CPU at 100% and nothing running

I posted a topic on the Hijack this forum thinking this problem may be caused by malware. After checking out a few things Catbyte indicated that is not the problem and referred me here. This is happening on a four year old Dell Inspiron 6000 with XP Pro SP3. The laptop has 1 GB RAM. It happens as soon as you boot up before you do anything. It's been doing this for many months - probably a year - maybe longer. The laptop is used mainly for internet surfing and has nothing much installed on it other than McAfee and MS Word and Excel and a couple printers. I've used IE and Firefox - happens with both. I thought it might have something to do with McAfee so I uninstalled and reinstalled that - no change. Once in a while it will run at normal CPU usage but most of the time it is just cranking away at 100% and you can hear it. Any ideas?


Hijack this thread

I would say that since you are still having the same symptoms that your computer isn't necessarily resolved. I strongly suggest that you contant the staff member who closed the thread and tell him that you are still have the same problem and that you would like for him to reopen the thread.

Your issues aren't Malware related.

You have alot of programs running at start-up that aren't needed and services that aren't needed.

Are you using AOL to connect to the web?

Are you still using:
Ad-Aware 2007
Webroot Spy Sweeper

Any reason you're using Bonjour Service

Okay - I don't use any of that junk - have never used AOL. But who knows what DH has been doing. How do I get rid of all this stuff? I've uninstalled everything I could find that we don't use.

Have you tried starting in Safe Mode?

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm#02

If so is it the same?

…sorry I just saw you tried this…

Have you tried using MSCONFIG?


.

If not go to start > Run… > msconfig

Go to Startup

Choose "Deselect All" then reboot.


Monitor your CPU Usage now.

Do not go online as your AV is not running.

Just see if this makes a difference in your CPU usage.



.

My AV is running - I just had to disable it while I was running some of the malware stuff. I will see about the msconfig.

After doing the above It restarts and is immediately running at 100%.

Are you seeing this via the Task Manager?


Are you familiar with creating an ISO CD/DVD?


The suggestion will be to create an Ubuntu CD/DVD and see if the issue persists.

http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

If it carries across multiple operating systems it is more than likely some bad hardware or hardware relationship.

Yes - seeing in task manager; no not familiar with ISO CD/DVD or ubuntu.

ok. Before we go there have you tried the Dell diagnostic test via F12? Reboot the computer and press F12 to bring up diagnostics. Run the basic tests offered.

The first tests all passed. Wasn't sure if I was supposed to do the "extended" test or not but I thought I'd do it and let it run as I am signing off for tonight.

Yeah… let it run… will take hours… sweet dreams. Let us know how it goes. If you are hearing sounds from your hard drive those tests will be most telling. Dell mostly uses Seagate/Maxtor drives so we can peruse that further if necessary.

All tests passed. The only thing I hear is the fan constantly running on high.

Are you sure it is the fan and not the hard drive you hear? Have you ever cleaned out the air vents? Do you notice the bottom getting very hot? Also as to the sound is it audible from power on or only when Windows starts? Before trying other things let's take one step back and see if, in XP's Task Manager, you can see a particular process which is using the CPU.