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CPU Usage Spiking: Please Help

M

mdk30

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 29, 2004
Messages
1,028
Over the past few days I've been battling a problem with my computer where the CPU usage will spike dramatically for no apparent reason. The effect it has on the performance of my computer is quite dramatic since any input through the mouse and/or keyboard will "lag out" during the brief 2-3 second CPU usage spike. I will be moving my mouse across the desktop and every 10-15 seconds or so it will "lag out" and it will stop in-place for a few seconds before I can regain control. The same thing happens whether I'm in any program like Internet Explorer, Counter-Strike, or even with nothing open whatsoever.

The other thing that happens is sometimes I'll be playing CS and without any warning whatsoever, my computer will restart. No blue screen, no lockup, nothing, just instant reboot. I have only had this "instant reboot" happen when playing CS but I don't believe that CS is to blame in this case because when I finally get back into Windows, I am promted to submit a Windows error report because my computer has recovered from a serious error caused by a device driver. What I'd like to know is which device driver is causing this, though I can't find any more specific information from the error report other than that.

So far the most likely culprit in my mind, is my new D-Link Wireless XTremeG network card. I just got it over the weekend as I'm converting to a wireless network, and picked up D-Link's XTremeG Wireless Router as well. I started to notice the CPU utilization spiking a lot after I installed the wireless card, but I'm also not entirely sure that its completely to blame because I was having a weird problem when listening to downloaded music in iTunes before I ever went to wireless.

The iTunes problem seems like it could be related to the CPU spiking because whenever I'd listen to music within iTunes, every song seemed to "skip" every now and then, almost like it would if you were listening to a song on an old CD player while driving down a bumpy road. I thought that the problem was due to iTunes just sucking, or possibly faulty downloaded music, but when the whole CPU utilization spiking became apparent after the wireless network card installation, I tried iTunes again and it was like the problem had been amplified by an order of magnitude. The songs wouldn't just "skip" anymore, they'd just outright stop for 2-3 seconds, or however long the CPU would spike for.

After getting a clue as to it being a device driver that was to blame, I went and updated my graphics drivers, and sound card drivers last night, but neither helped the situation. I'm not really sure what to do next, short of re-formatting my hard drive, something I REALLY would like to avoid since I'm trying to hold out till the summer when I will be building a new machine and would like to simply copy files over my network to the new machine from this one.

I'm wondering if there are any programs that might help me identify which program or service or whatever, is causing the CPU spikes that I'm seeing. If I knew what it was that was causing the spike, then maybe I could just disable whatever it was, re-install it, delete it, I don't know. At this point I'm open to pretty much any suggestion that would get me out of having to reformat my hard drive and re-install WINXP. I'm sorry for writing a novel here practically, but if you got through it and have any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Sys Specs:
CPU: Athlon XP 2000+
Mobo: VIA KT333 based Chaintech Apogee
RAM: 1GB DDR 2700
HD: 120GB WD 7200RPM
Vid: Radeon 9800 (non-pro)
Sound: Audigy OEM
Wireless NIC: AirPlus Xtreme G High Speed 2.4GHz (802.11g) Wireless 108Mbps PCI Adapter (DWL-G520)
Wireless Router: DI-624 AirPlus Xtreme G High-Speed 2.4GHz (802.11g) Wireless 108Mbps Router
OS: Win XP Pro (all current updates but no service packs)
 
uh

task manager can tell you what each task is using the CPU usage...

in any case it sounds like that + heat is your problem, all around.
 
when your playing counterstrike, it restarts cuz the cpu probably gets hott and overheats, you should check if the heatsink fan is working and maybe put new fresh thermal paste.;)
 
My CPU is currently at 50 degrees Celsius, and 36 C for the case. Are these relatively high for my CPU?
 
50C is what most people like to keep the CPU temp under.. but i would say anything from 50 - 55 is ok. I think you should worry if it goes over 60C.. but always the cooler the better. My CPU hits 50C with load and with the air conditioning off. I live in FL it's pretty damn hot without AC here.
 
sounds like you have your card set to the wrong power mode. Set it to CAM instead of max or fast.
 
Sounds like what happened to mine due to some spyware. When gaming, the game would freeze momentarily every 10 or 15 seconds or so., although I didn't get any restarts.
I opened the task manager (control-alt-delete) and checked the "Performance" tab, my CPU usage was spiking to %100 every few seconds.
Opened the "Processes" tab, looked for which process was spiking.
Then ran "Adaware" and found out it was spyware and removed it.
Problem solved. Hope it works for you!
 
Sarge: That's what I was thinking too, but I've run Adaware and Spybot both, and I don't have anything coming up. I have yet to actually identify a single process that is really eating up the CPU cycles too.

Vertigo Acid: What are you talking about? My "card" set to the wrong "power mode"? I was talking about my CPU not a "card" like a graphics card or anything, and what do you mean by "Set it to CAM instead of max or fast?" Sorry if I misunderstood you or something.
 
I was referring to your wireless card. Wireless chipsets are designed to be operated in various power modes depending on the situation. For example in notebooks it's advantagous to not have your wifi draining power constantly, so there are ways to reduce that. I too just got a wireless card and experienced what your are describe, and ended up playing with settings till it went away, discovering it has something to do with the power mode. I have no bloody clue what each of them mean (CAM, fast, and max on my card) but I know that fast or max wasn't working and was causing lag. YMMV
 
AHHH thanks for the clarification! I'll have to take a look at that, but what brand of wireless card did you get? Also, where exactly did you have to go to find those settings? Was your wireless card for a notebook?
 
Nope, twas not a notebook card, it's a Realtek 8180, and the option was in the software utility provided with my card. I would assume that D-Link included some software?
 
Yeah, I've checked the software, but the only option that comes close to what you're describing is to enable or disable "Super G" which is 108Mbps instead of the 54Mbps "standard" G.

In any rate I think I MAY have fixed the problem now *knock on wood*. I just re-installed the drivers for the second time (3rd time total) and my system seems to no longer have the CPU spiking that it did before. I'll have to check it out a little longer to be for sure, but I'm hoping this is it. :) I don't know why the problem didn't go away after I re-installed the drivers the first time (they were the same ones I used this time) but I won't complain if its done now.
 
Is there anyway for you to take out the wireless card and hardline it into the router for a while? For the most part, wireless networks are not too good for fps gaming. I have a feeling that most of your problems stem from this. My work computer once had the same problem exactly. Turned out that my computer was not connected to the network and the computer was trying to find a connection. Hence the freezing every few seconds. I don't know too much about wireless setups, but make sure that both the router and the NIC are set up with the same settings. There are a bunch of packet sizes etc. Like I said, I don't know specifically, but it is a place to look.

How strong is your power supply. I was running a 1900+, ATI 9800 pro on a NF2 and my system lagged and restarted on its own during during intense action. This was using a generic 350W.

If it is a device driver issue, I would recommend disabling devices you dont use. For instance, I noticed my system ran smoother when I disabled in the Device Manager firewire ports add on USB ports, game port, serial port, com port, printer port. I had a device sharing an IRQ with my vid card and this cleared it up. I wouldn't go nuts here and disable stuff you need, but my system seems better after doing this.

One other issue I had once was left over registry entries of devices I used. Namely, onboard sound drivers when I disabled it in the BIOS and installed the Audigy. When I searched "C-media" in the registry, there were a few entries left. I deleted them and my sound improved a little, but I noticed that Planetside ran a little smoother.

I hope this helps somewhat. I would strongly recommend that you investigate your wireless settings etc. I am not sure, but I think that might be the culprit.
 
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