WindowsXP / deferred procedure calls hog CPU

Discussion in 'Software' started by spitfire74, Nov 19, 2006.

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  1. spitfire74

    spitfire74 Private E-2

    Hi, I'm new here & would very much appreciate some help.

    I have a Windows XP SP2 Acer laptop that's suffering badly from CPU being hogged by 'deferred procedure calls'. That also have the undesirable effect of stopping the keyboard and touchpad from working (I'm posting this from safe mode - where issue is not present).

    I'd be delighted to go through everything I've tried so far to fix this, but before I do I wanted to make sure I was posting in the right forum.
    As it isn't a problem in safe mode but is in normal I'm assuming its a software problem, not hardware. Can anyone here help me please ?
    If so I'll post the full history of the problem. Thanks
     
  2. akhilles

    akhilles First Sergeant

    It's the right forum.

    Have you updated Windows & drivers?
     
  3. BCGray

    BCGray Guest

    Post away spitfire74 as akhilles said your in the right place for help, and Welcome to Major Geeks........I would assume you have gone to the "Task Manager" and found what program is the "Hog"........If you could post that, we could give you some suggestions..
     
  4. spitfire74

    spitfire74 Private E-2

    Sorry for the length of the following, but I’ve tried to give you all as much info as I can remember. I was hoping to find some people who like a challenging mystery….

    I have a year old Acer Aspire 3003 laptop with AMD Sempron processor. All worked without incident until 2 weeks ago. It has no extra graphics cards or sound cards, so no tricky cutting-edge driver clash issues. Its just used for home/office type applications, and the occasional bit of Civilisation 3. Nothing complex. I regularly download and update Windows Updates, keep the SP2 firewall on and use AVG scanning. The problems start like this......

    Overnight windows update downloaded, I think for IE7.
    On reboot next morning PC was unusable (keyboard and touchpad) except in safe mode. The windows update appeared to have failed as I still have IE 6.
    Later discovered a USB mouse will work in normal mode, but still no keyboard and touchpad.
    PC will not shut down if attempted from the start menu
    PC will eventually shut down if attempted from the task manager menu
    But before doing this I’m often, but not always, asked to end the ‘power meter’ program that is not responding - could the problem be here?
    I have not added any new hardware or software to the PC in a long time, or changed or updated drivers. Last addition was a printer, about 3 months before this problem began, which worked without incident.

    AVG 7 and Windows Defender databases updated and then full scans run, scans show no problems
    Task manager shows ‘system’ and ‘system idle’ processes using 60% of resources
    Download of process explorer from Microsoft website shows that within the ‘system idle’ process there area huge amount of deferred procedure calls taking up the CPU resource. I can’t see a way to work out what these are ?

    It seems to me that the PC is getting ‘stuck’ on something during windows start up that jams up the processor and stops everything working – fan comes on and hard-drive chugs away. Whatever it’s getting stuck on doesn’t seem to be used in safe mode, where everything loads fine.

    Tried going back to various system restore points from well before the trouble started, none are any use.

    Tried contacting Acer tech support, and they suggest backing up everything and then using the supplied restore disks to revert to factory settings. Eventually try this as nothing else works. I believe this process did format the C partition, but not the D which had a few files on that remained untouched.

    Reinstall windows XP OK. Do nothing except reconnect to internet, download and install and scan with AVG 7.5. So far so good, no problems at all. Create a system restore point just in case.
    Install Microsoft Office and register it. Again no problems. Have not put back on the PC any of my old backup material, so don’t think there is a problem in any of these files.

    Reboot and try to logon and the CPU hogging problems have returned again, as described above, lots of DPCs when I download and run process explorer again.

    Try going back to my immediate restore point after reinstalling windows, and the problem is still present, although it was not when I created the restore point.

    On two random occasions rebooting in normal after being in safe mode the problem has gone away, but on the next reboot into normal mode it returns.

    I’ve tried AVG 7.5, SpyBot search and destroy and the windows malicious software removal tool and none of these have found any problems.

    Any help very much appreciated, I’m going mad!
     
  5. BCGray

    BCGray Guest

    My first thought would be a RAM, corrupted DLL (but the reinstall should have nailed that)then possibly HD, have you gone into "Event viewer" and seen if anything is flagged.......Keep posting
     
  6. spitfire74

    spitfire74 Private E-2

    Hi,

    The event viewer shows the following errors when I start in safe mode (I post these because in safe mode everything is OK, so maybe one of these NOT happening is causing everything to work OK).
    From the system menu:

    source: DCOM
    DCOM got error "This service cannot be started in Safe Mode " attempting to start the service EventSystem with arguments "" in order to run the server:
    {1BE1F766-5536-11D1-B726-00C04FB926AF}

    source:Service Control Manager
    The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
    AmdK8
    Avg7Core
    Avg7RsW
    Avg7RsXP
    Fips

    What is 'Fips' I wonder - and what is DCOM for that matter? I have little knowledge I'm afraid.
    When I start up in normal mode, nothing comes up as an error in the system event log.

    Also, today when closing down in normal mode the program I was asked to stop because it wasn't responding was "system tray" rather than "power meter".

    I think something in the programs that load automatically onto the task bar is going wrong and delaying all of these being loaded. This leads to some DPCs that then clog up everything else. That's my theory, but I don't know how to investigate it. Any ideas how I might investigate this or remove these programs one by one to see if the problem goes away ?

    Thanks
     
  7. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    System Idle Process should be (when the computer is idle) using 90+ or your system resources. What this means, is that the system has 90+ % available resources for other services (apps).

    DPC = Deferred Procedure Call

    DCOM =
    So, if system idle process is only taking 60%, then what is hogging your system resources, is something else.
     
  8. spitfire74

    spitfire74 Private E-2

    Hi again, thanks for the replies.
    So if I read it right, the DPC aren't normal, but aren't necessarily what is causing the sluggish performance ?
    So, with this in mind, going back into normal mode and looking at the task manager, the 'system' process is taking up any CPU useage that DPC and idle aren't, but nothing else as far as I can see. But the 'system' does seem to be using something between 20 and 30 % all the time, which is too high I think?

    Do you know what I can use to investigate what the system process is doing? When I click on properties in the process explorer I can't seem to see anything useful, is it 'threads' maybe ?

    Also, I still like my idea on the taskbar programs, sometimes the networking icons load, sometimes not - when they do the wireless will show not connected even though it is, definitely not working properly. Is the problem in here somewhere?

    Any more ideas anyone. Thanks again for your time & help
     
  9. spitfire74

    spitfire74 Private E-2

    OK, partly to get this back to the top, but also to test out another idea on anyone who may read this.

    If I just reinstall windows XP again, run it for a few days and then it goes back to the CPU hogging, then it must be a hardware issue, right?
     
  10. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    Another thing to give a try:

    START, then RUN, then type in msconfig (press enter).
    Click the radial button "Selective Startup".
    Uncheck the box "Load Startup Items."
    Click the tab "Services".
    Check the box "Hide Microsoft services.".
    Press the button, "Disable All."
    Press, OK, Yes, to reboot.

    Does the same thing still happen?
     
  11. spitfire74

    spitfire74 Private E-2

    Thanks for the advice, but this didn't work either, problem is still there
     
  12. bigbazza

    bigbazza R.I.P. 14/12/2011 - Good Onya Geek

    Is it worth un-installing AVG ? Have you tried that?
    Run CCleaner afterwards and re-install AVG (see below)

    Get a new copy of AVG from MG at http://www.majorgeeks.com/download886.html
    and the most recent updates from http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4478.html

    Try running your system (disconnected from the NET and everything else) after uninstalling AVG and having run CCleaner, and before installing a new copy of AVG. Any difference? If all is OK, then re-install AVG. Still OK?

    Am I correct in that you are using Process Explorer? If so, clicking on CPU will show you what process is hogging your CPU. Is it DPC only? Is it something else? Bazza

    PS:
    Are you running an AMD processor? Have you any programs that will test that it is OK?
    Just a thought, but I cannot help with anything to do with AMD processors.

    Others, please step in. Baz
    ===

     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2006
  13. abri

    abri MajorGeek

    Don't go mad. Consider it a zen problem.

    When did you install AVG 7.5? Have you tried de-installing IE7?
    abri
     
  14. spitfire74

    spitfire74 Private E-2

    Thanks for the support, however I think I may have a breakthrough - see what you make of this.

    In normal mode when I use process explorer and investigate the system process properties and look at the threads I see that the thread

    ntkrnlpa.exe!ExQueueWorkItem+0xb2

    Is the one hogging the CPU. When I suspend this thread my PC behaves normally - although shutdown is still sluggish. As far as I can tell from my early googling this exe could be something to do with memory. So I checked mine in the control panel - should have done it earlier.The laptop has 512 MB of RAM, but in the system tab only 448 is showing.

    When I start in normal (not safe mode) under the memory count it says that PAE (Physical Address Extension) is in use. But this doesn't appear starting in safe mode. I think my problem is linked to PAE trying to access some broken memory in normal mode, and tying up the CPU doing it.

    Anyone have any ideas on how to proceed ?
    Should I post on the hardware forum ?
    Should I try and find a way to disable PAE in normal mode ?
    Laptop is out of warranty - should I open it up and see if any memory has become unseated from the motherboard ?
     
  15. spitfire74

    spitfire74 Private E-2

    back to the top - to see if anyone can help with my memory query - or should I go and post in the hardware forum ?
     
  16. bigbazza

    bigbazza R.I.P. 14/12/2011 - Good Onya Geek

    Can't help you with your major problem, but the difference between 512MB and 448MB of RAM is 64MB (doh) and that is probably taken / reserved by your graphics card.

    I wouldn't worry about this as there is probably not anything you can do about it.
    I certainly wouldn't open up your laptop.

    Are you actually using the program called Process Explorer? from
    http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4566

    This has a Description for nearly all running processes, amount of CPU % used, RAM used and Company name relative to the process.

    If so, this should better identify what that hog relates to.

    Excuse me if you are already using Process Explorer but I am not sure by reading your replies.

    Let us know if Process Explorer passes on more info on that hog. Bazza

    ===

     
  17. spitfire74

    spitfire74 Private E-2

    Hi bigbaz, thxs for your help

    Yes, I am running 'that' process explorer.

    The hog is the 'system' process, not system idle or explorer.exe or smss.exe or csrss.exe or winlogon.exe. If I right-click to 'properties' on the system process then select 'threads' tab I can see that what's hogging the CPU is a thread with the start address ntkrnlpa.exe!ExQueueWorkItem+0xb2. I can suspend this and then the computer behaves normally (although the connection tray doesn't load properly) It's as if the PC has a set menu of start up programs to run and when I suspend this it stops the rest being run..

    I think this is something to do with memory? Even after a full XP re-install the problem is still here, so I assume its hardware rather than software. Any idea how I can find our more about this process and what it does ?

    On the other hand, everything works in safe mode, why would this be ?

    Bazza or anyone else have any clues?
     
  18. abri

    abri MajorGeek

  19. bigbazza

    bigbazza R.I.P. 14/12/2011 - Good Onya Geek

    Thanks for the clarification.:) Looks like you've picked up a nasty as per Abri's link.:p

    A visit to the Malware forum Spyware specific Forum might be required.

    http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35


    or try running your Anti-Virus cleaning programs to get rid of the nasty. Bazza

    ===

     
  20. 12stringman

    12stringman Private E-2

    Up until 10 minutes ago, I was faced with a DPC problem as well. I run a home-assembled Intel 2 GHz desktop system that showed 28 to 30% CPU usage with no programs other than my AVG, Spyware Doctor and Comodo Firewall running. After running all day the DPC count was 75 million or more. I suspected a viral or spyware problem as I too could not identify the cause. I thought perhaps my USB inputs may be the problem and removed the one for my blood sugar monitor connection. BINGO. All is right with the world again. I thought perhaps this may be useful information for anyone with similar problems. I have been experiencing this CPU usage of 30% for more than a year so this was quite the revelation for me, and it was from checking out majorgeeks that I had the idea. I joined today to post this. Thanks.
     
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