Roomates computer takes 100% CPU usage to open programs

N

Naldo

2[H]4U
Joined
Jul 7, 2001
Messages
3,739
My roomates computer has a problem distorting sound when he opens up another application. I narrowed the problem down and I beleive it is because when ever he opens a program his CPU usage spike up to 100% causing the sound to distort. Does anyone know what might cause his CPU (dell dimension 3000, P4 2.6ghz, 512mb RAM) to do this. I cant for the life of me figure out why this is happening.

just for comparison sake to open word his PC takes 100% CPU usage and mine (the one in my sig) takes 9%.
 
turn up the update speed in taskmgr and you'll see that your CPU actually goes much higher than that
 
Okay, 23% with the update speed on high for mw, but I still dont understand why his takes 100%.
 
Yours would be higher and higher as the update speed went up, up to 100%. It's not the reason. Tell him to try updating drivers for a start.
 
check to see task man and see what other programs are running... you could have a piece of spyware (like winfixer) that takes a ton of system resources....
 
I updated his sound drivers (SoundMAX something) and ran adaware and spybot. I also went into MSconfig and turned all of his startup programs off, that didnt help either.
 
High CPU usage is often caused by some sort of malware. I would post a Hijackthis log and see if we can find anything.
 
High CPU usage when starting programs is normal. He didn't say the CPU is constantly at 100%.
 
Mine takes 100% CPU to open Word, only for a split second (on High update), but it doesn't distort the sound or otherwise slow anything down.

When in doubt, reformat.
 
From the time you double click until it opens its at 100% (like 8 seconds for word), not just a split second like normal. And during that 8 seconds his music sounds all fucked up.

I'll try out that hijack this thing.
 
His hijack This Log

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 9:31:25 PM, on 10/3/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SPBBC\SPBBCSvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\IWP\NPFMntor.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\symlcsvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft AntiSpyware\gcasServ.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\Core\smax4pnp.exe
C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft AntiSpyware\gcasDtServ.exe
F:\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.uvawise.edu/
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {5C8B2A36-3DB1-42A4-A3CB-D426709BBFEB} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: DriveLetterAccess - {5CA3D70E-1895-11CF-8E15-001234567890} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswshx.dll
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: (no name) - {BA52B914-B692-46c4-B683-905236F6F655} - (no file)
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [gcasServ] "C:\Program Files\Microsoft AntiSpyware\gcasServ.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SoundMAXPnP] C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\Core\smax4pnp.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [AIM] C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe -cnetwait.odl
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_04\bin\npjpi150_04.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_04\bin\npjpi150_04.dll
O9 - Extra button: AIM - {AC9E2541-2814-11d5-BC6D-00B0D0A1DE45} - C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe (file missing)
O16 - DPF: {17492023-C23A-453E-A040-C7C580BBF700} (Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool) - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=39204
O16 - DPF: {4ED9DDF0-7479-4BBE-9335-5A1EDB1D8A21} - http://download.mcafee.com/molbin/shared/mcinsctl/en-us/4,0,0,90/mcinsctl.cab
O20 - Winlogon Notify: igfxcui - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\igfxsrvc.dll
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - ATI Technologies Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: ATI Smart - Unknown owner - C:\WINDOWS\system32\ati2sgag.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Event Manager (ccEvtMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Password Validation (ccPwdSvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccPwdSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Settings Manager (ccSetMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect Service (navapsvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Norton AntiVirus Firewall Monitor Service (NPFMntor) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\IWP\NPFMntor.exe
O23 - Service: SAVScan - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\SAVScan.exe
O23 - Service: ScriptBlocking Service (SBService) - Symantec Corporation - C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\SYMANT~1\SCRIPT~1\SBServ.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Drivers Service (SNDSrvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec SPBBCSvc (SPBBCSvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SPBBC\SPBBCSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Core LC - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\symlcsvc.exe
 
Those are the hardest and most annoying problems to fix. Try taking out all PCI cards, disable onboard sound, and see if it does it. Generally it will be something very obscure that causes these types of problems. Once I had a CD drive that was the cause of it, it detected and "ran" as UDMA but was actually in PIO mode and caused similar "lag" pauses when using the system (sometimes randomly).
 
Try disabling the virus scanner and see if it still does it.

Also, it's already been mentioned, but it sounds like the drive might be running in PIO mode instead of DMA mode. This has been something I've run into many times on different systems.

 
I think it might be the PIO mode thing, in device manager it saysd his Hard Drivew is in PIO mode even though "DMA if available" is selcted how do I get it into DMA mode?
 
Naldo said:
I think it might be the PIO mode thing, in device manager it saysd his Hard Drivew is in PIO mode even though "DMA if available" is selcted how do I get it into DMA mode?
Click to expand...

Yep, then that's it...

Make sure your settings are okay in BIOS, change the channel to slave, then back, unplug it, reboot, plug it back in, do whatever you need to do to get it to re-initialize itself. I had a plextor that kept doing that, and it would act up every few months. Could have just been my motherboard IDE controller though.
 
Naldo said:
I narrowed the problem down and I beleive it is because when ever he opens a program his CPU usage spike up to 100% causing the sound to distort.
Click to expand...

That isn't a cause. It is a symptom.

Naldo said:
just for comparison sake to open word his PC takes 100% CPU usage and mine (the one in my sig) takes 9%.
Click to expand...

For what duration? How long is CPU usage at 100%?

What kind of drive is he using? IDE? What transfer mode is the controller configured for in Windows?
 
Naldo said:
I think it might be the PIO mode thing, in device manager it saysd his Hard Drivew is in PIO mode even though "DMA if available" is selcted how do I get it into DMA mode?
Click to expand...

Did you ever get it to show up in DMA mode? It's more then likely that this is the problem, and even if it isn't, you're going to be running very slowly on that machine.
 
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