system cpu/io usage

chrysalis

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Something doesnt seem quite right with my system at the moment.

When idle even on fresh bootup with superfetch disabled the hdd light is flicking on and off and oso I checked resource monitor.

That shows a steady 15-50kB/sec writes ongoing for the system process.
Likewise in task manager 'system' is using 1-2% cpu usage steadily.

'system' seems a bit vague, is there a way to diagnose this more to narrow it down? or alternatively does anyone have a hunch what it may be.

thanks.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
home built
OS
windows 8.1 Pro x64
CPU
intel i5 4670k @ 4.3ghz
Motherboard
asus z87-plus
Memory
16 gig ram ddr3 @ 1600 corsair vengeance
Graphics Card(s)
evga 970 GTX 4 GIG FTW ACX 2.0
Sound Card
asus xonar D2X
Monitor(s) Displays
benq gw2765ht
Screen Resolution
2560x1440
Hard Drives
Samsung 850 pro SSD 512gig - boot device wooosh
WD black cavalier 640gig WD6401AALS
Seagate 500gig ST3500630AS
WD 2TB Green WDC20EARS
2 x WD Red 3TB WD30EFRX
Samsung 750gig HD753LG - on asmedia controller
PSU
coolermaster silent pro 600watt modular
Case
fractal define R4
Cooling
artic freezer i30, 3 case fans
Keyboard
microsoft business ps2 keyboard
Mouse
microsoft optical black mouse
Internet Speed
80/20 FTTC SkyBB
Antivirus
Nod32 AV v8, HitmanProAlert, SRP, System Hardening
Browser
Chrome x64
Other Info
Intel controller is in AHCI mode currently using IaSTOR 12.8.0.1016 drivers
I'm scratching my head a bit here...but why on Earth would you disable SuperFetch?
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
CPU
Intel Core i7-2600
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3P-B3
Memory
12 GB Patriot Extreme DDR3-1333
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia GTX 470
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell UltraSharp 2209WA
Hard Drives
OCZ Agility3 240 GB, WD5001AALS, WD7501AALS
PSU
OCZ ModStream 700W
Case
CoolerMaster HAF 912 Advanced
Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus
In all probability it's just Windows 7 carrying out its indexing procedure.

I'm also puzzled as to why you've disabled SuperFetch when its sole purpose is to speed things up for you.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP Pavilion Elite 495UK
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 870 @ 2.93GHz
Motherboard
MSI 2A9C (CPU1)
Memory
8Gb Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 664MHz
Graphics Card(s)
nVidia GeForce GTX 460 1024MB dedicated RAM
Sound Card
Realtek HD Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
HP2310i
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080
Hard Drives
1x1954GB Hitachi HDS22020ALA 330 (RAID), 1x1954GB Hitachi External for backup and storage
PSU
460W
Case
HP Elite
Cooling
Air cooled
Keyboard
Logitech K750 solar-powered keyboard
Mouse
Logitech Wireless M180 mouse
Internet Speed
2Mb
Other Info
Pure Avanti Flow Internet Radio with iPod Dock, 64Gb iPod, HP USB Speakers, Sony MDR-V500 Headphones, Sony Vaio F-Series Laptop
That shows a steady 15-50kB/sec writes ongoing for the system process.
Likewise in task manager 'system' is using 1-2% cpu usage steadily.

'system' seems a bit vague, is there a way to diagnose this more to narrow it down? or alternatively does anyone have a hunch what it may be.
In Task Manager, select the Performance tab, and then push the Resource Monitor button to open a second window.

On the second window you'll now see tabs for OVERVIEW, CPU, MEMORY, DISK and NETWORK. If you select any of these, you'll get a complete DETAILS presentation of what processes are using what resources. You can resize/maximize the window and spread the columns for better visibility, so that you can see everything.

You can also click repeatedly on the various column headings, to sort the rows presented into ascending or descending sequence based on the data values in that column.

You should easily be able to see what's doing what... who's reading/writing to disk, who's using low-level CPU amounts continuously, who's using memory, etc.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home-built, two systems (1) and (2)
OS
Windows 7 Pro x64 (1), Win7 Pro X64 (2)
CPU
i5-3350p 3.1Ghz/6MB-cache (1); E8400 3.0Ghz/6MB-cache (2)
Motherboard
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro (1); ASUS P5Q3 (2)
Memory
8GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1); 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 (2)
Graphics Card(s)
ATI HD7750 (1), (see TV cards); ATI R7 250 (2)
Sound Card
Realtek ALC892 HD Audio (1); Realtek ALC1200 HD Audio (2)
Monitor(s) Displays
Eizo HD2441W LCD, Eizo S2433W (1); Eizo 24" S2433W (2)
Screen Resolution
1920x1200, 1920x1200 (1); 1920x1200 (2)
Hard Drives
(1) 1TB SATA-II (7200RPM), 2x2TB SATA-III (7200RPM), 250GB SATA-III (10000RPM) for OS; 2x2TB external USB 3.0

(2) 320GB SATA-II (7200RPM), 750GB SATA-II (7200RPM), 150GB SATA-II (10000RPM) for OS; 2TB external USB 3.0
PSU
Nesteq ECS-6001 600W (1); Nesteq ECS-5001 500W (2)
Case
Acousti-Case 360 (1) and (2)
Cooling
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 for CPU, 2x120mm case fans (1) and (2)
Keyboard
IBM PS/2 (1) and (2)
Mouse
Logitech MX Revolution wireless (1); Microsoft wired (2)
Internet Speed
100mbps down / 10mbps up
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials; Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Pro
Browser
Firefox
Other Info
Ceton InfiniTV 4-tuner cablecard-enabled TV card as well as Hauppauge HVR-2250 OTA/ATSC 2-tuner TV card in (1), running under Win7 WMC
dsperber yep I did that, the process is simply called system.

to the others superfetch is disabled for diagnostic reasons, its obviously harder to tell whats going on with i/o if I have superfetch running in the background. It has its advantages and disadvantages and I dont want this thread to be a superfetch one please. For the same reason windows search is also disabled.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
home built
OS
windows 8.1 Pro x64
CPU
intel i5 4670k @ 4.3ghz
Motherboard
asus z87-plus
Memory
16 gig ram ddr3 @ 1600 corsair vengeance
Graphics Card(s)
evga 970 GTX 4 GIG FTW ACX 2.0
Sound Card
asus xonar D2X
Monitor(s) Displays
benq gw2765ht
Screen Resolution
2560x1440
Hard Drives
Samsung 850 pro SSD 512gig - boot device wooosh
WD black cavalier 640gig WD6401AALS
Seagate 500gig ST3500630AS
WD 2TB Green WDC20EARS
2 x WD Red 3TB WD30EFRX
Samsung 750gig HD753LG - on asmedia controller
PSU
coolermaster silent pro 600watt modular
Case
fractal define R4
Cooling
artic freezer i30, 3 case fans
Keyboard
microsoft business ps2 keyboard
Mouse
microsoft optical black mouse
Internet Speed
80/20 FTTC SkyBB
Antivirus
Nod32 AV v8, HitmanProAlert, SRP, System Hardening
Browser
Chrome x64
Other Info
Intel controller is in AHCI mode currently using IaSTOR 12.8.0.1016 drivers
superfetch is back on now I done diagnosing.

I disabled freenet6 and malwarebytes removed a suspicous file, since the reboot as far as cpu usage goes it looks back to normal, hovering 0-1% on bootup instead of 2-3% and with multiple IE, outlook, foobar, securecrt as well as few other apps loaded hovering between 0-3% whilst before with apps open I was nearly at 10%. hdd lght still flashing a lot but when I checked my spare rig that also has a flashing light although somewhat less regular. I checked with process monitor on the file activity and is lots of registry access, notably tcp settings been accessed in a loop and audio also looping.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
home built
OS
windows 8.1 Pro x64
CPU
intel i5 4670k @ 4.3ghz
Motherboard
asus z87-plus
Memory
16 gig ram ddr3 @ 1600 corsair vengeance
Graphics Card(s)
evga 970 GTX 4 GIG FTW ACX 2.0
Sound Card
asus xonar D2X
Monitor(s) Displays
benq gw2765ht
Screen Resolution
2560x1440
Hard Drives
Samsung 850 pro SSD 512gig - boot device wooosh
WD black cavalier 640gig WD6401AALS
Seagate 500gig ST3500630AS
WD 2TB Green WDC20EARS
2 x WD Red 3TB WD30EFRX
Samsung 750gig HD753LG - on asmedia controller
PSU
coolermaster silent pro 600watt modular
Case
fractal define R4
Cooling
artic freezer i30, 3 case fans
Keyboard
microsoft business ps2 keyboard
Mouse
microsoft optical black mouse
Internet Speed
80/20 FTTC SkyBB
Antivirus
Nod32 AV v8, HitmanProAlert, SRP, System Hardening
Browser
Chrome x64
Other Info
Intel controller is in AHCI mode currently using IaSTOR 12.8.0.1016 drivers
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