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Unexplained Processor Spiking
New Dell XPS system w/ 3.4 gHz processor and 1GB memory. OS is XP Home w/ SP2
Every 2 minutes, processor utilization spikes to 22%. This causes an interruption/drop out in the audio recording software being used (Cakewalk Sonar 4)
The process causing the spike seems to be the SYSTEM process. Only System Idle and SYSTEM are showing any processor activity in Task Manager.
1) I have reformatted the hard drive, and reinstalled XP Home.
2) No application software is installed at this time, only the OS and required drivers.
3) All expansion cards (SoundBlaster Audigy Z2, internal modem and Adaptec firewire) have been removed, with the exception of the nVidia video card
4) I have used msconfig to selectively start with no Startup programs and minimal OS processes.
5) Dell has replaced the memory, power supply and mobo on their dime
What could be going on here? I'm at a loss, and apparently so is Dell. After working with me on this problem for a couple of weeks, we're still nowhere.
Thanks,
Gordon
- The peak is instantaneous. It causes only a momentary glitch.Before reloading windows, I did download and use, Process Explorer, to verify that it was the SERVER process that was causing the problem/spike.The processor is HT-capable, but HT is disabled.HD Indexing is enabled.Thanks,G
- To follow up, I just did the following:Enabled HT: The spike is still occurring every 2 minutes, but the % of processor utilization dropped by almost 1/2. I guess that makes sense if it's pretending to be a dual processor.Disabled HD Indexing: This made no difference in the processor utilization.Regards,Gordon
Message Edited by gmclachl on 10-26-2005 05:25 AM
- The problem is not a virus or trojan. The system was never on the internet and only packaged software was loaded. It has been scanned with McAfee VS.The spike problem was the cause of us doing the reload and all the component pulls/swaps, and not the result of them.
- I am working on the machine for a friend of mine, and the problem only came to light when he bought hardware and software to do some recording. I am not certain if this was an out-of-the-box problem, but I suspect so.The problem would be inconsequential if not for the near real-time requirements of the Sonar software. The spike is so brief that it is unnoticable with most apps, but it causes drop-outs in the sound when recording/playing back tunes through Sonar.
- Found this doing a search on the Windows XP board - a long shot but maybe something worth looking at (last post on the page by JRosenfeld)
klbf
2 Intern
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2713 Posts
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Posted October 26th, 2005 08:00
also do you have hypertheading enabled if your cpu is h/ht capable
Dimension 8300
P4 2.80GHz 800MHz w/HT BIOS A07
1GB PC3200
Sparkle 6600GT oc (500mhz/1000mhz)
Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (retail)
Seagate sata 120Gb, sata 160Gb, USB2 external 200Gb
NEC DVD+RW ND-2100AD
Pioneer 16x DVD+/-RW DL DVR-109
BearPaw 2400TA Scanner
USB 2.0 tv tuner
HP usb CD-Writer+ 8200
256Mb-64mb Usb drives
Wacom graphire3 4x5inch
Conexant SmartHSFi V.9x 56K DF PCI Modem ,ADSL DSL-200
HP deskjet 3550
15inch LCD
pci cooler
3dmark03 8446...3dmark05 3498...PCmark05 3448
Message Edited by klbf on 10-26-2005 10:40 PM