T43 CPU load hitting 100% due to "hardware Interrupts&q

[DDGuy]

I have seen this happening quite often in my T43. When this happens there is a constant hard disk activity and "Process explorer" will show that a lot of CPU usage is due to "hardware interupts" (Windows task manager is not good enough as it shows CPU usage way less than what its own trend page shows). Once this happens, my system will become very slow. I posted this before and got a fantastic solution - go to yr device manager and check the current transfer mode of your primary/ secondary IDE channels (U will find it under advanced tab), if its PIO mode and not Ultra DMA5, then you must delete your IDE channels and reboot, windows will recreate them with current mode as Ultra DMA5 and ask u to reboot one more time and then its all fine. Almost my magic the shutdown/ reboot times will become 20% of what they were.

My question is that why does it keep happening to me every few weeks. I searched and saw that many people believe that its something to do with Wireless Driver. I am already at 9.0.2.31 for my 2200BG card and even though Software installer tells me that a new version (9.0.4. is available, I am not quite sure its worth trying it out. Any body who tried it out?

[DDGuy]

the new wireless version is 9.0.4 dot 8 and sorry about that smiley...dunno from where it came

[DDGuy]

Here's some new info....

today the deleting IDE channel trick also doesn't seem to work, The DMA mode lasted for a few mins before the hard disk light went crazy again, lots of CPU load due to hardware interrupt and when I checked again the mode had gone down to PIO again....I disabled my Odysessy client fo wireless, had no impact on hardware interrupt load.

Secondly, there is no virus/ trojan at work here. I have latest Mcfee AV and Windows defender running.

[GomJabbar]

Just some ideas.

Your hard drive may be failing. If possible check your hard drive with one of the following tools. You need an external USB floppy drive to boot from though.

Hitachi Drive Fitness Test

Fujitsu Diagnostic Tool

Maybe your hard drive controller or DMA controller is going bad. That would require a new system board. Try running PC-Doctor diagnostics.

Maybe your optical drive (CD/DVD) is causing the problem. Remove the optical drive for awhile and see if your hard drive will stay in DMA mode.

Maybe you have something else using DMA causing a conflict. Look in device manager for any other devices that might be using DMA.

[DDGuy]

Your hard drive may be failing. If possible check your hard drive with one of the following tools. You need an external USB floppy drive to boot from though.

I don't have a external USB Floppy drive. I just have a removable DVD/CDRW. I do have an external 40 GB disk connected on the USB port, while all this was happening. How do I run these tests now?? Can I use that external disk as bootable floppy?

Maybe your hard drive controller or DMA controller is going bad. That would require a new system board. Try running PC-Doctor diagnostics.

U mean http://www.pcdocpro.com/ ? It wasn't the top google result for PC Doctor, hence the doubt.

Maybe your optical drive (CD/DVD) is causing the problem. Remove the optical drive for awhile and see if your hard drive will stay in DMA mode.

Will do....I did hear the CD drive suddnely whirring to life for 5 secs while all this was going on

Maybe you have something else using DMA causing a conflict. Look in device manager for any other devices that might be using DMA.

Hmm...how do I go about finding as to which all devices are using DMA?

[GomJabbar]

Start > All Programs > PC-Doctor for Windows > PC-Doctor.

Start > Contol Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager.
Click on + sign to expand, then double-click on device, then click on the Resources tab (if present). If DMA is used, it will show up there. Actually, looking at my system just now, I doubt if you will find any DMA conflicts there.

[DDGuy]

Start > All Programs > PC-Doctor for Windows > PC-Doctor.

Start > Contol Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager.
Click on + sign to expand, then double-click on device, then click on the Resources tab (if present). If DMA is used, it will show up there. Actually, looking at my system just now, I doubt if you will find any DMA conflicts there.

PC-Doc was not installed on my T43 (My company has a spcecial s/w distribution, which excluded it), so I d/l it from IBM site, burned it in a CD and ran the tests - all tests passed.

Device manager shows no conflicts in resources tab.

After a few tries, my disk is now staying on to DMA mode but I am sure its only a matter of time, till again I get that crazy CPU load back and then the disk will again fall back to PIO mode....or is it the other way around - first the disk falls to PIO and then I get the CPUload

[DDGuy]

I even dowloaded Hitachi's DFT, burned the ISO and ran the tests - no issues

[mapleH]

I have seen this happening quite often in my T43. When this happens there is a constant hard disk activity and "Process explorer" will show that a lot of CPU usage is due to "hardware interupts" (Windows task manager is not good enough as it shows CPU usage way less than what its own trend page shows). Once this happens, my system will become very slow. I posted this before and got a fantastic solution - go to yr device manager and check the current transfer mode of your primary/ secondary IDE channels (U will find it under advanced tab), if its PIO mode and not Ultra DMA5, then you must delete your IDE channels and reboot, windows will recreate them with current mode as Ultra DMA5 and ask u to reboot one more time and then its all fine. Almost my magic the shutdown/ reboot times will become 20% of what they were.

My question is that why does it keep happening to me every few weeks. I searched and saw that many people believe that its something to do with Wireless Driver. I am already at 9.0.2.31 for my 2200BG card and even though Software installer tells me that a new version (9.0.4. is available, I am not quite sure its worth trying it out. Any body who tried it out?

maybe you can update the SATA power management driver to solve the problem,bcz I
see that in the update histroy:(Fix) Solves a hard drive being slow due to change the transfer mode
from UDMA-5 to PIO.
(This will resume to the UDMA-5 mode at installation time)

[DDGuy]

maybe you can update the SATA power management driver to solve the problem,bcz I
see that in the update histroy:(Fix) Solves a hard drive being slow due to change the transfer mode
from UDMA-5 to PIO.
(This will resume to the UDMA-5 mode at installation time)

Wow !! that's a fantastic observation !!! I had downloaded various drivers recently and I didn't remember seeing this SATA driver but after your post I scanned again and I found that it got released on 16th may, i.e. a day before I posted this... so its great that u pointed it out to me.

I have loaded thait now and of course only time will tell if it was of any use...but of course, the fix description looks very promising indeed.

[bhtooefr]

I'll use this thread even though it's in the wrong section for my problem (I have an R51e), because it discusses the same problem. It's going into PIO for no good reason.

Today, I was installing something when I noticed scary high CPU usage numbers. I checked in Process Explorer, and saw that interrupts were going crazy.

So, I look it up, and see this thread. The OP said to delete the primary and secondary IDE channels.

Well... I'm posting from the old X21, because I can only boot into safe mode now. I get a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA BSOD when trying to start Windows normally on the R. Safe mode, however, it's normal, but slow.

Ideas on getting it working again? Preferably NOT involving reinstalling Windows?

[Aszu]

Sometimes deleting a Primary IDE channel may be harmful to registry.
When it happens, you will see a failure during booting Windows.

It's easier to install Windows again than playing around the registry.
And don't forget to update SATA PM driver!

[bhtooefr]

Actually, I fixed the issue...

Somewhere on here, searching for PIO, I found a registry hack that made it work PROPERLY.

[GomJabbar]

Sometimes deleting a Primary IDE channel may be harmful to registry.
When it happens, you will see a failure during booting Windows.

It's easier to install Windows again than playing around the registry.
And don't forget to update SATA PM driver!

Worked fine for me, when I needed to do that (delete Primary and Secondary IDE channels).

[Aszu]

Your're lucky one. I once had seen a dead one.