Intermittent 100% CPU load, slow down, can't find the cause

[Megahertz07]

You did a lot of things. Lets do the basic
Open a CMD window and type
chkdsk c: /f
It will say the disk is in use and if you want to schedule to next start = yes
Reboot.
Pay attention on the results, specially bad blocks or bad clusters. Report.
Back to windows, open a CMD window and type
sfc /scannow
If it find issues, reboot and repeat 2 more times.

 

[Snick]

Yes you can! On the Dashboard turn off the four options on the right and also go through the settings and turn off anything related to the premium version. Anyway you've uninstalled it now but if you reinstall that would be the thing to do - then it's just an on-demand scanner.

UHH, I believe that I said that you can OPT OUT of premium trial during the installation process, and from the GUI if you wish. All it well!

hazel123 good suggestion on the malware tools!

 

[hazel123]

Sorry Only just working out the new Malwarebytes installs myself!

 

[pmhutch]

Megahertz07:

I followed your instructions (thank you),

chkdsk results attached. Sfc /scannow produced a message saying that it did not find any integrity violations.

Not sure what to try next...

As mentioned earlier, is it not strange that I can't see the CPU-hogging task at the top in Process Explorer or ProcessHacker when the CPU in Task Manager is showing 100% and everything has slowed down to a crawl?

Further suggestions welcome.

Thanks
Paul
Melbourne

 

[Snick]

Have you tried viewing running processes with
WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics

 

[Megahertz07]

Your disk is healthy and if System File Check didn't find any issues, Windows is also fine.
Did you check Task Scheduler to see what programs are loaded from it?

 

[pmhutch]

Attached is a screenshot of the scheduled tasks under 'Task Scheduler Library'. I'm not sure if this is the full list as the display window doesn't seem to have a way to scroll down

G2M is the GoToMeeting conferencing client.

I guess I could try disabling some of these scheduled tasks, but I am wondering what happens about getting essential updates to the various applications.

If I expand the Microsoft > Windows folders there are many scheduled Microsoft tasks. I have disabled some relating to Customer Experience Program (as per attached instructions) but I have no idea which others should (safely) be disabled.

I can't help feeling that there must be some tool which will tell me the task(s) or process(es) which are hogging the CPU so that I can target effectively, rather than disabling things more-or-less at random and hoping for the best.

There was the suggestion to use WinDirStat to find out more. I've installed this program, but it seems to be more about disc activity diagnosis rather than CPU. As mentioned in an earlier post, ProcessExplorer and ProcessHacker don't seem to show the cause :-(

Any thoughts on other diagnostic tools, or other steps to take, would be welcome.

Thanks
Paul

 

[pmhutch]

Further observation: when the CPU load jumps to 100%, usually the fan also speeds up instantly.

Just a thought: could this be a problem with the BIOS? (Seems unlikely as the computer has been OK for years and I don't think that the BIOS is prone to getting corrupted... But the investigations into Windows problems don't seem to be leading anywhere.)

 

[Megahertz07]

When the CPU goes to 100% it generates much more heat and then the fan speeds up to keep it cool. That is how it should be.
There are update tasks that are scheduled to do run many times a day. Set to run once a week.
Try to Disable all them to see what happens (open the task - Trigger tab - double click on the trigger and on the bottom there is a Enable box- un mark it

Please attach the images directly to the post. Use the paper clip- browse to the image file - upload

 

[pmhutch]

To clarify, please: Are you talking about disabling all the Windows scheduled tasks? There are many of them (see attached image) and it will take a while to go through them and disable them all.

Also, I'm concerned that I may 'break' Windows and make the machine unusable if I disable too much that is core to the operation of the system.

In my thinking, I keep coming back to the concern that I haven't really diagnosed the problem in that the CPU jumps to 100% but ProcessExplorer and ProcessHacker do not show the task or process that is occupying the CPU. Isn't this a bit unusual - and is there some other diagnostic tool that will show what the CPU is so busy with?

Thanks

 

[pmhutch]

By the way, I have disabled all the non-Microsoft scheduled tasks in the Task Scheduler Library (see screen shot).

 

[pmhutch]

Just to add to something I mentioned in an earlier post:

The problem of 100% CPU often seems to be related to a legitimate task than suddenly starts receiving too much CPU time.

For example, earlier this evening I was running Chrome with ProcessExporeer and Windows Task Manager (Performance tab) running on another screen. Suddenly the CPU load went up to 100% in Win Task Manager and the CPU figure for Chrome in Process Explorer went shooting up to a high figure - one of the many Chrome Processes was at the top of the list. The machine slowed down, juddering cursor movement etc.

I went to the Processes Tab in Win Task manager and aborted all the Chrome processes and the CPU load then dropped down to a low figure - under 10%.

This happened to occur with Chrome this time, but I am pretty sure that I have seen it occur with other tasks or processes suddenly getting (or taking) an excessive amount of CPU resources when Chrome is not running. In other words, I don't think it is a problem with Chrome (though I am aware that it is a resource hog in normal use).

Something in Windows' system management seems to be sporadically boosting the CPu allocation to a running task or process, to the detriment of everything else - so I'm not sure that the problem is due to a rogue program or scheduled task (e.g. a program updater).

I'm a bit of a novice at this so I stand to be corrected - and any further help will be greatly appreciated as this problem is driving me a bit crazy.

Thanks
Paul

 

[Megahertz07]

I don't know why people like Chrome. It loads at startup, has high resources consumption and spy everything you do.

As you have disabled all tasks, chrome won't load at startup. Try to use another browser (even MS IE) to see if you get the issue.

 

[pmhutch]

It still happens even when I'm using Firefox and not Chrome.


Is there a disgnostic tool which is better than ProcessExplorer or ProcessHacker which will give insight into what the CPU is busy doing?

 

[Megahertz07]

Sorry, can't think anything else to do.

 

[Snick]

Have you tried viewing running processes with
WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics

 

[file3456]

It still happens even when I'm using Firefox and not Chrome.

But did you uninstall Chrome?

 

[file3456]

Have you tried viewing running processes with
WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics

I use WinDirStat and as far as I know you can't see running processes with it. You're far better off with something like Process Explorer or Process Hacker.

 

[file3456]

Have you tried viewing running processes with
WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics

Echo? You made this post twice now.


Intermittent 100% CPU load, slow down, can't find the cause

 

[file3456]

Can you please run Autoruns again and post the ARN file.