Excessive CPU Usage Dimension 4100

Question

A good friend has a Dimension 4100 she bought new a few years ago. The computer has remained in completely stock condition. That is, there have been no modifucations made, no hardware upgrades or component replacement of any kind to this computer and is 100% OEM, including the Windows ME. She has also been the sole user of the computer since day 1. This computer has run like a champ until the CPU problem started and has given her practically zero problems since new. This computer has run so nice that one would have thought it was still a brand new Dimension 4100. Then without warning excessive CPU Usage. For a while it was somewhere around 64 - 66% constantly with sudden spikes to 100% every 20-30 seconds or so. Not long ago it started running 100% and is now a constant 100%. It also has starting to shut down every so often on her and is sometimes difficult to get booted up again. I have checked for spyware, viruses, everything with no results. I have also checked to make sure nothing was running that shouldn't be that would cause excessive CPU Usage and have found nothing. Can anyone help me with this bizarre problem before I decide it's time for some water cooling by dumping it into the river?

BigBrother · Answer

miijv,

If you are serious about dumping the system into the river, let me know which river so that I can fish it out. The 4100 is a good chassis and is a good system. Several questions before moving to such drastic measures:

1. What is the CPU usage % in Safe Mode?
2. Have you run any hardware diagnostics to insure that this is not a hardware problem? If it is not a hardware problem, then there is no reason at all to dump the system. Software problems are easy enough to fix.
3. Have you run the LATEST and fully updated versions of AdAware (personal SE), Spybot S&D (version 1.3) and HijackThis?
4. Is the anti virus software fully updated? Has it been kept updated since day 1? Are weekly (minimum) updates and full system scans done on this system?

Steve

BigBrother · Answer

miijv,

I would bet that you will not find any CPU or other hardware fault, except maybe "write to CD" or "write to floppy" if you do not have the proper media in the drives when you run system hardware diagnostics. Lets see what your CPU usage is in Safe Mode.

Steve

miijv · Answer

I haven't tried Safe Mode yet but will. I have had no hardware diagnostics done either. All software is up to date too. She had an older version of Norton on the computer which I uninstalled a couple weeks ago and then replaced with the latest Panda Platinum Suite. Since then it has scanned the computer and found nothing. I have run many spyware scans and found nothing as well.

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