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959
February 14th, 2017 05:00
System.exe running at 100% - server really slow
My SBS 2011 system is running so slowly that it is unusable. Each mouse click takes minutes to respond. It appears that the system process (PID 4) is running continuously on one of the cores. There is plenty of memory and the other cores are quiet. Task manager doesn't show much I/O either but I can hear the hard disk working hard. So the theory is that the OS is hammering the HDD with some low level activity that doesn't register with task manager. Everything else isn't getting a look in. The system is so slow it is almost impossible to collect diagnostic information.
Any ideas ideas would be appreciated.
thanks
Since posting I have located my install media and a USD DVD drive which works.
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HuggaBounce
37 Posts
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February 14th, 2017 21:00
Try to identify any recent changes to the host. If it is ongoing it is often due to an updated driver or application filter.
Indeed if possible try to identify drivers that are out of date too and update them one at a time. Network and Video drivers are a common culprit because something else in the system (like antivirus) changes and the old drivers conflict.
I like to use sysinternals Process Explorer to look deeper than Task manager can. See if http://superuser.com/questions/527401/troubleshoot-high-cpu-usage-by-the-system-process is helpful to you for troubleshooting. Lots in google searches about system.exe high cpu :)
I can't remember if SBS2011 has the Windows Update and BITS services. Temporarily stop them if they are running to see if they are related to the issue.
I suppose it's a production server and so checking if the problem goes away in Safe Mode might be difficult? :)