Explorer.exe taking up 20%+ cpu

[Chimera475]

computer specs
AMD A8-4500M APU with Radeon HS graphics
windows 7 64x 8gb of ram

I ive had this computer for about a week and already im running into this problem with explorer.exe. like the title says explorer is taking up most of my cpu.
when i use process monitor i says its reading a file called atiumd6a.cap and process monitor is riddled with it. so i was wonding if you guys could help me solve this problem.

 

[Night Hawk]

HiJack This won't help you much since this isn't any malware but an ATI driver issue for some reason pointed at with the ATI atiumd6a.cab not cap file. You are likely running into a display problem as well as seeing several system files missing or being reported as missing.

The first thing you can try right off would be a run of the System File Checker tool with the "sfc /scannow" command typed in...? Well if you can find the Run command line option right click in the corner where the Start screen pops up or open a command prompt.

For Windows 7 since you have 8 listed as your OS the Start>Run is right there for that. The WMP file missing as well as the others may be from an initial bad install of Windows unless the files pointed to are found to be present and only misreported by HJT.

 

[Chimera475]

sorry for the mistypes. and it is windows 7 i forgot to update it with my new laptop.. i will make sure my display drivers are updated. As far as the scan goes it did not find any missing files.

 

[Night Hawk]

That was cap not cab! My goof when finding the same file in the System32 folder. Reinstalling the same Catalyst version should clear that one up for you as far as the display file.

 

[Chimera475]

I dont mean to be a hassal but when i go to the amd site and use the auto detect feature it cant detect my gpu or OS so when i manually look for it im not sure i have the right driver. my gpu is AMD Radeon HD 7640G Discrete-Class

 

[Night Hawk]

The latest Cat. 12.6 is a beta version seen at AMD Catalyst

That covers the laptop you have there as well as two other Mobility Radeon gpu series.

Notebooks with AMD Accelerated Processors

• AMD Radeon HD 7660D (A10-4600)
• AMD Radeon HD 7640G (A8-4500M)
• AMD Radeon HD 7520G (A6-4400M)

The other page for the Mobility Radeon to pick and choose the OEM manufacturer from is seen at GPU-28041: Information on AMD Mobility Radeon Graphics Drivers for Microsoft Windows

The Mobility Radeon Driver Verification Tool is one to grab from AMD Catalyst

 

[Chimera475]

Thanks so much i will get back too and tell if the problem is resolved

 

[Chimera475]

THank you the problem is gone and explorer is abck to normal thanks for the supprot

 

[Night Hawk]

You're welcome! Otfen it turns out to be one simple thing like a missing driver out of a driver set or part of an app where the cpu is still being tasked to load it.

The explorer.exe file is the main executable for the desktop gui being caught up in it. Then you see the "explorer.exe not responding" type errors often enough.

Don't forget to go for the driver verification tool just the same in case you run into something like this again.

 

[Chimera475]

Sorry to say is happening again
I am using the verification tool right now will let you know how that goes.

 

[Chimera475]

I would like to say that the problem has "crawled back into its hole" for the time being. >.>

 

[Night Hawk]

Well at least the verification tool proved to be a help afterall. You may have to start looking at updating a few other things like the WiFi driver, etc. to keep it hiding in the hole once and for all!

With a fresh update going on well and seemingly solving the problem for you something else has to have brought it back up again. Been running any graphics intense games or media players since?

 

[Chimera475]

Of course i use the full potential of my laptop.(isnt sapposed to sound snobby lol when i read that line it does =) ) I mainly run music durning game play. Main games ive played before it happend was Spore on max graphics , League of Legends on full graphics, and minecraft. Also i have installed some more games on it.

 

[Night Hawk]

One program that can be help as far as getting everything updated as well as point out security risks would be the Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI) That will prompt you on everything it finds however that sees something new available.

Besides tightening security the updates for various things can also help any system run smoother as well. With the cpu being tasked on and off getting a little stormy at times you might want to "batten down the hatches" a little to see if this will clear things up for you.

When looking at how much the quad core sees here the max so far with a good load comes in about 30% with a particular Steam title that saw that. The explorer.exe errors seen here recently started appearing due to the need for an overdue clean install of Windows. Between any possible registry errors and fragmented files you can run into the same thing at times.

 

[Chimera475]

Alright i will use it to find the updates hopefully for now this problem is long gone but we shall see within the week if it has returned. Thansk again for your time in resolving this matter

 

[Night Hawk]

The PSI is a highly rated program and does a good job. That should be a help but let's hope it can be a solution for you as well.

 

[Chimera475]

Alright Same problem still. It happens after id say about 4-5 hours after startup. All i have done in this period is play Leauge of Legends and use internet explorer. it does then normal rereading that one file i checked it this time and this is what i have it reading now

A simple restart fixes this problem for the time being but this icon is next to the shutdown button

 

[Night Hawk]

That icon needs to be looked into since it could be pointing at the need for an update or something else like a hardware problem. The 58% mark is far too high to start with. Sounds like something is hanging on you once you start running the League of Legends game by tying up IE!

I think you find a hidden process is the culprit behind all of this however. You should note what new ones are seen once the game has been run and still remain running once the game is exited.

You might want a good security sweep while you are at just in the site there placed something else on your machine you were unaware of!

 

[Chimera475]

That icon needs to be looked into since it could be pointing at the need for an update or something else like a hardware problem. The 58% mark is far too high to start with. Sounds like something is hanging on you once you start running the League of Legends game by tying up IE!

I dont get this part. What else should i do besides run my antivirus

 

[Night Hawk]

The list of items seen when idle would need to be compared one by one to those seen once you run the game for a bit. Once you end a gaming session you start the comparison to see what remains active. That will be what is tasking the cpu on you besides being in the gaming session itself.

There are a long list of security programs to choose from while having a good firewall running can help with any bogus unexplained processes that are not part of any program. A good look at the additional items the game installer may have put on would be another thing.

The av program here includes web filtering and intrusion prevention as well as seeing an effective firewall put inplace which keeps the crud away. The only other thing besides Windows and the av program requiring internet access would be for the present Steam account.

The problem there however while not ruling out any hidden malwares would simply suggest a hidden process left running. The item you highlighted points to an unspecified registry entry keeping something running in the background. The restart simply ends all processes and why that disappears while you still need to find out just what that is.