Hi all,

 

After many tries I finally solved a high CPU usage problem with Vista and I thought it would be nice to share the solution with other people. In my case the system is a Dell Latitude D620 but the problem might affect other Dell systems. 

 

Problem description: 100% CPU usage on Windows Vista at random intervals

 

Solution: Set the Hard Drive Acoustic Mode to 'Performance' in the Dell BIOS.

 

I dont know exactly what the 'Quiet' mode does, but I suspect there is some buffering mechanism in the background that causes this problem...

 

Hope it helps!

 

GertJan