wrong with Windows?
The person who owns the laptop has said that if it solves the problem then to use the recovery discs that were made at the time of purchase to start fresh.

 

[cluberti]

It sounds like it's a software problem, but not a Windows one. And yes, those are the screenshots I would look to see.

 

[Tetramesh]

Hi cluberti.
Below are (hopefully) the screenshots you have asked to see.

 

[cluberti]

Almost (good screenshots otherwise) - you will need to run process monitor elevated (right-click, run as administrator) to get the data from the Image tab. This is likely the svchost that contains the event log (which could explain the WMI spikes if something is using the eventing APIs and scanning for information), but it would be beneficial to make sure. If so, I'll give you a command to get a dump of it once we're sure doing so won't crash the machine .

 

[Tetramesh]

Hi cluberti
Do you think it would solve all problems if I were to just restore the laptop to factory settings using Acer eRecovery Management? I tried installing SP1 for Windows 7 and a few other updates but they have all failed to install so I'm wondering if it might be better just to wipe everything.

 

[cluberti]

Depending on how much time you want to spend, yes, it would probably be easier to do that. Make sure you back up the user's data completely before doing so, of course.

 

[Tetramesh]

Depending on how much time you want to spend, yes, it would probably be easier to do that. Make sure you back up the user's data completely before doing so, of course.

I've already transferred all of his documents, emails and browser preferences onto an external hard drive so I'll get started on it. I'll let you know if the performance improves when I've finished.
Thank you very much for all the help you have given so far, it is appreciated.

 

[Tetramesh]

Just to let you know that I have restored the laptop to factory settings and after a bit of tidying up it is running smoothly.
Thank you very much for taking time to help with this matter.

 

[cluberti]

No problem, and glad to hear it is working. Hopefully whatever it was won't return.

 

[Pedja]

My wining card was disabling IP helper service. For some reason, it caused the high usage of my CPU. Once I've disabled it, my Windows works perfectly.

Note: It's safe to disable the service if you are NOT using IPv6 protocols.