Hi,

I desperately need help to fix my computer since it's currently close to impossible to work with it.

I use a HP Pavilion DM3 (which i regret I ever bought) with a AMD Athlon Neo X2 1.60 GHz and 4 giggs of RAM. The machine is running Windows 7 64-bit Home premium.

My problem started with video and audio all of a sudden being very laggy even thou I had CPU capcity to spare. Then soon after that the CPU started showing 100% usage most of the time. Often even when the system was idle. Looking in process explorer the usage seems to come from random processes. Some times it's firefox using a lot some times it's some other application. Though most of the time the culprit is one of the instaces of svchost. Normally 10-20 instances of svchost is running parallel. Going deeper down the service that is normally eating the major part of the capacity is iphlp.

I have checked a lot of forums in my search for an answer to this problem and have disabled windows update, inactivated my HD audio card etc but nothing has helped. I'm therefore hoping that one of the readers of this forum will take pity on me and see if they can help me out.

I have followed the instructions in the virus-readme and attached all the logs below. I had no trouble running the specified applications but unfortunately the log from MBA-M is in my native tongue Swedish. However, MBA-M didn't find any malware anyway so it shouldn't matter. Since GMER One was empty I was not able to attach it and I had to change the extension of GMER Two to .txt but I'm guessing that it shouldn't matter.

I would be very gratefully if any of you would take the time to help me out!!

Thx in advance!

Dani AI

Generated

Brief diagnostic note referencing this thread: reported recurring 100% CPU spikes where svchost (often hosting the IP Helper service) shows up, and suggested a possible southbridge/timer hardware fault. The checklist below is ordered to separate software/driver causes from real hardware failure, and to produce concrete evidence to give HP if a warranty repair is needed.

Start with Windows isolation first. Boot into Safe Mode and/or perform a Clean Boot (disable non‑Microsoft services and startup items). If the problem disappears, it points at a driver or third‑party service. To map which service inside a busy svchost is responsible, run this and inspect results, or use Process Explorer and view a process’ Threads → sort by CPU → view Stack to see which module or driver is active:

tasklist /svc /fi "imagename eq svchost.exe"

If the IP Helper service (iphlpsvc) is implicated, try a controlled network-stack reset (run as Administrator) and then reboot. Stopping iphlpsvc briefly is a useful test, but it will disrupt networking:

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /flushdns
net stop iphlpsvc

Check Event Viewer (System/Application) for related errors at the spike times. Also look for virtual or tunnel adapters (VMware, VirtualBox, Hamachi) and uninstall or disable them — they sometimes cause looping in IP services.

If Windows tests are inconclusive, move to hardware diagnostics. Boot a Linux live USB (try any distro live image) and observe CPU behavior for a few hours; run memtest86+ from USB to check RAM; run the vendor’s built‑in hardware diagnostics. If the same CPU spikes occur under a clean live OS, that strongly indicates firmware/board hardware (southbridge/timer/interrupt) or a failing device. For driver interrupt/DPC problems, capture a trace with LatencyMon or the Windows Performance Toolkit to identify the offending driver.

Keep a short evidence pack for HP: timestamps, Process Explorer thread stacks, Event Viewer entries, memtest and live‑USB observations. If hardware is confirmed, that makes a stronger warranty case. Use caution updating BIOS—follow HP instructions if you get to that step.

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I came across this problem 2 days ago. The symptoms seem identical. It was a laptop and with some testing I found the southbridge on the laptop to be faulty. I suspect a faulty timer somewhere on the motherboard. I didn't find a cure.

Hi Rik,

Thx for your reply.

Is there any way for a layman like myself to test if I have the same fault in my southbridge? If I could confirm that's the problem I could give up on trying to fix it. It might even constitute a reason under the warranty for HP to give me a new machine.

Thx again!

The onlt way I was able to test the laptop was to remove it's built in keyboard and mouse pad and run it with USB one's instead. Something like that won't be so easy on your machine. Seeing as it's still under warranty, get HP to sort it!

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