Member Avatar for jazzbo

OK, OK, not just here, but right now at this moment I only have one open Explorer window open(DaniWeb). When I switch pages to launch a different thread here, the CPU will spike most times and then will settle back. There are NO other programs open right now. So what gives? OK, it is spiking right now as I write this. Hardware issue?

It will also spike many times when I switch between browser pages or programs opened. Sometimes it makes it brutally slow depending on how long it takes the CPU to stop spiking.

MORE INFO: Although there are no programs open, there are 55 processes running in task manager. I have no idea what most of these are for given their 5 or 6 letter designations. Is 55 a lot? IEExplore seems to be the heaviest user.

Machine is a Gateway P4 1.8Ghz about 5 years old. 2 512 RAM sticks. I run the various spyware removers (Adware, Spybot,) and run CleanUp to purge the registry every so often. PCCillin is my virus software. There is no virus or spyware on the machine. So why does it crawl along sometimes with the CPU spiking?

Motherboard going out?
RAM going out?
What makes a CPU spike when you are doing nothing (except typing this thread right now?)

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jermaghs07

Dani AI

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Quick expert note: spikes to 100% when you switch pages are far more commonly caused by software - browser add-ons/plugins (Flash/Java/toolbars), on-access antivirus/updater activity, or a driver that falls back to CPU rendering - than by an immediate motherboard/CPU failure. Hardware faults usually give persistent, reproducible errors (crashes, POST failures, corrupted files), not short bursts tied to browsing.

Reproduce and capture before changing things. Close other apps, open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), enable "Show processes from all users" if present, sort by CPU, then load the page and watch which process climbs. If iexplore.exe is the culprit, run IE with add-ons disabled (iexplore -extoff) and compare. For a deeper look use Process Explorer to sort threads by CPU and view the call stack so you can see the exact DLL/module (Flash, Java, a toolbar, etc.) that’s hot. If svchost.exe spikes, map services to that process with tasklist /svc or Process Explorer to find whether Windows Update, BITS, or a third-party updater is involved.

Safe, quick tests that often narrow the problem: disable unknown browser add-ons (Tools -> Manage Add-ons), clear the browser cache, temporarily pause real-time antivirus (only while testing), and turn off IE hardware acceleration in Advanced settings. Update chipset and video drivers - old drivers often force software rendering. Watch disk I/O and page-faults; heavy disk activity often means RAM is low or the hard drive is struggling.

If you still suspect hardware, run Memtest86+ from a bootable USB and check the drive’s SMART data; review Event Viewer for repeated errors. If the cause remains unclear, save a Process Explorer snapshot and post the top CPU-consuming module here — that usually points directly to the offending plugin, service, or driver. As noted the spikes happen with IE open; , and are right that older hardware makes the symptom worse, but targeted diagnosis almost always finds a software culprit.

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Member Avatar for sittas87

hey there
in normal state the spike is normal when open browsing etc programs. however when youre machine is on desktop idle'ing and it still spikes continually without actions then there might be something thats causing strange behaviour. also you have 1.8 Ghz cpu performance and 512 memory witch isnt alot so looks to me the fella is doing his best.
what you can do is check what part is actually absorbing cpu ussage and where its peaking most of the time.
I have a 2.6Ghz home pc behaves the same when opening winamp 5.2. so im still investigating what wrong there.
post me your results and we'll take it from there

Member Avatar for The New Normal

55 is too many processes for a 1.8GHz machine.

Try going START > RUN then type msconfig
Go to the startup tab and see if there's anything you recognise in there that you know you can stop starting up when you boot. Uncheck them (one or 2 at a time) then restart your computer.

Not a magic bullet, just something to give you a little boost.

Member Avatar for jermaghs07

everything sounds normal. i agree with the new normal 55 processes is a bit much for such an old machine. Iexplore.exe is Internet Explorer. are you using IE 7 or are you using an older version. i would try using an older version of IE or download Firefox. that should help keep the overhead down a little.

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