High CPU usage to "interrupts..." in PE

Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop, AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile, 1.87 GB RAM, 4.5 years old, running XP

I had a malware problem which I've been dealing with over here:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=64275

I first noticed this issue shortly after running one of the early steps in my malware removal (after running Gmer) but it's possible it was present before then. I think the first thing I noticed was the boot up time. When I reboot, it seemed to hang on the XP welcome screen, but finally got to the log in screen. I couldn't actually click to log in though for a minute or 2, and then… well, the whole boot up from start to finish was over 15 minutes.

The task manager showed that the idle process was 95-99 but CPU usage was at 40-50 (even 60). I downloaded Process Explorer which was showing that all that unaccounted for CPU usage was "Interrupts".

Jeff from the malware thread suggested it might be a driver problem and sent me here. So here I am

Hi kenny5277,
Welcome to WTT


As your PC is 4/5yrs. old, just in case you have a hard drive on it's way out, now might be a good time to make sure you have all personal data backed-up to a USB drive or disks (don't forget to Backup Outlook Express.).

Lets have look at what is running on your PC with this test {as you are running XP, ignore steps 2) and 3) below) -

PC Pitstop 'OVERDRIVE' for XP, Vista and W7

OverDrive is Fast, Comprehensive, and Free.
In just a few minutes, OverDrive creates an extensive report of your PC's performance, security, software, drivers, and more. In order to receive the full benefit and display the full Results of OverDrive, use Internet Explorer.

Note: Vista/Windows 7 users with UAC must first Right-click IE - Select "Run as Administrator"

1) Close all instances of Internet Explorer and any other open programs.
2) Click on Vista or W7 Start
3) Right-Click on Internet Explorer and choose "Run as Administrator"
This will give your machine full privilege to take advantage of all the features of PCPitstop's OverDrive full test.

4) Navigate to PC Pitstop's Overdrive using Internet Explorer and click on "Create free account"
5) Register and accept the necessary active-X needed to run Overdrive
6) Run PC Pitstop Overdrive
7) Post the URL link here from the address bar which will allow us to view your results.

Caution: During the testing of your PCs Video Adapter, a variety of patterns, shapes, colors and text are “flashed” onto the users monitor screen. In the many thousands of daily uses of the PCPitstop full test over several years, two individuals who suffer epilepsy experienced discomfort and temporary dizziness when viewing the flashing patterns. If you know that you are susceptible to photo driven seizure, please look away from your screen during the Video Adapter testing sequence.

Note: PCPitstop is a free service, but like many free services and programs, it is supported by various paid product and we do not necessarily support their use.

Cheers,
Lee

Hey Lee, many thanks for helping me.

So here's a link: http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/sec.asp?c…;report=Summary

(I should mention that I don't have my usual internet service at the moment, due to switching bank accounts on the ISP without telling them . It should be back in a few days. I'm using an internet USB stick at the moment, so any info about my internet connection will probably not be accurate).

Your disk speed is very slow which could mean it's on it's way out or just needs a good clean up.
Have you backed-up your personal data as suggested?

Delete unneeded temp. files and defragment your disk to see if it improves performance. A disk that is heavily fragmented or very full will often have performance problems. There is a defragmenting and disk clean-up utilities built into Windows at Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools to do these tasks.

Disable all HIPS features of Spybot (active features).

You have µTorrent installed. Your choice, but a great way to install Malicious code (malware) onto your PC, hidden in downloads.

You also have CCleaner installed. A great program, but I would advise not using it's Registry cleaner very often (or never), as eventually it will remove a reg. entry that is vital to the correct operation of your PC (like now maybe).

Temporarily disable AVG 2012
start / run / type in msconfig / sevices eab / tick "hide all microsoft services" / untick AVG / apply / Ok / reboot.

Lets see if any of these steps make a difference. If not we can try a different approach.

Cheers,
Lee

Hey Lee, I'm making a full back-up of the C drive with Acronis right now. (it's gonna go all night I'm sure). Now that I'm faced with the possibility, I actually hope the hard drive does go, since it's still under warranty. I completely forgot, but I re-installed XP last summer and made an image of the freshly installed machine with Acronis, so I'm going to try restoring that before doing anything else. If that solves the problem I'll come back to the thread just to let you that the issue is resolved. If not, well, I'll come back to the thread to get further assistance. (that would mean it would have to be a hardware problem, yes?). Either way I'll be back. And thanks again for offering to help!

(that would mean it would have to be a hardware problem, yes?).

No, not at all. If your HDD is still under warranty the chances of it being faulty are very slim.
The days of suddenly dying HDDs is rare nowadays, as the advances in their design, engineering and production has improved out of sight. Faulty HDDs even new ones can go belly-up of course, but I've never experienced it yet.

I've had lots of HDDs here from various scrapped PCs that I have reused and some of them were 10yrs old that had been flogged to death according to their original owners. I put them in PC's I make up and give away to small local community groups and have never had a call about a HDD problem.

No Lee, what I meant is that, if I do a fresh install, AND the performance problem continues (high CPU usage for "interrupts"), then wouldn't that indicate a hardware problem of some sort? (not even necessarily the HDD). IOW wouldn't any software problem be wiped out in the re-install? Incidentally, my Dell laptop is still under warranty because I got the longest warranty possible and extended it the max. (i.e. 5 years), So it's still nearly a 5 year old drive. If it does happen to go (not saying I'm counting on it or anything), AND I have it backed up, well, that's a good thing.

No Lee, what I meant is that, if I do a fresh install, AND the performance problem continues (high CPU usage for "interrupts"), then wouldn't that indicate a hardware problem of some sort?

That would only apply before you installed any software programs.

PS EDIT- why not test your HDD out (before you do a re-install) to see if there is any problems with it?
Download to desktop Seagate SeaTools (works on any brand of HDD).

Running SeaTools now. I've run all the tests up to the "Long Generic" on the lists of basic tests, and I'm running that one at the moment. The other ones were rather quick and all of them passed so far. This one is obviously a much more intense test as the progress bar is progressing very slowly. Thing is, if I don't re-install tonight I fear I won't have time for awhile to do it, maybe even a few weeks. So I'm probably going to abort this test soon (I'll see how much it progresses over the next 30 minutes or so) and run it again after the re-install. At least that I can let run overnight..

Did you carry out the instructs I advised in post #4? I really do not think you have a hardware nor operating system problem at all. The problem is more likely to be software related and from past experience, I'm thinking AVG or maybe Spybot HIPS.

Hey man, are you spammin' my thread? Anyway, the OS re-install solved the problem.