CPU Spikes - Can I find out what they are and how to stop them?

Hey MG,

I have narrowed my audio problem down - you can see the thread here for what I was working with: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=202448

What I have found out is the CPU was always doing these mini spikes and the only time i would notice them was during a movie - I was thinking the whole time it was an audio video thing when in reality it seems to be a software problem.

Basically I get these CPU spikes and that's when the audio and video would crackles and lag slightly. No video running the spikes still happened.

Is there a program or a way to figure out what is causing the CPU spike. I have attacked an image of the spikes and a Hijack this log which looks pretty gross (at least compared to what I had on my desktop).

I am using an HP Pavilion dv7-1038ca (laptop).

Thanks for the help guys!
Syn

 

have you looked in your task manager in the process tab and watched for which process is using your cp in this spiking manor.this will give you an idea of what program is responsible.

 

Update: I am actually estatic right now because I have pretty much narrowed it down!

I turned my Wireless card off via the button on my laptop. You can see the spikes are greatly reduced. I watched a full 15 minutes without any crackle or lag on my video!

So I guess this leaves the possibility of the network card malfunctioning or something that is using the internet like something checking for updates.

Anyway to minitor all internet activity in or out via a program or again the ability to see what program is causing the spike?

Thanks a ton,
syn

 

G'day synergy989
i use my firewall program comodo which gives me a list of which programs are using my internet both inbound and out.if you want a process manager to give details of what's running and when may i suggest anvir task manage free " http://majorgeeks.com/Anvir_Task_Manager_Free_d5892.html .this program can give a lot of valuable information about what's on and in use on your computer, good luck.

 

Thanks for the fast response!

I have a hard time figuring out what is out of place because they all look fine and bounce everywhere.

I have attached my system process for 3 spikes - I used a movie on Windows Media Player and everytime it spiked i took a screen.

I don't see much out of place except maybe desktop manager?

 

Yikes.

This is like using a square wheel on a car.

Use Performance Monitor.

http://blogs.msdn.com/securitytools/archive/2009/11/04/how-to-use-perfmon-in-windows-7.aspx

Keep in mind that you must let it run at least 60 seconds. The longer the better. Also, you WANT to cause the undesired behavior as much as possible so as to analyze it.

I've attached a screencap to give you an idea of the wealth of info.

 

I have to love how the tool is built in! I am running Vista but figured the tool was there and should work. I did a 60 second trail, I monitored the process time just like the blog suggested. I don't know what to do with the log file now (line graph).

Is there a way to see what caused the spike?

I am pretty sure I can see where the spikes are too.

Thanks again all - we're getting there!
Syn

 

Just take a screen shot of the graph and post it here.

 

I did a rerun and tested it for a few minutes.

I attached the sceen.

Anything else I should be doing/trying - maybe network drivers?

 

I'll pull out a Vista machine later, but there should be a breakdown of the top CPU hogging service, etc. like in my screenshot. The graph, is neat and all, but doesnt tell us anything we didn't already know

 

Yeah that is what I figured thanks for your help - look forward to your response

 

Alright. Its largely the same in Vista.

Screenshot attached. Pay special note to what I am displaying, and whats highlighted on the tree on the left.

 

I think I must be doing something wrong. Do I follow the steps in the blog to a T? First time I added %Processing Time, this time I added them all.

I was in the same view as you were I am pretty sure.

Same sort of deal is showing up, I can see how yours would be extremely helpful.

In the mean time I will look online to see if I can find some guides on perfmon

 

Ok so I found out how to get to the stage you have. I was using a manual set up rather than a template.

I used the template setup and have exactly what yours show. Now what exactly should I be looking in/for?

This is an overload of information. I can post screens or anything needed of the scan on demand.

Thanks for the help,
Syn

 

Well, look at the process taking the most cpu, for starters.

 

form what i see is that desktop window manager is the process that is perhaps responsible for the spikes.are you using the vista aero feature,if so try disabling it and see if this stops the spikes.

 

The poster already said the spikes stop when network access is turned off.

 

it was just a suggestion but he did say they were greatly reduced so it may be a combination of this and say an email checking program that is set to a higher priority.if he has his email client set to check for emails at certain intervals this could cause the lag in cpu.

 

Sorry I have been so MIA, right in the middle exams at the moment and i was trying everything I could to figure the problem out.

I looked at all the processes and I found that there was nothing really out of the ordinary. At least from what I could see. I then had an idea - if it was software trying to access the internet i figured it would spike with a network cable plugged in.

When the network cable is plugged in and the wireless card is OFF the spikes are no where to be seen and no lag.

Pretty much it has to do with my wireless card - how easy is it to replace the wireless card on an HP laptop or could this be a driver issue.

My wireless card is - Broadcom 4322AG 802.11a/b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi Adapter
Ethernet - Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.0)

Thanks again,
Syn

 

Perhaps you could try to follow the steps taken by Mark Russinovitch when he came across a similar problem?

 

Thanks for the link and input. i feel this is my problem for sure. I always thought in the back of my mind I went to the HP site with my laptop and downloaded updated drivers...Now that I think about it I only did it for my video and audio as I thought those were the problem.

I will definitely look into an updated driver...I feel kinda silly now haha.

Thanks again guys, your support has been appreciated so much!

Ill be back tomorrow with an update as I need to get back to studying!

Syn