CPU 100 % but no Malware and HijackThis Clean

Hi All,

I had a virus on my computer, and went to a forum ( Malware Removal ) and they ( thanks Simon ) helped me to remove it. But unfortunatly, I still have the problem, even if it's a bit better now, but my CPU still going up to 100 %, for all programms launched.
Please find below link of my conversations in the past forum with all details, do you have any advice/idea of what could I try to solve my problem?

http://malwareremoval.com/forum/viewtopic….=253202#p253202

Thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers.
Nico

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx

You may want to check the primary IDE ATA/ATAPI controller. If you have recently had a lot of HDD errors then it may have switched to PIO only. My experience is that this will grind your computer to a standstill without any clue as to why. Check the link above for more info and the first pass attempt at repairing the issue. Be sure to reboot right away if you change from PIO only to DMA. And, then check it when your machine is back online.

If that does not work there is another procedure that involves uninstalling the driver and then rebooting. On reboot, windows will install the driver properly. I have done this on a couple of computers with 100% success. A pictoral on how to do this… http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/260038

Of course, if the IDE setting is already DMA then do nothing! This will not help you.

Does it run at 100% in Safe Mode? When you look in Task Manager, what program or process is eating up the resources?

Hi Bill, Ok, I am gonna do what you told me and let you know result asap. Hi Digeratti, Please find below a list of several applications which run my CPU up to 100 % : crss.exe System ashServ.exe System svchost.exe System cmd.exe Nico & Adeline csrss.exe System iexplore.exe Nico & Adeline vsmon.exe System services.exe System zlclient.exe Nico & Adeline ashWebSv.exe System …………… Thanks in adavnce for both of you for your help. Nico

Well, if you enter those items in Google, you will quickly learn what they are. For example, crss.exe is most likley a worm. ashServ is part of Avast. svchost.exe is part of Windows - you normally have 4 - 6 running. You say they run your system up to 100% - which programs do that?

Hi Digerati, All program together go up to 100%, example, I just did a stop in my CPU analyser : iexplorer.exe 44% explorer.exe 16 % ashWebSv.exe 10 % vsmon.exe 8 % System 6 % taskmgr.exe 4 % zlclient.exe 4 % ashServe.exe 4 % csrss.exe 3 % wmplayer.exe 1 % svchost.exe 1 % It's mainly when I launch a new application, even for Word, for example Vsmon.exe go up to 60 %, + all the other small one it's at 100 %, for a couple of minutes. Or when I do a scan ( with my anti-virus ) for example, it's going up to 100 % almost all the scanner time, so instead during arouind 1 hour, it takes 7-8 hours. Thanks again for your support. NIco

Hi Bill, I just checked and IDE settings is DMA, so according to your post, I didn't do the manipulation. Am I right? Please, let me know if you're thinking about other tips to do? Cheers. Nico

Darn! I was hoping it was the IDE thing. Well, next course of action (for me) would be to determine if the issue exists when I booted into safe mode (as suggested earlier). If the computer behaves nicely when you boot to safe mode then try safe w/networking. If it still behaves nicely then we need to knock out all of your startup programs and then add them back one at a time (I use autoruns from Microsoft/Sysinternals). What we are doing is to narrow down just the app that is bogging down your computer. If I had physical contact with the computer I would be using filemon and procmon (both from MS/Sysinternals) to be looking for the offending app. It SEEMS to me that your HDD-bound, but it is hard to tell from here… ;-) Post back your findings and thanks for your patience!

Hi Bill, Thanks for your reply. I am a dummy in IT, so I don't know how can I boot in safe mode, can yo uexplain me quickly how can I do that please? Thanks in advance. Cheers

There are quite a few tutorial out there just a Google search away. Here are 3 good ones.

Bleeping Computer - Safe Mode
or
ComputerHope - Safe Mode
or
CTH - Safe Mode

Hi Bill and Digerati, I started my computer on the safe mode, and still the same issue, every program launched go up to 100 %, and everything is extremely slow. Thanks in advance for your help and patience. Cheers Nico

What exactly is saying 100%? Since there can only be 100 total, every program cannot be at 100. Note that AV scans does eat up a lot of resources, this is why I do my scans at night, when I'm spleeping. How much RAM do you have? How much free disk space do you have?

Hi Digerati, Thanks for your reply. What I mean is programs all together go up to 100 %, for example as follow : iexplorer.exe 44% explorer.exe 16 % ashWebSv.exe 10 % vsmon.exe 8 % System 6 % taskmgr.exe 4 % zlclient.exe 4 % ashServe.exe 4 % csrss.exe 3 % wmplayer.exe 1 % svchost.exe 1 % And if I stop Internet, for example, explorer.exe is gonna go up to 55 %, so still a 100 % total, same for all other programm, sometimes, it's only the task manager which is up to 95 % by himself, and after a couple of minutes, if no progamm are on, everything going down to normal. RAM : 512 Free Space, C: 7 Go out of 15 Go, D: 2 Go out of 22 Go. Thanks. Nico

I'm just trying to get this clear in my head. You did not answer my question. I asked, "What exactly is saying 100%?" What program are you using to determine the percentage? If using Task Manager, did you mean CPU utilization? Those numbers add up to 101, btw.

You might want to try What's Running or Process Explorer. These are enhanced Task Managers and may be able to tell you exactly what is running.

Also, you say after a couple minutes, everything returns to normal. And then what do you do to make the problem return? Does it return every time? If your computer behaves properly after everything returns to normal, and does not have problems again until the next boot, then I am not sure you have a problem, assuming you have no errors in device manager, or other hardware issues.

Do note there is a lot of activity when a system boots. Many programs consume large amounts of resources when first started, until they become fully loaded and configured for your system and preferences, and this would put a strain on resources. I note too that you only have 512Mb of RAM. This is what I consider the be the absolute minimum XP needs - all for itself - especially if you do not have a separate graphics card. Start adding a firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, hardware drivers, and other programs, and your RAM becomes saturated and in short supply. So Windows and your CPU then seek out and start using the Page File on your slooowwww hard drive. If it has been a long time since you defragged your hard drive, and if you have not set your Page File size to a fixed size, then, with only 7 Gb (Gb - Gigabyte, not Go), that could be a big part of your problem. Defragging works best if you run CCleaner first (no need to defrag with 1000s of temporary files). You should always defrag in Safe Mode too, for a more efficient defragging.

You might want to review what you have starting at bootup. If there is some non-security program, such as an instant messenger or email program, consider starting them manually.

Hi Digerati, Thanks for your reply, and sorry to don't be so clear each time if my problem's description, but english is not my maternal language and it's not always easy to be sharp. Yes, when I said 100 %, yes it's my CPU. And I know that my Cumputer is not amazing, not a huge memory and not a lot of space on my hard drive, but I deffraged hard drive lots of time, use CCleaner…but for example, sometimes, everything is on hold, even when I am writing an email, for half a minute, I am typing but nothing happen on my screen, and then it's oming back. Or an other example, impossible to watch a U-tube video or others video, on image every 3 seconds…even only to open a pictures, everything is amazingly slow as my CPU always go up to 100 %, with all program launched. I don't know if I am a bit clearer now, not sure :-) Thanks again for your help. Cheers. Nico