CPU permanently at 100%?

[Dan van Dan]

Hi .. I have a DELL Inspiron laptop, running Windows. The CPU has been stuck at 100% for a few days, leading to slow performance and very noisy running - sounds like a fan running at full.

I have recently run EWIDO - CCLEANER - SPYBOT - ADAWARE and have SYMANTIC ANTIVIRUS running.

I have performed a 'system reset' to a week before the problem started.

My knowledge is pretty limited and I do not want to start messing about with the technical side of my laptop without some sound advice.

Does anyone have any suggestions or tips?

Thanks.v.m..

[caperjack]

alt+ctrl+del
processes and look to see what is using the 100% ,make note of it . ,then highlite it and end task. unless it explorer.exe

[gerbil]

just for the heck of it, turn off automatic windows update via security centre in control panel. Temporarily, mind. But post again saying if it has an effect.

[Dan van Dan]

Thanks Gerbil and caperjack .. I haven't been able to answer for a while, but I have tried both of your suggestions. I have noticed that my CPU usage keeps jumping up and down, peaking and staying at 100% quite often, even if I only have a couple of windows running.

Everything is running really slowly (I have de-fragged and run a disk cleanup)

There is a is a sound, like an internal fan running on full, always on whilst the laptop is on..this is what made me first think that it was the CPU.

Any more ideas anyone?

Many thanks ..Dan..

[gerbil]

when the CPU runs at full steam it eats a lot of amps and gets hot, hence the fan at high speed. Now, i promise you we won't be getting the screwdrives n spanners out. Instead, open task manager and see which process is taking up the CPU time [ignore sys idle process..for our purposes it basically is just that - what the cpu does when nothing else is happening]. You could post it here and wait, or better still go to sysinternals site [which has been totally taken over by M$ now, but no matter.. yet..] http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx and download process explorer 1.5 ; unzip it to its own folder. Read the help file and that web page. Now start PE by dclicking the .exe. Go to View and tick Show Lower Pane, then expand Lower Pane View and select DLLs. Find that greedy process [it will have a higher CPU number, which jumps a bit as in task manager] in the left hand tree view [you may have to expand sections...], click on the process or "sub" process and you will get a list of .dlls it is using. Now the tedious bit - google any which are not owned by M$ or some other reputable company. And that's easy. Just lclick on any dll and you'll see where it is, rclick and you can check its properties... or open a google window of it. Wow! huh? Enough to keep you busy... Tell us what you find.

or you could merely, if u have a XP disc, go Start Run and type sfc /scannow and let it do its job for a long while.

[gerbil]

anyway, if you come back with the process that is using cpu time, someone may have an idea..... printer queue, bad drivers/software, virus.... plenty to choose from.

[Dan van Dan]

Thanks Gerbil .. you are a star. I will get right on it and post back when I know some more .. may be a day or so before I do though.

Dan