CPU Pegged at 100%

I have a WIN xp box that has the CPU pegged at 100% It is an off the shelf Compac Presario, 4 years old that has an Athalon 2.2 ghz chip. It has been to the shop to tweak, but came home about the same. As soon as I can start Task Manager to check the performance, it is already pegged at 100%. Stays that way till the pc is shut off.

Funny thing, last week I shut off the PC for two days, restarted it and the CPU was behaving as I would expect for only Firefox, Excel and Outlook running. Left it running for several days, had to restart it for an AVG update and it is continually pegged again.

There are a lot of forums, lots of suggestions. Not sure what to try.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Roger

 

Launch the Task Manager and look at the Processes tab and make a note of which process(es) are using the most of the resources. Then either end the processes (if you know what they are and they're safe to end) or post them here and we'll try to advise. Sometimes using a different process manager is easier and/or more clear than the Task Manager. Here's some good alternative process/task managers:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Anvir_Task_Manager_Free_d5892.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Atool_d5845.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Process_Explorer_d4566.html (a perennial favorite here at Major Geeks!)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Process_Hacker_d6102.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Process_Manager_d4770.html
There's so many other great apps, that this list could be much, MUCH longer. Check out the Major Geeks Process Management section for other programs.... good luck!

(you can also compare the resource-eating processes to the programs listed in the msconfig Startup tab and see if disabling the program(s) from the start up list helps; if you're running Norton or McAfee software, they are both FAMOUS for eating up system resources)

 

Here is what is running on Task Manager. See if something looks amiss.

AVG Free is what I am running for anti virus.

Thanks

 

Start up items attatched.

 

You say that your computers ressources are being used 100%, but do you have a particular program that's hogging everything? I agree with dlb, with all the programs at your disposal, you should have no problem tracking the source of the drain. Try to check what is draining your cpu, then at that point give us the name or print screen (Obviously while the problem occures) and we can work from there. I've heard of svchost.exe monopolizing the cpu for long periods of time searching for updates. Could be various programs updating, could be p2p software that's running, AV could be running a scan...but to last such a long period

 

I have been gone to the big city. I will try some of the downloads dlb mentioned to try to rum this down.

1430 was my last post, it is still pegged with 2 Word windows and Outlook and Firefox running.

 

Rum is great :yum and I'm sure it might help a bit...but I thought we were trying to fix your computer,lol

 

found something don't know what it means

Downloaded Process Explorer,included a screenshot. Loks like there are several svchosts running, one in particular has been hogging all CPU. Now to find out why.

 

It is Friday night here in Indiana!:-D

 

Forgot, If p2p is Peer to Peer, there is none on my machine.

 

Here you "hick!" go Rog, this should help with "hick!" your svchost trying to update. http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread75130.html

Boy! That Rum really packs a "hick!" punch. :drool
Good way to start off the weekend though,lol

Let us know how it turns out.

 

Read it

Too many things didn't add up. Windows update has shown no errors in the log. However there was a time, two weeks ago Windows update seemed like it hung at about 20%. I rebooted, manually updated ok.

After reading the post, I killed the svchost. Everything is still working. CPU is at 7%.

 

Terminating the process is just a temporary fix, finding an actuall remedy would be more appropriate. I'm guessing you deactivated the update process trough the services and applications window, or perhaps you just stopped windows update manager. With a little luck, once you reboot and re-activate the updates, windows will automaticaly fix itself...or perhaps the next windows update will fix the problem. I guess at this point you have to play the waiting game. :zzz

 

Looked further

Using Process Explorer, I found the offending Process...svchost.. to link back to a service "HP Network device" I have a printer hooked up to the router. I turned it off but it didn't change the cpu use. Service is HPSLPSVC.

Googling I go.

I did do some of the updates mentioned on the other post. I have SP3 and they must have been included.

Thanks

If you come up with any ideas, I am all ears.http://forums.majorgeeks.com/images/smilies/banghead.gif

 

Apparently, this a known issue with HP and the service HPSLPSVC. I found this at the HP support site:
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service...47626+1233975479356+28353475&threadId=1177917
I haven't read all of it, but I know it's aimed at Vista, but it should help with XP too. I'm still at work but I'll be home in about an hour or so and I'll do some research and we'll see what comes up

 

Solved

dlb, I did a search on HP***** and accidentally found an update for my printer that solved this. I have rebooted the system and Automatic updates are turned on, the printer prints and everything.

Time flies when you are having fun.

Thanks everyone.:wave