Computer Help! My cpu is pegged at 90+% use at idle ?

BTW; here is the link for Process Explorer if you want to add it to your toolkit..

Please provide processor make, model, speed, as well as installed memory size. HD size would also be helpful. Obviously, you have programs running in stealth mode.

Try to boot in SafeMode and see what memory stats it gives you.

Acer 1640z, Pentium M – Intel 1.70 ghz, 512 mb (more on the way), 80GB hd

And yes, it works great in safe mode, about 4 % or so at idle..

512MB RAM… that isn’t enough to fully load WinXP. Without loading anything else like antivirus protection, or running any applications, that soaks up a bit over 600MB right there. So right there, you are flogging your swap file.

According to this chart, your CPU is rather meager as well; only marginally above a netbook’s.

However, 95% is still a bit excessive… unless you have some other sort of anti-malware thing running a routine background scan. There have been times where Spybot S&D and/or Avira will start their thing and make my Acer Netbook bog hard. Spybot will hog 90%+ on it’s own for a few moments, and sometimes it does that at the same time that Avira is trying to update. My old desktop with a 3.4GHz P4HT (only marginally quicker than your CPU) and 2GB RAM gets a little sluggish at times due to the same thing while my laptop (1.3GHz SU4100 w/ 3GB RAM and Win7) doesn’t even hiccup.

So my recommendation is to always keep the manager open, sort by CPU usage, and catch it in the act; when it bogs, it won’t register teh command to call it up, so it needs to already be there. At a glance, I’d say you have the same issues I’ve run into, but I could be wrong.

When my acer started doing that I pulled up the task manager to see what was hogging the most cpu and it was the darn pre-installed Norton. I uninstalled it.

If hidden programs are running sometimes downloading and running “Hijack This” will help you identify what is running in the background. You have to look up the processes though because you can accidentally kill a vital process if you don’t know what you are deleting with it.

@BluRhino Doesn’t Process Explorer tell you where specifically the 95% is coming from? If it is system idle progress, then it’s meaningless. That line is usually whatever is leftover after all your programs take resources. For example, in process explorer right now I get the following process using CPU resources:

Google Chrome: 0.75
Visual Studio: 6.72
Various other dlls and background services: ~5%
System Idle Process: varying from 70 to 90%

One of the symptoms this unit has is the keyboard is extremely slow to respond; a key has to be pressed and held for about 10 sec before anything happens; works fine in safe mode. I believe there is some fresh hell in normal mode…(windows is such a beautiful incubation environment for this kind of stuff, eh?) so I have decided to nuke the site from orbit; its the only way to be sure….

So programmer dude is working at home writing code…
The wife comes up and says; “Will you go to the store and buy a loaf of bread? And if they have eggs, buy a dozen”
He: “Sure.”
He comes back with a dozen loaves of bread.
She: “wtf?”
He: “They had eggs.”

@BluRhino knowing that at SafeMode, your system runs at 4% tells me that you may have stealth program(s) running in Normal Mode. The keyboard response problem could be a result of the stealth program hogging the CPU resources to process your comamand. If you have performed most of the system scans and clean-ups, a clean install would leave you sighing with relief when you’re able to use it again in an acceptable manner.

Before you reformat the HD, if you don’t have the Drivers Disk, you can download the drivers for your system from the Acer website -> http://support.acer.com/us/en/drivers_download.aspx and burn them to a CD or save on a USB flashmemory. Make sure to back-up your files as well.

My suggestion is to re-format the HD and re-install WinXP-SP2 only.
Use one active Antivirus/antimalware software and keep the unnecessary apps from running in the background.

You can use MSCONFIG.exe to alter your Start-up process. (click on START-> RUN-> Open: msconfig.exe -> OK -> click on STARTUP tab -> uncheck unnecessary Startup Item/s)

Another trick would be to boost your Virtual Memory to a custom size of upto 4GB. Use this as a guide -> http://www.ehow.com/how_2282429_increase-virtual-memory-windows-xpincrease-virtual-memory-windows-xp.html

Thanks for all the advice everyone – I reformatted and reinstalled WinXP. With no programs, or even drivers, just a bare desktop, the cpu use was still 90%. I have asked Acer about it, and will have to wait to hear from them. I expect no really useful explanation, but I can still hope.

@BluRhino run MSINFO32.exe and see if it publishes the correct Total Physical Memory of 512MB. If not, try to reseat the RAM Memory chips.

List also the other stats if possible.

So it now seems that this is one of those possessed units that will not run windows in normal mode. The keyboard/ mouse, shutdown, nothing. Everything works great in safe mode. I do not get it at all. Acer will talk to me for 30 mins for $60. I think I will install Ubuntu. Screw Windows. (can you tell I’m a little frustrated?)

My Acer Aspire One loves Ubuntu!

However, with the wifi drivers loaded and the maintenance daemons, it rarely shows a load of <20% CPU, but at least I don’t have to worry about fragmentation or most forms of malware.

Just be sure to install the “Restricted Extras” so you can play certain formats like MP3. Licensing prevents them from including them automatically, and some people forget (or don’t know) to install them and wind up pissed off when they can’t play their media files.

Thanks for that tip. Is it possible to run MS Office, or will I have to go Open Office?

Open Office is easier (and pre-installed).

If you want/need MSO then you have to do some tweaking with WINE, but it is definitely doable.

However, considering my office suite needs (I just need something that works) and the decent compatibility of OO (can read/write all MS formats plus export to PDF), I just stick with OO. Besides, I sure as hell am not paying for MSO; if I ever need it then the person who generates that need can foot the bill :P

So, I installed Ubuntu 9.04, even got Wine and Office 03 installed and working (except Outlook) It was not that hard, and probably took less time overall than a windows install – and no hunting for drivers, either. It starts up and shuts down way faster than ever, too. THANKS everyone in the Linux community!!!! Great work!! —- Windows, Shmindows!
and thanks Flutherites for your help and suggestions.

Congratulations, and welcome to the wonderful world of Penguin Power :)