XPS 600 Pentium D CPU Usage Problems

Question

I have an XPS 600 with a Pentium D 930 running Windows XP Home SP2.  The problem is that a few times a day the computer becomes almost completely unresponsive and the mouse just lags and it's impossible to do anything for a minute or so.  Then everything goes back to normal and reoccurs later at random.    This is extremely annoying.  It can happen when simply looking at a website, just looking at the desktop with no applications running, or running Sony ACID or anything else for that matter.    Interesting thing to note: when this problem occurs the Windows Task Manager Performance tab shows CPU usage at 50% with CPU 1 being maxed out and CPU2 having zero load.   I called Dell tech support numerous times thinking this is a hardware problem.  After doing a complete reformat and reinstall this problem still persists.  Last time I called them they suggested I install Mircosoft hotfix article id: 896256. Unfortunately the problem still persists.   I'm wondering if anyone here has experienced a similar issue?   I'm getting really frustrated with Dell here.  And I have been a loyal Dell customer for the last 7 years. Message Edited by maddkatt on 09-20-2006 11:51 AM

jsrder · Answer

maddkatt wrote:

Interesting thing to note: when this problem occurs the Windows Task Manager Performance tab shows CPU usage at 50% with CPU 1 being maxed out and CPU2 having zero load.

Check the process tab and see what is hogging up CPU time ... post back and we can go from there...

maddkatt · Answer

When it happened last time System Idle Process was at 99% and CPU 1 maxed out.  There were no applications running.   I know its not a virus or a spyware issue because the computer isn't connected to the internet.

DumbDan · Answer

You may check your event manger.  See what is going on at the time of the problems.   I was having problems that sounded similar to what you describe and found that MS FAX service was causing trouble so I removed it and have had no problems since.

maddkatt · Answer

I don't think its any particular application that's causing the slowdown.  As it occurs when there's nothing running at all with System Idle at 99%.

XPS_MAYHEM · Answer

maddkatt i had the same issue it turned out to be my usb gamepad. when this occurs unplug your usb devices one by one while noticing the task manager to narrow down to see which device is causing this. hopefully this helps

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