high cpu usage=slow running comp

Check you Primary and Secondary IDE channels.  Any item running in PIO mode?

F.

i checked the device manager and looked at the two ides. They say run dma if available and they dont have pio selected so i think thats what your talking about. How do i check processes under the device manager. If you mean the taskmanager no nothing is running the system idle process is always in the 90s thats what confuses me. the system idle process and cpu usage contrdict each other. But when i load stuff it loads much slower than it used too. My friend and i play a game and i used to load about 30 secs faster than him now his compputer is loading faster than mine.  So i am sure it is running slower.

No, I did mean processes under taskmanager. That is strange. Nothing using cpu in taskmanager yet cpu at 50%. I found a couple of things. Do you have a visioneer usb scanner:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303777&Product=winxp

There were several things mentioned in this thread that might be worth looking into:

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1055080188

Also, have you installed Intels Application Accelerator?

Thanks for all the time and help but nothing seems to work. It seems like every problem i have has no solution. the only thing i havent tried is disconnecting the usb card reader. I have no idea how to do this if you know i would appreciate the help.

Limited knowledge on card readers, not sure. I did come across this. Do you have the MS USB Update to SP1 on?  It mentions usb devices using 80% of cpu. Might be worth a shot.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822603&Product=winxp