High CPU usage

Hi,

I've got an Asus netbook, 1101hab, which runs a Z520 atom processor and 1GB of PC2-6400 ram. The processor evidently is a power-efficient version of the N270, and runs at 1.33ghz rather than 1.6.

The problem is that doing anything on the machine cause the cpu to rocket. Watching a small video on an unremarkable webpage in Chrome pushes the high 70% range or more. Opera is even worse.

I had MSE running, but that would typically run 50% by itself when something was going on, so I uninstalled it.

The fan is often running above normal, yet the core temp rarely exceeds 35C, which is nothing.

This is a fresh install of XP home, sp3, fully updated. It has been thoroughly scanned with MSE. I know how to tune machines, and have frugally parsed all the autoruns. I have watched carefully with Process Explorer, and found nothing.

That is why I am posting under Hardware. The disk drive tests relatively fast (53/18.5), and has been fragmented and optimized. I have switched out the RAM, with little or no difference.

So I'm wondering if this means a bad cpu or chipset. I can't think of anything else. The BIOS offers several levels of overclocking, from 5% to I think 30%. I have tried 5, 10 and I think 15, with no difference.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

I had the same problem with my Acer D250. The problem turned out to be XP.
Swap to Windows 7 and that should sort the problem out (Well it did for me)

 

Consider also bumping up to the 2GB RAM maximum.

 

Good idea about the 2gb test, though it should work correctly with 1gb.

As for XP, I can believe there is a hardware problem that is exploiting XP. I've worked on any number of d250's running xp with no problem. But then you'll get one with a problem like this. I've also had great results with MSE in almost every case, but on one or two machines there was either a software or hardware conflict.

I was thinking today about a machine with mashed usb ports that caused it to run slowly. Once the ports were replaced the unit was fine. Similarly, it could be a short somewhere in a component or on the board. I think I need to start pulling components off to see if there's a difference.

Thanks.

 

Win7 has optimization algorithms that XP does not.