High Cpu Usage Even When Idle

[el matador]

I turn on my computer, i have no applications running but my CPU usage goes to 60%. I cant figure out what it is.
ive run virus scans, hit ctl-alt-del(only explorer and systray), removed duplicates from the ms config startup. I've tried everything. Still my cpu at idle is still at 60%. All i can say is that it might be that i reinstalled windows 98se. Does anyone know how the reinstall could have done this. there are definitely no programs running in the backround. I use lockdown millineum to make sure no unknown programs are running. I even disabled my network and soundcards in "system properties". I'm pretty good at knowing whats going on in my computer but i cant figure it out.

I know that win2000 has a little utility that can track all the processes running and the cpu usage of each process. Does anyone know if there is a utility like that for win98?????

oh, i use netstat live from analogx.com to measure my cpu and network usage.

please help anyone!!!!!!!

[galaxian]

Get a second opinion.

http://www.iarsn.com/index.html#/download.html

[el matador]

thanks for the tip! still, im having the problem. its driving me mad. i reinstalled windows (completely, delete partition create partition, format, install from scratch), removed all my hardware except my video card and still, my IDLE runs at at least 50%. I checked all my connections and everything is solid. i set my award bios to load the failsafe defaults. i dont know whats goin on.

athlon 1 gig mhz
ecs kzvza motherboard
256 megs of ram
guillemot voodoo banshee pci video card.
netgear etherfast fa310fx netcard
diamonmax 46 hard drive (maxtor)
cd rom
nothing else installed!!!

throw me a bone someone, help!!

[galaxian]

When you run Taskinfo, which process is the one taking all the CPU?

[el matador]

I opened up taskinfo and the only process that seems to be taking up anything is the Idle which is at 95.45% and varying a little. but i think that is normal. the screenshot from the taskinfo website shows the same thing. everything else barely goes to even one percent. and whats pretty wierd is that the cpu monitor graph stays at 60%, when i move the mouse around ( no clicking or anything) the graph drops to about 2% while i move the mouse, then it goes back up to 60%.

[morriswindgate]

The big Question is,"Does the computer run OK?" This is just one of the wonders of Microsoft's built in features that tell you nothing of any use, like the system monitor.
If you open up the task manager on a computer running WIN2K the cpu usage will jump to 100% then to zero.
I wouldn't worry about it.

[el matador]

damn thats alot of harddrives!!!

i know what u mean but the only reason i decided to check the cpu usage was because my digidesign protools digi001(audio recording software) which has been performing flawlessly, froze totaly one day(complete lock). that is not allowable for audio recording. freezes are a sign of a cpu maxing out so thats when i checked netstatlive and saw the cpu running at 40 to 80 percent when idle.

Here is something new though. netstat live and another cpu monitor show my cpu at 80% right now but taskinfo2000 is showing my cpu percentage at 6.14 on the left pane under sytem. am i reading that right? which am i supposed to believe? what else to u guys use to mesure cpu usage?

is this an ATHLON thing?

[morriswindgate]

So let's get this straight, when you use Pro-Tools and then close it the CPU usage stays at a high level, but CTRL-ALT-DEL does not show anything running that should not be running.
Have you went into running tasks, (Start>Programs>Accessories>Software Enviroment>Running Tasks) to see if the program is not closing all the way and leaving part of itself loaded. (I will also tell you that a friend of mine installed the DEMO Version of this program, and it would regularly lock-up. In his case I believe it was because he had other studio programs on the computer such as cakewalk, cubase, and fruityloops.)
Also do you happen to be using a Soundblaster Live series sound card, as they seem to like to cause problems. I remember a longtime back when I had a Soundblaster Live (Before I learned better) that when playing games like DOOMII or Heretic, that sometimes when you would close the game the soundtrack would continue to play whatever note it was playing when the game closed or would not allow any other application to play throught the sound card. And something makes me feel that this is a Soundblaster Problem (or sound card problem)

[galaxian]

If you run SYSMON, what does it show?
If the cpu is high there, it "could" be due to a bug, that is documented on the MS site, but I currently can't find. If the other software apps (and not Taskinfo)use similar procedure calls, they too will have the same problem.

BTW, never run multiple monitors at the same time. They are all attemting to read the same performance info at the same time, and can give unreliable results.

[el matador]

I THINK I GOT IT!!!

it might be my harddrive. i got a testing utility from maxtor and it gave me an error code that requires disk replacement. i also used pcpitstop.com (highly recommended) to run tests on my computer and it said my c: had unusually low performance. my uncached speed was 1.81mb/s when it should have been around 3.82mb/s.

i can see how that can cause my cpu to go up when i am using the drive but not sure how that could affect it when the cpu is idle. anyway i have to return the drive under maxtors "no quibble" return policy and see what happens. i hope its it cuz i am wasting time while i wait!!

you guys should really try pcpitstop.com. it checks ALL of your pc, from virus to cylinder heads for free!!!. u can have it save your pc's test to compare it to another day's test. all free.

Galaxian: i havent been able to run sysmon. are you on win2000 or somethning? i dont think i have a sysmon on my 98se.

MORRISWINDGATE: right now i dont even have protools installed. I reinstalled completely. ctl-alt-del only shows explorer and systray. i have no programs except win98 and a few diagnostic utilities installed. i stripped my pc to just the harddrive, memory, and video card. no cd roms, network, soundcards, floppy drives. its pretty naked right now and the cpu is still shooting up to 80% percent.

i'm going to have to use another harddrive on another pc to see if the cpu still shoots up. if not the I will know its the harddrive.

thanks for the help guys!!! i will post when i get some results.

[galaxian]

Do Start > Run > SYSMON

[el matador]

NOOOOO!!!!!!

it turns out the problem was my operating system!!!!!

i got the replacement harddrive. installed the win 98se and same problem!!
to test if it was the motherboard or memory i installed another operating system on the same harddrive. win2000 ran fine with no idle problems. I got another harddrive from my other computer which has a good OS and it worked just fine.

My OS was origionally installed by my friend who copied to disk first and installed from the harddrive rather than the cdrom. he told me installing from the cdrom drive could cause problems. i didnt have the cpu idle problem till i had to reinstall windows which i did using the cdrom method. It has to be the OS, it cant be anything else. THIS IS F*#KING MADNESSS!!!!!!!

now i need to know how to install copying to disk first and installing from the harddrive. a whole week of my life has been wasted!! sad and lame.

anyway, im going to start a new thread on how to install from the harddrive cuz i dont know how.

galaxian: start>run>sysmon didnt work, probably from the bad install.

[glc]

No need to post a new thread - how to install from the hard drive has been addressed many times, just search the forum.

[crow]

Hey el matador----
I've got exactly the same problem you have on the system listed below.
Also tried it on a Gigabyte 7VTX with a 1.33 Athlon cpu. Also inter mixed
the MB's & CPU's. Had 3D Blaster tnt2 Ultra video card which I replaced
with a Radeon 7500 & still the same old HHS. Tried 2 diffrent HD's; a 20G & a 40g. I've run bare bones & with programs loaded.
Right now I've got a few programs loaded & some times it'll run up to 100%
CPU usage but no freeze like I've had in the past with Win98fe.
Would like to be able to help you out a little but I'm in over my head, money & knowledge wise.
Len

[el matador]

IM so mad so pissed, so tired, i cant even yell. I just found this link on microsoft's website. crow, this might be you too. http://support.microsoft.com/support...n_SRCH&SPR=W98

Its the exact symptoms that i have. Its just a bug in the 98se OS. there is nothing wrong according to microsoft, with my system. its just reporting wrong. MY system did operate very quickly even though the cpu usage was high. I dont know what the hell. Why does system monitor work just fine on 2 of my computers but not on this one????
PCpitstop still tells me though that my C: drive has unsusually slow performance. 1.84 uncached speed of mb/s when a similar system has about 3.84 MB/s performance. Even with my replacement drive.

I'm so sad so tired. I'm just moving on. thanks all for the help.