Hardware Interrupts & Dpc's, Cpu's High

Hi Guys,
My problem is that Hardware Interrupts & DPCs are using up 25 % of my CPUs as per (Sysinternals Process Explorer). Now here's the fun part, it only does this on my first boot up,she'll run 25 % usage all day long. But if I do a restart my CPU usage will go down to 0 or 1 % and will stay there till the cows come home.
In my Startups I only have 2,,, ESET and hpsysdrv nothing else or maybe there's is something hidden. I have checked all my drivers and there up to date also I have updated my BIOS. I have done diagnostics on my sound,video,network cards with no problems or conflicts. I/O IRQ's and Memory report OK Status,No Conflicts . My PC is clean and running very good,anyone have an idea.

PS: Nothing new has been installed.

HP 127c Desktop
Windows 7 Home Premium

Marlene

 

As a curent ESET/W7 user with no such problems, I'd guess at the HP software being at the root of this. It doesn't have the best rep., somewhere in the archives here there's a case where removing the HP software cured what had been a very sluggish machine that had a relatively high # of Handles open at boot (20+k, iirc - 5 days uptime here and I have sub-14k open).

 

I just disabled hpsysdrv.exe from startup and rebooted and had no effect on CPU usage. So I enabled it, something is using 25 % CPU's I'm still searching for it.

 

Look in Task Manager > Processes. And click Show processes from all users.

 

Solved,
I kept on looking on the internet and Windows 7 forum said to try this program called LatencyMon. It checks if a system running Windows is suitable for processing real-time audio and other tasks and a whole lot more. Well it pointed me in the direction of,,, 802.11n Wireless PCI Express Card LAN Adapter which I do not use, I'm on Comcast cable no router. I disabled it in Device Manager & also disabled it in Services and my CPU's went down to O.

Thank you all for your help everyone,
Marlene,
Hugs

 

I began having this problem constantly on one PC about 2 weeks ago. It is a W7 Pro 64 bit computer, and it was using exactly 25% of the processor same as you Marlene3369. I ended up turning off Windows updates, which seemed to work, so I have decided I will just check manually on that one PC.

It's depressing how unresponsive MS has been about the disappointing issues with Windows updates over the years. How hard is it to write a program that checks to see if updates are available and why would it ever require 25% of the processor at times when it's not even downloading or installing anything?

 

I should take a look at this and edit my rant maybe. Thanks for the information...

 

Nice work , LatMon was one of the tools I used on my old Acer Atom netbook, it was the Ethernet driver on that one, once disabled, no problem!

EDIT (mainly for AtlBo): DPCLat is another good tool to try: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

 

So - if I understand correctly - one uses LatencyMon to see what programs are using resources. (???) Then if you see a program, task, or operation that looks out of place you run it down and choose then what you want to do with the particular problem found?? Is that correct? If so I think I'll run it also to see what pops up.

Have you tried it yet and did it disclose anything about windows updates by chance?

 

Well, I turned on Windows updates, and lo and behold the processor is back up to 25% (35% counting Firefox), so I will try LatencyMon.

What should I be looking for?

 

LatMon and DPCLat are pretty specific tools, I've used them both more times than I can remember and I'm pretty sure they'd not be of any use with WU

They're useful for a quick checkup after updates, though. There are a couple of review sites that check specifically for driver/motherboard DPC latency, music/video content creators would be particularly interested in 'boards that have very low DPC.

EDIT:

I'd turn on TaskMan's CPU Kernel activity indicator to check the %, it might just be that WU is working hard behind the scenes, any kernel activity will run at a higher priority to user mode software, causing it to queue up and lag.

 

I have LatencyMon on, and I am looking at the drivers tab. I don't see anything unusual and I have a feeling that I wouldn't see anything as you mentioned satrow. I guess I was hoping that maybe some interaction between the network driver and MS Updates might be causing the problem.

It's strange, because this usage is literally stuck at 25% just like Marlene3369. I tried everything that I could think of when it started happening last week, and I couldn't come up with anything to stop the usage. svchost.exe is plastered to the top of the list in Task Manager at exactly 25%.

Could the svchost.exe problem be related to the long waits when it comes to checking Windows updates? I have read numerous times in various threads across the net of long waits when checking updates. WU must check automatically sometimes, so I wonder if those automatic checks are taking a ridiculous amount of time right now...

 

You're on W7 as well (I'm not, 'upgraded' to W10 this am)?

I've done a few upgrades/new installs of W7 in the last month or so, not enough to narrow down a quick workaround yet, I was randomly clicking around for the most part but I did run a few manual patches, I'll try to dig the list out.

 

satrow...

Yes, W7 Pro 64. Not sure what I am going to do about 10, yet. I will probably upgrade in a couple of months now that I have seen that it's possible to control updates.

Thanks again. I opened updates and it WAS checking, so I stepped away from the PC for an hour or so, and the updates check finished. The processor was calm, so that was apparently the issue for me.

I was just going to leave the updates off, and I really wasn't missing the pop ups... Anyway, that's why I didn't spend much time troubleshooting the issue...

 

Excellent, glad that's sorted for you!

I'm back from revisiting the last PC I moved up to W7, here's a list of the stuff I installed that I think made a difference, it's just one KB less than the upgrade made the previous week:

 

satrow...

Thanks. I take it these are improvements to the updates engine in W7? I'll look to see if I have them.

The Windows Update Agent installed automatically for you rather than via a download?

 

I think the WUA installed during the pre-install phase, whilst still in XP (I forgot to check the date/time on the files for W7 while I was there earlier). There was almost 24 hours of waiting before WU kicked in but failed on all updates, then I did the next 3 installs manually.

They were downloaded after much head scratching, log checking and searching, trying to find something that would break the spell. My guess is that MS made several 'silent' changes to WU since W10 went 'Gold', that's what I was trying to patch, to bring the OS to the point where it 'matched' something that would trigger the WU installs.

It's become ridiculously difficult to find out real info on any recent KB, MS give almost zero details now.

 

satrow...

I had the same failed updates problem on this PC. The initial updates were successful, but then the next batch all failed. I can't remember for anything what I did to get them started again. At least I feel now that I have the svchost.exe problem under control.

I totally agree with your assessment of Windows updates. I'm not as much of a student of Windows as you are, but I have noticed that information from Microsoft is hard to find. It seems to be the same complaint in every thread and multiple times when someone has trouble with updates...where is Microsoft on this issue?

Kind of amusing if not disappointing. I turned on updates tonight after turning them off last week, and I got an 8007042 error. As it is, I was able to determine that the Windows Module Installer had to be turned on. I don't know why turning on updates didn't turn on that service automatically. I know how people who depend on their PC must feel when this kind of thing happens over and over... Well, it's a complaint as old as Windows. Hope 10 has the kinks worked out.

Think I'll take a look around and see what everyone is having difficulties with in W10.

Apppreciate the assistance...