Constant CPU usage 25-50%

Hello,

I thought I might have malware, but I didn't and was referred here from the Malware Removal Forum (http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=262752)

Problem
My CPU seems to be working really hard, sitting at 23-25% when I have no programs open and I'm not doing anything, and it jumps to 30-50% when I simply open Google Chrome. The air from the fan feels quite hot and stays that way, even when using "balanced" or "power saver" power plans.

I am not exactly sure when this started, I'm thinking in the past couple of weeks. I just sort of noticed the fan being hot, and I keep Windows Task Manager minimized to the tray at all times, and I noticed it was/is steadily glowing a more brightly than usual. I started looking at my processes, but nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

When I'm not doing anything, I see that dropbox.exe is using the "most" memory at 45MB, which is about the same on all my computers that run it, so that seems normal. When I end its process, there's negligible difference in the CPU percentage.

Other than this, my computer seems to be running normally. I can open all programs I typically use, and can browse the internet as usual. The computer does not even take a long time to startup or login. I guess this doesn't really sound like a "problem", but I know this is new, different behavior for my machine and it began quite recently.

I am running an Asus K52Jc Series Notebook, not quite 2 years old, here are it's basic specs:

• Windows 7 (64-bit)
• Intel Core i5 CPU
• 8GB RAM
• 500GB Hard drive

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Cheers,
Billy

 

Look near the bottom of the list of processes in task Manager and see what NT Kernal & System is using.

Does Dropbox.exe launch on startup?

From my experience that 23-25% on startup with no apps launched seems high. I've seen programs that grab CPU cycles and don't let go, so you might start by running msconfig from the run line and select the startup tab and see what you're set up to run on boot.

One at a time set them to not launch at startup and see if you get that number down a bit. As an example, I'm running 2 browsers now, an idle bit torrent client and my CPU is running 3-5%.

 

Thank you for the reply!

NT Kernel and System are running at 80K continually throughout all of this.

I disabled each item on the Startup tab, and that didn't have an effect on the CPU Usage.

Then, I did a Diagnostic Startup under the general tab, and the computer booted normally, and the CPU usage sat at 0-1%. When I re-enabled Normal Startup, the CPU Usage returned to 25-28%.

I feel like I'm nearing the source. What is the best way to proceed?

Thanks again,
Billy

 

Hmmm...

Try a Selective Startup. make sure Load System Services IS checked. then have a look at the startup tab. See if something there is causing it. You;ll have to do trial and error on this, one at a time deselecting items and rebooting...

 

When you look in the processes tab of task manager there is a column marked "CPU". Please can you click on this. This will sort the list so the highest usage always comes to the top. Please then post back the top 5 programs/processes which programs are using the CPU (including the windows idle process). You need to press the "show processes from all users" button or check the box with the same name in the lower left corner.

 

Hi Cipher,
I've just finished a Selective Startup, with only "Load system services" has a check. I went through each item on the Startup Tab, one at a time disabling and restarting each time. Now the General Tab only has a check next to "Load system services", and "Load startup items" is completely blank (as I was disabling items, this box was shaded blue, indicating that some, but not all, items were set to load). Even in this state, the CPU Usage spikes to 24%.

Hi Collinsl,
If I sort it descending by the CPU column, the top 5 do jump around a little bit, but they are:

1. System Idle Process (the value in the CPU column stays on 75)
2. wmpnetwk.exe (the value in the CPU column stays on 25)
3. ControlDeck.exe *32 (the value in the CPU column stays on 00)
4. UNS.exe *32 (the value in the CPU column stays on 00)
5. sppsvc.exe (the value in the CPU column stays on 00)

... ...

I think the culprit is wmpnetwk.exe.

I went back to msconfig and disabled it under the Services tab. After rebooting, all seems normal, with CPU Usage around 0-6%.

When I re-enable it via msconfig and reboot, the problem comes back (CPU Usage spikes).

I see the description of wmpnetwk.exe says "Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service". I don't ever intentionally use windows media player...

Can I repair this item so it behaves normally? Or is it ok to disable it completely?

Thank you both for your guidance that has gotten me to this point.

 

Have a read here:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...-problem/4f7b42d4-b68f-4b0a-916b-676adb7ffc5b

 

Thanks, Cipher--

When I attempt to stop it, I get this error:

Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion

I searched for that error online, and many posts say this error is resolved using .Net Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1.

I checked my installed programs, and I only have .Net Framework 4, so I found .Net Framework 1.1 and installed it to my machine and restarted, then found SP1 online and installed that too.

I returned to services.msc and tried to stop the service, but the same Error 1053 appears.

Any further ideas?

Thanks for getting me this far...
-Bill

 

Check this:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...o/7c477660-7c57-45f1-97f3-7f89b3289c56?auth=1

 

Download The SysInternals Process Explorer from microsoft.com. It gives you a lot more info as to what processes and their sub-processes that are running. Also you have to show all processes for all users, if you just use Task Manager.

As for msconfig, it is not something that you should do off the bat, it is a last resort when testing a machine for what could be causing a issue upon start up, not what is eating up the CPU.

25-50 can be just a small time frame that something is doing a background process. If it is more than say 15 min's, then you can start looking with Process Explorer to determine what is going on.

 

Bingo!

Culprit was the tags on a .wav file.

File was 3 seconds long, created in May, with a last modified date of 7/7.

I had to use CCleaner to remove it -- I added the whole folder to Include under Options.

Thanks again for all your help, I learned a lot along the way.

Later,
Billy

 

Glad we could be of assistance.

Don't forget to enable everything that you disabled!