i have a pentium 4 1.5 with 128 pc133 and windows xp. As soon as i start windows and make anything i receive a cpu usage of a 100%. I heard that i can solve this by changing the dram cas latency time from 1.5 to 2, so i did it but now it doesn´t reach a 100 but jumps from 2 to 90 to 20, etc. so i would like to know how to fix this. And if you can tell me what is the cas latency time.

well, i see this once and awhile too, if you look in your task manager(ctrl-alt-del) under processes and under the cpu-tab it will show who the culprit is, ignore system idle process because that isnt right....if you have a process called kernel32.dll loaded...and it is using 90%-100% just end it and things go good, i've never seen anything stop working after it's gone, i think it has something to with old programs needing compatibility, because kernel32.dll didn't start loading until about a week ago.

kernel32.dll is the last shred of Win9x compatibility OS. Once its loaded, things can get very strange. Was this an upgrade OS and not a clean install (on a blank hard drive I mean)? I try to tell folks to never ever ever EVER to upgrade installs of OS's.... as it is NOTHING but a long slow drawn out and greusomly painfull experience. I spent almsot an entire week collecing and saving all the software I was going to need to install when my system was ready to build. And believe you me.. once youve got all your saved logins, passwords, and general preferences & nicknacks ready to go, it makes life SOOO much nicer, and even though its hard work to re-install all that damn software.. when you flick the switch and your new bad baby boy (or girl) hums to life.. its ALL good :) James / DoggyDaddy

Do you have Office xp loaded on your PC's. There is an indexing system that makes the system run at 100% for no reason. You can turn this off and the problem is fixed. (The disabled indexing does not make any difference). Look at www.ctas.co.nz and click on the Office xp tips.

I get the same CPU 100% message after my system has been idle for awhile. I have a P4 1.7gh 256SDram and XP...i do'nt have kernel32 running either, in fact my processes use hardly any memory, and my programs don't, and still it says 100% and my computer runs slow. i have to restart it every time and it makes me mad!!!