Laptop sudden slowdown - CPU high usage

[monosierra]

I have a five-month old notebook. It's powerful enough to render in 3DS Max and Rhino simultaneously and I have not encountered high CPU usage until today. During the day prior to the sudden slowdown, I had not installed any new programs or updates.

Specs:
Windows 7 Professional
16GB RAM
Intel Core i7-4900MQ CPU (2.8GHz)
1TB SATA HDD
Avast Antivirus and MS Security Essentials

I noticed that my computer had suddenly slowed down when Chrome and Rhino both started lagging. The Task Manage showed that Chrome's CPU usage had spiked to ~30%.

I suspected memory leakage but then noticed that system processes that hadn't consumed much CPU before were now using ~5 - 6% each. These include svchost, lsass, msmpeng, nissrv, sppsvc and others. It seems that every system process is now ramping up CPU usage.

I have taken the following steps:
1) Ran chkdsk. No errors with the hard drive.
2) System restored to prior to the last Windows 7 update on 28-July. The first System Restore was unsuccessful due to error 0xc0000022. The second try, from Safe Boot, was successful.
3) Ran Startup Repair. No problems found.
4) Uninstalled Avast Antivirus.
5) Ran clean boot.

Any advice on what to do? Its weird going from being able to render models to having Rhino take seconds to show up when switching windows. Thanks!

 

[MtnGoatXJ]

I have had RAM chip errors from power problems.
Try pulling out the different chips until the problem resolves.
Or swapping with known good chips.