Abnormal CPU usage, help please!

Hi guys, I'm new here.

I just got my dads old laptop, its a HP Pavilion dv5000 (I know, kinda old, but its better than no pc at all) and it was having some cpu problems, being too high while using regular programs like VLC, Iexplorer, Google Chrome, iTunes or any kind of media playing either be just audio or video (sound and image begins to flick constantly cos of the high cpu usage).

1st off, the computer works fine if I'm not using a web browser or not copying files. Only when I open Google chrome or IExplorer the CPU goes insanely high. I can play games like world of warcraft with no abnormal cpu usage, which surprises me cos WoW or any other game should consume more CPU than any of the programs listed there.

I have formatted the pc with a clean version of XP Pro with SP3, the computer seemed to work fine for a few days, but then it started behaving like this again.

Also, copying files makes the CPU usage up the top, and with large files my system simply blue screens after 2mins into copying.

Some people have told me its spyware or malware, but S&D and other programs of the likes did not find any harmful processes.

Im in dire need of help cos nothing seems to work =(

Anyway, here's my laptops specs, in case it helps.

AMD turion 64 mobile, Technology ML-34
1.58GHz, 896MB ram (I setted up a partition of just 2gb for virtual memory, paging file from 1024mb to 1900mb)
Windows XP Pro SP3

All the drivers are up to date (at least I think so, I downloaded all the newest updates from HP official site)

Thank you for reading this, any help would be appreciated.

Peace

 

If it is a fresh format and install it shouldn't be malware, unless you've dpne some unsafe things since the install.

With SP3, a real resource hog, many members here will tell you that you should have at least a gig of memory, but I don't think that's an absolute.

Follow the instruction here to clean it up.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=107991

Pay particular attention to your autorun programs, but use startupcpl to manage these.
http://majorgeeks.com/Startup_CPL_d619.html

I have found this to be the biggest single reason for sluggish computers. You should be able to reduce the autorun list to 4 or 5 items, easily.

Use cCleaner daily, keep your registry clean and your hard drive defragmented. I use AVG antivirus, custom install, only use the antivirus option and not the full security suite.

Good Luck!

 

Hey, thanks for the reply. I'll look into the links you gave me now.

And yes you are right, it's not an absolute cos my sister has a laptop that is lower spec than mine (P4 2.4ghz 512MB RAM lol) and its running the same OS than mine and I can use all those apps i mentioned without using 100% of her CPU. Just something about this PC I don't know what...

But I will take your advice into action and see where that takes me.

And again, thanks

EDIT - P.S. oh and what about the BSOD that occurs when I'm copying large files? When I start to copy, the CPU reaches full bar and then a couple of minutes later, i get a BSOD. This happens either from my external HDD to the laptop or a DVD to my laptop =(

 

Hi.

I did try all those advices, like ccleaner, defrag the registry, defrag the disks, install zone alarm and the spam stuff, S&D i already had.

I ran S&D and it only found 1 malware, i removed it but i still have CPU issues.

Funny fact though, if i turn off my internet and copy the large files, my PC still lags a lot and takes like an hour to copy 1.50GB file but it didnt bluescreen.

Anyway, if this helps, this was the error code from my bluescreens when i was trying to copy files with my net on

Stop: 0x000000C5 (0x00057E40, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0x80544632)

ty