Here's the problem: CPU usage goes to 100% during many tasks: Playing videos, sometimes using internet explorer, sometimes at startup when programs are loading up, etc. Basically I cannot pinpoint a certain Process in Task Manager as the culprit because it's always a different one doing the damage. I did a scan with Norton and that online scan from trend micro: No viruses I did the check with Ad-Aware: Nothing there. I just got more RAM and added and now have 384: that did nothing to fix the problem. This is also a brand new hard drive, and the problem started with my old one couple weeks ago. If all this crap wasn't enough, now the boot up takes forever, and some programs don't load up correctly. I have to disable and enable my local area connection just to get on the net. If anybody can help me out I would be forever grateful because I have no clue whatsoever what the problem could be. :( PS: when I check how much Ram I got it shows 392 for some reason. Another weird thing is the Local Area Connection goes from: Local Area Connection to Local Area Connection 2 sometimes for some reason? And the disk-check at startup is missing when I shut down my computer incorrectly. Am I screwed or what? :(

I don't know what's your problem, but your cpu usage should be in the 0 - 10% when you start your computer. Maybe you shoud think of reformatting your harddrive and installing a clean OS.

Had similar problem on Gigabyte DP board, had to do with incorrect ACPI code in BIOS. Had similar problem on ASUS P4C800 when ACPI 2.0 enabled. The System was generating interupts as fast as CPU could field them. Updated BIOS or turning off ACPI 2.0 solved this problem. Look in Conrol Panel under Administrative Tools/Performance/Processor "Interrupts/sec" and "%Interrupt Time"- if 100-200/sec then not this problem, if >> 1,000/sec and %Interrupt Time >> 90% then it looks like it. Also, in task mgr, kernel time is nearly same as CPU time (View/Show Kernel times).

P.S. High interrupt time gets billed to whatever process was unlucky enough to be running when the interrupt occured. Often the "System Idle" process if nothing's happening. This can look like different processes are causing the problem- kill one and another inherits the problem. It can also make operations take much longer than they should, which could affect timing or cause timeouts.

Doug, you are right on the money. I followed every step you told me to take and everything played out just like you said it would. I went into BIOS and searched everywhere to try and turn off the ACPI with no luck, and suggestions? Anyway, I'm gonna update my Bios tomorrow. I can't thank you enough for leading me in the right direction. BTW my motherboard is a K7VZA ver 3.4. Thanks again bro.