Re: 100% CPU usage & hardware interrupts.......2
 

Yes i did system restore 3 weeks ago as soon as this thing appeared again. The system restore was successful but it made no difference. Do you think that repair would fix it? & if so, why do you think folk do a full format when there is a repair option on the windows disk that come with PC's.

Other than that, have you ant more ideas?

Re: 100% CPU usage & hardware interrupts.......2
 

I don't know if the repair will correct your problem because I don't know what the problem is.

Many people, I believe, do a full format because they don't know the Repair option exists, or they don't know how to use it. Also, as far as I know, the Repair will not remove any malware, it will only fix and replace corrupted and missing Windows files.

I do have one other suggestion, but since I don't know a lot about it, I can only get you started, and then turn this over to one of our other members who is more familiar with it.

Please do the following:

Open the Event Viewer utility in your Administrative Tools control panel.

In the Event Viewer, look through the System and Application logs for entries flagged as Warning or Error; double-clicking on any of those entries will open a "details" window with more information about the error/warning. If you find any entries that seem to relate to program hangs/crashes or anything else related to the problems you're having, post the full and exact contents given in the detail windows.

Re: 100% CPU usage & hardware interrupts.......2
 

If yo udo ALT+CTRL+Del ,go to processes ,what one is using all the cpu

Re: 100% CPU usage & hardware interrupts.......2
 

Caperjack, surprise to see you pasted in the start of this thread! Is it because it's still continuing? Can't help it!

I opened a word doc, (doesn't matter what i go to, it can be anything & it's still 100% usage & painfully slow). I noticed smc.exe & svhost.exe were taking up a lot of usage. WINWORD.EXE went to 62 for about 10 seconds during the 45 seconds it took before the new word doc appeared fully.

I then did the same thing but this time looked at 'performance' instead of 'processes' & noticed cpu usage at 100% til the doc finally opened.

I've run spybot, cw shredder & adaware again & they congratulate me for having a clean machine. Did another full sysyem scan with nortons & it scans 150,000 files & folders & everything else on both partitions but finds absolutely nothing.

A format fixes the problem for approx 4 months but i'm gonna hang on another week & hope some bright person comes up with a solution.
Ta.

Re: 100% CPU usage & hardware interrupts.......2
 

I bumped into your old post just today because I had the same problem too. Well, surprisingly I managed to solve this. :mrgreen:

Windows process explorer said there are no active processes, but CPU usage was still at 100%. So I went to good old www.sysinternals.com and picked up their Process Explorer. It said no program is indeed active, but there was a quite active slot named 'Interrupts' (@80-100% all the time). In the old post someone suggested this is a hard drive related problem.

Rebooting or waiting over night didn't remove the problem and after trying everything from complete clean install to tweaking about every setting tweakable, I was about to boot the HDs out of my window. Luckily didn't.

The mainboard is has nForce3 250Gb chipset (same as you do?). The problem was with nVidia IDE driver. After installing the nVidia drivers the problem didn't occur right away but after the system had had time to heat up. (20 hours straight on) Solving the problem was just removing nVidia's IDE driver and using the standard from WinXP.

After the driver switch there were some slight problems with the 2 SATA drives which were fixed by just switching ports. From slots 1 and 2 to 1 and 3, since 1 and 2 are under the same controller and 3 and 4 are under another. It seemed like the system had lost control over power saving and shutted down the HD in port 2 randomly. In port 3 the problem didn't exist.

The IDE drive never caused trouble but as far as my system goes, nVidia's IDE SW drivers and SATA drives don't mix. Should they? :eek:

Might help too if you listed what your system has for mobo/chipset/cpu/mem/video card.

---
Note: I didn't really bother to read all the posts in this or the old post. This is a fresh shot in the dark, but nevertheless might give some clue.

Re: 100% CPU usage & hardware interrupts.......2
 

Anyway, if the Windows Task Manager can't show what's causing all the usage, That Sysinternals' Process Explorer will. If there is a program causing all the slowness, it will be shown. My guess is however, that all the usage percentage is on Interrupts, which would mean that there is some conflict with hardware or drivers that's pretty much turning your computer into scrap.

If the problem isn't with the hard disk, it is still probably related to drivers. If it was a pure hardware conflict, it's quite odd that the problem disappears with clean install.

My finger points at your chipset drivers. :) The newest aren't always the best. If the Windows' own driver won't do the trick, could be a good idea to check the motherboard's own homepage for drivers.

Re: 100% CPU usage & hardware interrupts.......2
 

Thanks, i will try that link & see what happens. The rest of it is beyond me, i don't even know if i've got that nVidia IDE driver, what do i do to find out?

The problem is, as the P.C. info tells me, is 'hardware interrupts' & i can only get rid of the problem with a clean installation/format. Yet, the same problem with it's usual several symptoms comes back after 3 to 4 months, SUDDENLY. The P.C. users tend to keep a check on what they did or which sites they visited or what new programs were installed the previous day (when it was then 100% OK, & there doesn't seem to be anything that has caused it.

If i had to have an un-educated guess at what causes the problem, well here goes, tell me what you think of THIS!

I occasionally go onto a certain chat site & usually cause a bit of a 'stir', (just in fun of course), but there are certain folk in the chat rooms who get their mate to hack into this computer. The other day someone turned the NORTONS auto protect & email scanning OFF. I quickly exited from the internet in 1 second & did scans with Nortons, Spybot, CW shredder, adaware & scanned the registry but ther was nothing there. Also, Hijack this did not pick anything up. I went to a site that scans for trojans & open ports, security risks & it did not come up with anything.

Soz about all this, but it does happen with these chat sites, they can cause problems with your PC, one guy even wrote my password in a live post in the chatroom about 6 months ago, it's amazing to me how they can do it, why they do it, & how to prevent it happening. I've got up to date virus definitions, anti-virus program & a firewall...........some good they are doing!

I'll have a go with that link you gave me & get back to you, if no joy, i'll do a fresh format etc. Do you thing it would be worthwhile buying another hard drive? Yet, after saying that, the PC/ hard drive & everything is just completely brilliant for a few months after redoing it all. I'm confused.

Cheers Maggoth

Re: 100% CPU usage & hardware interrupts.......2
 

You probably have 'nVidia drivers' in your Add/Remove Programs list. Uninstall the IDE driver, leave the rest. Which chipset does your motherboard have?

Personally, I've never trusted Norton Av/Fw. I had the version 2004 and it tended to shut down on itself sometimes. Whether it was a program error or caused by someone, I don't know. Didn't have any problems that I could see though afterwards.

This could actually mean switching to another firewall... Kerio or such... And how well do you know your firewall settings? Norton's easy to use interface is in my opinion a security threat and will backfire sooner or later. And those web chat rooms tend to have security issues because they often require running active content... certain chat rooms? There is a certain chat room that causes the problem after a good 'stir'? :) If you think there is a connection, would suggest not going there. :mrgreen:

I don't think buying a new hard drive will do any good unless there are strict symptoms of a retiring HD. Windows crashing and giving errors too often. Plain slugginess is not really enough. How much free space do you have on your HD by the way?

Also, these programs you listed, Spybot for example isn't the most effective spyware tool. Try Spy sweeper instead. It's not free but you can use it on trial base for a while. Read some review that praised it golden.

And one another program that I personally recommend is Windows Crap Cleaner. And which browser do you use?

Does your computer boot normally until the windows asks to choose a profile?

Re: 100% CPU usage & hardware interrupts.......2
 

Hi, this PROGRAM will show you what chipset your board has

Re: 100% CPU usage & hardware interrupts.......2
 

Thanks all. I'll get back in about 5 days. Got a lot of 'newish' things to sort out. Will go through it all & send as much info as possible.

Ta.