UNSOLVED
Closed
CPU Usage - Too High
I've been having performance issues with my Inspiron 8200 laptop for several weeks. Initial suspicion was virus/spyware/malware etc... but, I'd tried half a dozen anti-virus applications without success.
I've done a clean install of the OS (Windows XP and SP2) and still get the same issues... the CPU usage never goes lower than 5% and it maxes while only running a single application. Simply moving the mouse around takes the CPU usage up to 27%.
I've used several heavy applications at once in the past that never took the CPU usage over 60%... now I can't run any of them without maxing the usage at a constant 100%.
I've adjusted the Performance setting in the System Properties to "Adjust for Best Performance".
Cooling fans run constantly.
I've blown the dust off the cooling device with the canned air.
Is my processor just dying on me? Is there a detailed method of formatting the hard drive that I can try just in case there is a virus that survives the clean reinstall of the OS?
Intel Pentium 4
Mobile CPU 1.70 GHz
837 MHz, 1.00 GB RAM
- Yeah, did the full format... not the quick format...I thought I read in another forum several weeks ago (forgot where or what it was called) that a guy had to do some special type of format to fix an issue... maybe he was just referring to the full format and not the quick format as well.
- B_Coppins and Wes,
I've set the StepSpeed to "Maximize Performance" and observed that the laptop would boot and would initially clock the current CPU speed at 1.69GHz which is great! But, within a few minutes it would get kicked back down to 1.2GHz (or even lower ~ 800MHz)... so, I looked again at a potential overheating issue and I noticed that the CPU temp was initially reaching 150F while booting into XP before the fans could kick in.
So, I set the I8kfan utility to Autostart and to turn on the fans to max speed as soon as the CPU temp hit 120F... then when I rebooted the fans kicked in soon enough to keep the temp down...
Thus, it appears it was an overheating issue, like you first suggested. It appears that there is a temp triggered CPU speed control that goes off in spite of the StepSpeed setting... I haven't seen any documentation that explains when or why this is triggered.
My CPU usage during inactivity is back down to 0%-1%... the fans continue to run continuously (which is something I mentioned in the beginning) thus, there probably are a few measures I could take to prevent a CPU temp runup. I will also look into other cooling control steps like a thorough cleaning of the heatsink and reapplication of thermal grease.
Thanks for all your help,
broncko
B_Coppins
565 Posts
204
0
Posted August 30th, 2006 11:00
Also, I've never seen a virus survive through a format.
Message Edited by B_Coppins on 08-30-200608:18 AM