CPU slows to a crawl

The past few days I have noticed that my keyboard and mouse become unresponsive at times.
This may last several minutes.
Then everything returns to normal and my keyboard and mouse again become responsive.
I began using Task Manager to discover which program is hogging my CPU.
What I discovered is not what I expected.
Instead of my CPU use maxing at 100% and thus making my mouse and kb unresponsive - what I discovered is that my CPU usage drops from (for example) 80% to 5% - and stays at 5% for a few minutes and then returns to normal.

I have never run into such behavior before and I am perplexed.

Does anyone have a clue as to what might be causing my CPU to crawl for minutes and then return to normal?
When CPU usage drops, it disconnects my internet downloads.

What is going on here?
I am running WINXP Pro - 1.5gb ram at 3.12 ghz.
I have plenty of disk space, have run anti-virus and adware programs.
This behavior began this past week - and I don't remember adding any new programs.
Thanks in advance.

WFC

 

You may want to run a process monitor utility to try to track down which processes are using up your resources. Check the Process Management section here at Major Geeks: http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads40.html and look for something suitable. You may also want to run the system file checker- click start, click run, type cmd and press enter. At the prompt type sfc /scannow and insert your Windows XP CD when prompted. Actually, it's probably a good idea to type sfc /purgecache before doing the sfc /scannow. The purgecache does exactly that: it cleans the system file checker cache therefore preventing any corrupted files or malware infected files from being re-written to your system. Anyway- try the process monitor, try the system file checker, and let us know what happens.... good luck!

hopperdave2000

 

Ctrl-Alt-Del will show the Windows Task Manager as you are aware,
Click on the Processes tab, then on the CPU heading.
You can then sort CPU usage into ascending, or descending order.
This will point out what is hogging your CPU.

I prefer Process Explorer.

​

​

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4566​

 

I am sorry if I was not clear enough in my question.
Thank you so far for a speedy response - but it does not address my question.

There is no program hogging my resources.
CPU usage drops to below 5%.
Hogging is when CPU usage stays at 100%.

I took a screen shot of task manager with the prolonged dips if there is a place to send it.

That is what is confusing me!

What would cause CPU usage to drop below 5% for a few minutes and then return to normal at about 80%?

I am looking for guidance in where to look for what type of problem this is - and what might cause my CPU to decide to take a break and crawl along at 5% for a time and then get back to work.

 

I'd still give Process Explorer a try, if I was you.
It can't do any harm and may help.
I'll be logging off soon (7am here) and will be back around 5am tomorrow. Bazza

 

Thank you - I ran SFC and I am now running Process Explorer.

When the CPU goes into 5% crawl mode, the mouse and kb are not usable so I can not access Process Explorer to see what is going on just as I could not access Task Manager to see what was going on.

I only have the record that Task Manager provides to discover what just happened - after the fact.

I am still looking for a framework to help me explore what might be causing my CPU to shift from 80% activity to 5% activity for a short time - with the effect of making my kb and mouse unresponsive and stopping internet downloads.

Any ideas as to what type of cause might be effecting this disruption?

 

I've never used Process Explorer but is there a setting that will allow it to be Always on Top? That would let you see what's happening (and is a lot better suggestion than the one I was going to give you which was: Do you know that you can use Alt - Tab to switch applications? but that's a dumb suggestion if you can't use the keyboard! )

 

Not sure if this will work, but load Process Explorer.
IMMEDIATELY maximise the screen and click TWICE on CPU.
That will sort CPU usage from maximum to minimum usage.
Hope this will work before your PC seizes. :cry

You should then be able to see the screen, at least, and work out where the CPU hog is. Let us know how you go.
Bazza

 

Have you looked a the event viewer logs for the time when the 'dip' occurred?

start>controlpanel>performance and maintenance>administrative tools>eventviewer

Your pc may be idle, waiting for something. On a network or printer or scanner response?


Studio T

 

Or Start--->Run,
Type in eventvwr.msc and <enter>, if studiot's method takes too long to do on your PC, and it freezes mid typing. :cry Bazza

 

Why do you have to take short cuts when you have all that space down there, Bazza?

Yes that works as well, isn't it wonderful of uncle Bill to confuse us with many ways to do everything in Windows?

Studio T

 

I don't use shortcuts. I use SlickRun.
http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/

Just type alpha abbreviations in the little box provided.:major :cool Some examples

myd for My Documents,
pix for c:\document and settings\barry\My Documents\My Pictures,
x for excel,
mg.xls gets me to my listing of Major Geeks threads,
IE gets me Internet Explorer, etc.

You get the idea.

Beats the hell out of every other method, IMO of course.
Using someone elses PC without SlickRun installed is a real PITA. Bazza

===