cpu usage suddenly high and laptop running very hot

[brianjohnstone]

hi guys, firstly i'm new here however have always looked here for help with any issues and found what i have been after.

ok, so i'll jump right in.. I use my laptop to dj with 4 nights a week so as you can imagine it is very important to me and a vital part of my income.
a few weeks ago i had an issue where i had somehow picked up a virus and it forced me to do a complete format and reinstall of windows. however since then it has been running very hot and cpu usage has gone through the roof.

all drivers and bios are up-to date and the laptop is fully optimised for audio processing.

the specs are as follows:
hp g62 450sa
i3 2.27ghz
8gb ram
60gb ocz vertex ssd (with os on)
500gb 7200rpm hdd in drive bay (music only)

i have read that another complete reinstall may fix the problem, which i am prepared to do.. however onto the next problem, i left a cd walled in a club last week which had my recovery discs in it, when i went back the next week it was gone!!

has anyone got any ideas on how to get around or sort this, or is there anywhere that i can download a copy of the install discs. i have spoken with microsoft and they are willing to re-authorise my product key when i re-install.

sorry to ramble on, i appreciate its a big first post, but im pulling my hair out here.

thanks,

Brian.

 

[Alpha90]

Before i reinstall i would suggest trying a few things first.

At the bios level check to see if the fan controller is set to anything except high performance. If your DJing in the club then i doubt you would care or notice if a computer fan was whirling.
In Windows Check, your event log and performance monitor to see if there is a history of application / system errors and what program is using your CPU up respectfully.
If you have long periods of time when you are not on a network then what ever antivirus/ antispyware / software firewall you are using if any should be disabled after completely disconnecting from any network. That will save your CPU cycles for whatever audio programs you need.
Also the last thing i can tell you to try without examining your machine is to run msconfig and disable any none essential start up programs. (eg. adobe acrobat reader updater).
If none of the above help then you can either toy around with it some more if you have a decent understanding of windows or you can take it to a IT tech person.

 

[brianjohnstone]

hi, thanks, i have done absolutely everything there already, im just really confused as to why its doing this, the cpu used to idle at .5% and when running my mixing software would peak at 10-15% wheras now its idling at 15-25%

 

[Alpha90]

What type of virus did you have? It could be a bootsector virus that survived your repartition / reinstall

 

[brianjohnstone]

i have no idea, it did not let me see the report, sorry i should have said, avast told me that i had to restart once removed for changes to take place and view report, once i restarted it would not restart, restore, repair. i spoke to a tech and they told me that the only option was to do a complete reinstall, i formatted the hard drive and reinstalled. im not bad with a computer but im unsure what a boot sector virus is, and how do i check for one? i have since done a virus scan and it came back clean but i obviously dont know if there is something hidden.

 

[Alpha90]

If you are running avast try running a boot time scan and see if anything comes up. The easiest way to explain what a boot sector virus is it is basically a virus that attacks a reserved space of a hard drive that is used to load other programs such as the operating system.

 

[DavidE]

Have you looked in Task Manager Processes and sorted by CPU descending?
Make sure you click "Show processes from all users".
Does that show what process is using a lot of CPU?

As far as heat, make sure vents are not blocked with dust, etc. A can of compressed air is best for this.

If you do have to re-install here is a Tutorial you should look at. It even has a link and instructions how to get the OS install media.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

 

[brianjohnstone]

cheers for the input guys... i just finished a boot time scan and it did indeed find something left over... win32 pup-gen apparently a malicious trojan... i have honestly no idea how i picked it up but it is gone now... and the laptop is running silent and cool with cpu usage back to normal... so fingers crossed its 100% sorted.

 

[gregrocker]

Best to clean reinstall again after wiping the HD to clean the boot sector of any infected or corrupt code - the "Clean" command is sufficient: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Then follow these steps to get a perfect clean reinstall: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

 

[DavidE]

When you do have a clean system you should also create a backup image. Restoring an image is much easier/quicker than re-installing if you run into more problems later. And, all your installed programs will be restored, so you won't have to re-install them.

Here is one of the SF tutorials about this:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?filter

 

[brianjohnstone]

cheers again for the help guys, ive now done a full clean install and after lunch im going to make a complete clone of my os hard drive to keep in my gig bag, that way should anything ever go wrong, its a case of 6 screws and im back up and running.

 

[gregrocker]

Hi Brian - Congrats on the Clean Reinstall!

As it says in the Clean Reinstall tutorial the modern way to do that is to save a Win7 backup image externally so you can reimage your HD or its replacement in 20 minutes if Win7 becomes unbootable. Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

Keep a separate backup of data, or link data to libraries from another partition, so that it is current if forced to reimage due to Win7 becoming irreparable. You can automate this backup or simply drag the active User folders to external periodically. Backup User and System Files