I have a problem, ill start from the beginning though. I thought it would be a good idea to get a new heatsink and fan for my athlon 2100+ and decided after much research to go for a volcano 9 with the LED coolmod. I admittadly made a bad job of putting it on as it was my first ever attempt. I managed to scrape some of the core off on one side, it feels rough to the touch. When i first tried to start up the pc, it would shut down after a few seconds, but then all of a sudden i switched it on a it worked, and has done ever since. Thing is though, that when i do the CONTROL+ALT+DELETE thing in XP, it shows my CPU always running at 100%, and therefore even with the fan on full constantly it still runs at 60C+. Is there any way to fix the problem or should i just be happy that i dont have to change the CPU, yet? Any advice would be great.

If your cpu is always running at 100 percent you probably have spyware or some stupid stuff running in the backround if you can e-mail me a screen shot of all the proccesses you have runnin and i will tell you if any on them are spyware or stuff you don't need

Thanks, ive just seen a prog called cpu idle, ironically, which is using up all the processor. its still at around 66/67 do u think ill need to get a new cpu somewhere down the line.

cpuidle is a software cooler that shuts your cpu off when idle and a weird quirk of it is that windows then thinks the cpu is busy instead of idle, because cpuidle is occupying its idle time. There is no danger to the 100% reporting - that's normal when you use a software cooler. Your temps are too high but if you are stable I agree with you to let well enough alone and do not tinker. Your situation is an example of the saying "if its broke yet works, don't go near it".

Neal: I suggest you do a search through this forum. This subject (CPU usage 100 percent) has been brought up many times before and many people have responded.

Neal: Use the start button, go to execute (i hope it the right name in english! - Should open a window with a command line!). Enter "msconfig" into the commandline and press ok. It starts a very helpful program. Go to the "autostart" table and deactivate all programs in it. Apply the setting and reboot without all the stuff running in the background. Check your cpu usage which should be quite below 100%. If it is it's obviously one of that programs! Start msconfig again and reactivate one or a few of the programs in the autostart table. Reboot and check again your cpu usage. You have to do it in the try and error way to find the program/s who cause the high cpu load! I had it once with a little tool (56 kb) and it's definatly no spyware. It works since Win95 and even with XP but once it has gone bad and used 100% cpu load. I deleted and reinstalled in and all works fine again!

"msconfig" doesn't work for w2k.....what should i type in besides "msconfig" to find out whats running in the background of my computer?