Hi, my computer was working fine until yesterday morning. Somehow the CPU usage went to 100% of usage just like that.
The thing that bugs me is that under the task manager it does not show a single program responsable for this spike. What I mean is that at one second it shows for instance; explorer.exe at 50-60% and another scvhost at 35%, another couple seconds Norton or other process...it does not stay steady at 100% on a single process, usually 2 or 4 process combined delivering 100%, and the thing is that I have nothing running...It wasn't like that 48hrs ago...
If I kill one of the processes that is running high, it just goes to another process and keeps the CPU at 98-100%
What could be the problem???
I appreciate any comments. Thanks in advance!

Have you done a spyware/virus scan on your system??

TMP-Man

Asus P5P800 PAT
P4 506 @ 4009Mhz 1.3v
Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 1700RPM 92MM + AS5
2GB OCZ 2-3-2-5 DDR400
120GB/300GB 7200RPM HD
Leadtek 7600GT AGP 590/1600 VF700 ALCU AS5

Hi TMP-Man,

Yes I did an full scan with Norton Internet security and nothing came up...
I don't know what else it could be.

First of all, if you are OCing reset the system to stock speeds.

I recommend that you perform a system restore.

Reboot into safe mode (F8). Login as Administrator and Go: Start> help and support> system restore.

Choose a restore point that predates your current problem. Delete ALL restore points that were created after the current problem started.

If you are not behind some type of firewall then I suggest you disconnect the computer from the internet and get behind one.

You also need to scan for spyware/ malware as well as other nasties.

How many programs are you running in the background? In total on a (good)fresh install you should be running somewhere in between 16-21 processes, no more.

Hi guys, sorry for not replying sooner, I was away on a job.

I have restore the PC before but not in safe mode. I'll do it as you suggested and we'll see what happens. Thanks,

Outlander, right now I have 33 processes running, I have gone to msconfig and deactivated all the ones not necessary.

I'll post right back with new info.
Thanks for your help.

Hi guys, Restoring the PC to earlier time wasn't possible because System Restore was turned off.

Some times the CPU usage goes down to around 40% but as soon as you stared doing anything (notepad for instance) it goes to 100% and stays around there.
If at least the whole load would be set on a single process it certainly would make easier to diagnostic the problem, but the heavy load moves from a process to process, so if I kill the process is carrying the load, it just transfer to another process. Pinpointing the problem is quite difficult.
Thanks again,

It's a hardware problem! A loose connection causing a constant search for new hardware. Happened to me 7 months ago. After 2 weeks of virus scan and windows re-installations I finally took it in under warranty. When it came back from Gateway the problem, which they reported to me as "a loose fan connection", was fixed. This could not have been the problem though, as the laptop has only one fan and it ran constantly during the 100%cpu usage.

This afternoon the problem returned. This time I went online with a description and found this:

http://www.computing.net/security/w...

The post from Simon C. clicks with the info I got from Gateway. My machine is no longer under warranty so I'm going to search for the "loose connection" myself. I'll let you know who it goes ASAP

Again, this is a hardware problem.