CPU at 100% and nothing running

It's the fan - during the diagnostics it went through high, medium and low fan test - about the only time it hasn't been running on high lately. The fan doesn't kick in until after it's booted up. I haven't cleaned the vents and it's not particularly hot on the bottom. It's always svchost that's hogging the CPU.

I'm now finding some solutions for svchost cpu100% when I google this - lots of people saying this fixed their problem. They're from 2007 though and are suggesting some microsoft patches - possibly problems with MS automatic updates. I do think this may have started at some point after I made sure automatic updates were on so I would stay current on security patches - after I had a problem with another computer. If I'm on SP3 and have been updating this laptop regularly since 2007 can I still try something like this - a solution that's over 2 years old?

Remove any and all external devices.

Are you still starting Windows under the MSCONFIG status of "All Disabled"?


Always a good idea to clear the vents with canned air.

svchost is a "service host" which is very generic.


XP may load perhaps 6 but other programs can add them as well. The MSCONFIG setting should block all other programs from loading.


Again if the above is no help we can try Ubuntu which would show if you have an issue in hardware or software.


The Ubuntu will require a PC with a burnable CD drive.

Another option would be to reinstall XP on the laptop which however would delete all your data.

Of course you can back this up before hand but just trying to offer the options I see at this point.


Let us know what you think.

I'm now finding some solutions for svchost cpu100% when I google this - lots of people saying this fixed their problem. They're from 2007 though and are suggesting some microsoft patches - possibly problems with MS automatic updates. I do think this may have started at some point after I made sure automatic updates were on so I would stay current on security patches - after I had a problem with another computer. If I'm on SP3 and have been updating this laptop regularly since 2007 can I still try something like this - a solution that's over 2 years old?

Can you link to what you found?

You can always uninstall SP3.

Okay- now I've found some additional info about XP Pro SP3 which is what I have. There are problems with MS automatic updates and some kind of patches needed. So for kicks I turned off Automatic Updates. Voila!! CPU is now 4%, 13%, etc. So - it's got something to do with that. I will gladly just run the updates manually until I can figure out what a more permanent fix is. UPDATE - well problem appeared to be fixed for awhile last night. When booted up this morning CPU at 100% again even with auto updates turned off. DRAT!! ANOTHER UPDATE - looked around a bit more and this time I disabled automatic updates in services.msc. Rebooted and still 100%. So I put everything back the way it was - automatic updates enabled and turned back on. Ran at 100% for maybe an hour or more - then suddenly it's dropped down to practically nothing again. We'll see how long this lasts. Some people seem to think they started having this problem after XP SP3 but there are also many, many other situations - most seem to have something to do with MS updates. It's enough to make me get a MacBook…… ANOTHER THING - I noticed that just now I got a msg that McAfee had just updated. This happened one other time - CPU usage was low right around the time McAfee was doing something. At that time I thought the problem had something to do with McAfee so I uninstalled and reinstalled but that didn't do anything.

It ran "normally" all day yesterday after the McAffee update. Booted up this morning and been at 100% since. Any other ideas?

Sorry for the delay.

I would see what happens when you uninstall SP3.

This can be done via the Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs

Make sure there is a check in the box: Show Updates

Then scroll down to Windows XP SP3 and choose Uninstall.


On a personal note I would also uninstall McAfee and use a more sensible and free AV such as Avast


Beyond both those issues Automatic Updates is notoriously difficult to shut down.

Obviously if you uninstall SP3 you will need to eliminate Automatic Updates for the time being.

There are settings found by right clicking My Computer then click Properties then Automatic Updates. Turn it off here.

There are also settings under Administrative Tools > Services > Automatic Updates. You need to set this to Disabled.

start Run… services.msc


You may also need to cleanup your installer service if you see wuauserv running in the Task Manager.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

this may not be the issue at all… but my cpu was running at 100% all the time like that as well for a couple months… i had cleared the vents fairly regularly… we recently moved and before i hooked up the computer at the new house we opened it up and blew out the fans… even tho i had tried to keep the vents open and dust free, the fans were still loaded with dust and dirt such… ever since we cleared all the dust from the inside of the machine, the cpu no longer runs 100% and the fans aren't running on overtime anymore either…. just a thought.

It does seem that whenever McAfee checks for updates the CPU usage drops. If I manually go in and initiate a check for updates it drops (though my fan is still running on high this time). I may try uninstalling McAfee and trying something else. Someone I know suggested AVG - is that a good one to use?

There are 3 main free AV's:

Avira

Avast

AVG


I have used all three (after leaving Norton and McAfee long ago) and still use all three on various machines.

All three offer both Free versions and Pay For versions so make sure you get the Free one and not a trial to buy.


AVG is getting larger in the sense that, unfortunately like Norton and McAfee, it is becoming more complex to the point where it might stress some systems unneccessarily.

Avast although free for personal use requires a simple registration via e-mail.

Avira will also simply request your e-mail but automatically registers you without the step of inserting a key. Avira unfortunately popsup an add to buy the full edition at every update untill you turn this off.

Avast will have an audio update message which you can also disable in the settings.


All three update everyday automatically.


Anyway I've gone with Avast and Avira over AVG.

I finally got around to uninstalling McAfee and installed Avira. That had no impact. I did some more searching and found a new potential cause of this on another discussion - related to HP printer software looking for updates. I do have an HP installed on this laptop so I completely uninstalled that. I have chronic problems with connectivity for this wireless printer and haven't used it in months so no loss there. It appears this MAY be the problem. CPU usage has dropped to practically nil. I've had other solutions appear to work only to have the problem reappear the next day so at this point I'll just say I'm cautiously optimistic. I'll report back if this solution sticks long term.

Just reporting back that uninstalling the HP printer software has definitely resolved this problem.