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6 Professor
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5.3K Posts
5
62910
April 23rd, 2021 20:00
SupportAssist PC-Doctor Module, 100% CPU and RAM usage!
My Aurora R7 auto-ran it's scheduled monthly Dell SupportAssist scan today. Only this time, for the first time, Dell's PC-Doctor Module locked up at 100% CPU and 100% RAM usage (all 64 GB)! Then, I promptly received an out of virtual memory error pop ups followed by repeated (11x) Desktop Window Manager crashes before I was able to close out the SupportAssist scan, grab a screen shot of the offending program, and restart the computer. Reliability dropped from 10 to 1.
I re-ran the full SupportAssist scan two more times and this time it both completed without incident each time. I can't even replicate the problem. I wasn't doing anything on the computer when it started. I was working on my laptop and then noticed the desktop screen going crazy.
Okay SupportAssist rant over.
Patterner0
6 Posts
0
February 27th, 2022 02:00
XPS 8940 with 5.5.1.16143 (who approved that numbering scheme???)
it's Sunday 11am, time for a nice game.... which was rudely interrupted by the PC Doctor
Lost it of course, because i couldn't do anything with that 100% CPU in the background
Bioengr
3 Posts
0
March 1st, 2022 11:00
Just had the same problem. 100% CPU and RAM due to the same PC Doctor API. Fan was running like a jet engine. the app stopped after about 5 minutes, during which the PC was expectedly very slow. I have a Dell G7 laptop (Inspiron 7590).
DELL-Cares
Moderator
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27.4K Posts
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March 2nd, 2022 07:00
Hello, we see you are looking for assistance. If you need our help, you could start a private message with us and we will be happy to assist you.
Dell7730Xeon128GBRAM
3 Posts
0
March 2nd, 2022 07:00
Same happened to me yesterday:
100% CPU - Intel Xeon
100% RAM - all 128GM
Machine: Dell Precision 7730 Laptop Workstation
Dell ... if you don't fix this ... Support Assist is out the door and talki'n s*it about Dell is not far away!
lucky256
1 Message
0
March 4th, 2022 07:00
same today to me
old workstation Precision T7500
writing in Word and suddenly all CPU and RAM was gone....
TaskManager showed me ->PC Doctor at 90% CPU and 10G RAM
Word greyed out, after a few minutes system changed back to normal
not funny
koalaTM
1 Message
0
March 4th, 2022 08:00
This issue just cemented why I haven't purchased a pre-built PC in 20 years. I made the mistake of buying an Alienware with a Ryzen 5800 / 3070 ti and even on this reasonably good spec, Support Assist used 100% of my CPU and memory unexpectedly this morning. It ruined an entire dataset in Google Ads in the process.
Never again, Dell.
Dell7730Xeon128GBRAM
3 Posts
0
March 5th, 2022 11:00
I don't need assistance ... I just uninstalled the bloatware ... (!)
Csum1
1 Message
1
March 13th, 2022 09:00
This happened to me twice with anew Aurora R10 Ryzen 9 played havoc with what I was doing.
Went into supportassist settings and stopped scheduled scans. Better to run any stress tests in a managed way when you are not doing anything else
DELL-Cares
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27.4K Posts
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March 13th, 2022 10:00
Please Direct/Private Message the Service Tag / Express Service Code / Order Number for which you need assistance in text format.
KingAdrock1911
10 Posts
1
March 19th, 2022 15:00
exactly. this is how you give your brand a terrible reputation, when your support software is so bloated its causing a system meltdown.
KingAdrock1911
10 Posts
0
March 19th, 2022 15:00
This is unacceptable. PC-doctor module Using 100% CPU and 96% of my 30gb of RAM on my aurora r10 desktop. What kind of people are you hiring Dell? what a nightmare. QUALITY CONTROL!!!!
DELL-Cares
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27.4K Posts
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March 23rd, 2022 03:00
Hello, I see you are looking for technical assistance. If you need our help, you can start a private/direct message with us and we will be happy to assist you.
NH250
2 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2022 03:00
Just happened to me also. XPS8940 - Windows 10 Pro 20H2.
CPU 100% and (of course) all apps just about motionless with extremely sluggish keyboard response. Took several whacks with "end task" to get back any semblance of response. Uninstalled Dell Support Assist and will not be reinstalling.
Si guy
4 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2022 09:00
No need to panic. By reading thru this thread, I figured out that SupportAssist is set to run automatically monthly, on the 3rd, which was today. Sure, it's bad coding that it takes up 100% of the CPU for 5 minutes, but then it calms back down. Anyway, since I run SupportAssist manually myself every week, I went into the SupportAssist settings and turned off the automatic scheduling.
lmacri
3 Apprentice
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1.7K Posts
2
April 3rd, 2022 12:00
Hi Si guy:
Depending on your settings, SupportAssist does far more than run monthly optimization scans. By default it also runs weekly update checks if Option (gear icon) | Settings | Automate Scans and Optimizations | Scan Your System and Drivers is ENABLED.
Options (gear icon) | Settings | Privacy | I Authorize Dell to Collect my Service Tag and System Usage Details Mentioned Above is ENABLED by default in SupportAssist and will regularly collect and submit telemetry data described above that setting that includes, but is not limited to, "information about the specific device you are using, such as your service tag, the hardware model, operating system version, hardware settings and system crashes, installed applications, their settings and usage, and/or (MAC) address, and other data that may uniquely identify your device or system."
Alexand47 reported <here> in this thread that their CPU usage dropped after they uninstalled Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery (listed as Dell SupportAsssist Remediation at Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features). If Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery is installed and System Repair is ENABLED in your SupportAssist settings at Options (gear icon) | Settings | System Repair then Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery creates a system snapshot (Dell repair point) approx 30 minutes after every re-boot, and there is a known issue where this triggers the logging of hundreds of "Successful Application Reconfiguration" events in the Windows Reliability Monitor and Event Viewer, causing a huge jump in CPU consumption. Dell is apparently aware of the cause (see Dell employee NikhilKiroula's post in the April 2021 thread "Successful Application Reconfiguration" and SupportAssist about poor coding that calls the old Win32_Product class instead of the "lighter" Win32reg_AddRemovePrograms class) but to date nothing has been done to fix the software code. The second image below was captured from my Windows 10 Reliability Monitor when System Repair was enabled in my SupportAssist settings:
I currently have the Dell SupportAssist service and Dell SupportAssist Remediation service both DISABLED at Start | Windows Administrative Tools | Services so that neither of these programs can launch at boot-up. I occasionally run Dell Update to check for available Dell software and driver updates and now use Macrium Reflect Free system imaging software to create emergency media (e.g., a bootable USB stick) and the occasional full disk image in case I have to perform an emergency system recovery. As an extra precaution I've also ENABLED Windows System Restore (disabled by default on Win 10) as instructed in the Windows Central article How to Use System Restore on Windows 10.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1586 * Firefox v98.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2202.4-1.1.19000.8 * Malwarebytes Premium v44.5.7.186-1.0.1645 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell SuppportAssist Remediation v5.5.0.16046 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.5.0 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6635
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620