why my cpu usage is always 100%?

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simonchen · #1 Post by **simonchen** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:15 am

I am using T40, with 1.3G cpu. I am using win xp.
My original wireless card is intel 11b, and I upgraded it to IBM b/g.
I am using a D-Link DI-524 router at home. The problem is, when my laptop is near the router, the cpu usage is fine. But when I move my laptop a little far away, say upstairs, the cpu usage will immediately grow up to 100% and everything becomes slow. Same thing happened when I was using a buffalo router.
Interestingly, when I turn my screen off, the cpu usage will drop.

Anybody has met this problem before? Really need your help!
Thanks

jlingo · #2 Post by **jlingo** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:33 am

Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc button and then go to processes tab. and identify, the process that is 100% most of the time, right click and choose end task, you should be saved then or, you can also right click to lower the priority.
But this will only be temporary. Once you found the specific file that causes the problem, I suggest that you uninstall them.

simonchen · #3 Post by **simonchen** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:35 am

Thanks. But I have done that for many times, no process is suspicious...
Another thing I forgot to say, when I turn my wireless off, the cpu usage will become normal again.
So I am highly concerned that it might be something wrong with the wireless driver.

jlingo wrote:Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc button and then go to processes tab. and identify, the process that is 100% most of the time, right click and choose end task, you should be saved then or, you can also right click to lower the priority.
But this will only be temporary. Once you found the specific file that causes the problem, I suggest that you uninstall them.

#4 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:41 am

You might have some spyware, trojan, worm or virus hijacking your internet connection. You should do a full virus and spyware scan - preferrably in Safe Mode. Apparantly with Spybot anyway, it only scans the user you are logged into, so if you have more than one user profile set up on your machine, you need to scan for spyware under each user profile.

Deckard · #5 Post by **Deckard** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 12:17 pm

Agreed with the above replies, it could be a spyware or something similar.

As for checking the processes, I'd recommend Process Explorer, it's a lot better than the built-in task manager and it's freeware.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/P ... lorer.html

There are some other great utilities on the site.

Cheers

#6 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 12:47 pm

I just recalled something I read recently on another post about the user's laptop being hot all the time. The reason was he was running SETI@HOME, which uses spare processing power on the PC to perform massive calculations or some such. If you have installed the above, it could be the reason for heavy CPU usage.

laz · #7 Post by **laz** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:09 pm

SETI shouldn't slow things down though. It adjusts its CPU usage based on what other programs are using.

briank · #8 Post by **briank** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 8:03 am

No it won't slow things down because its priority is set to low, but it never lets your CPU idle, so more stress, more power, more heat is used.

simonchen · #9 Post by **simonchen** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 12:58 pm

thanks for everybody's reply.

I am running process explorer to find the reason.
surprisingly, I found that it is hardware interrupts and DPCs(deferred procedure calls) that are using up all the cpu resource.

Does anybody know what this is about?

dr. zoidberg · #10 Post by **dr. zoidberg** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 8:29 pm

I have the exact same problem and the IBM (atheros) a/b/g card. It appears to happen the most when the wireless card is about to lose the connection. The cpu usage will go to 100% with "Interrupts" and "DPCs" taking up all the resources, and the computer becomes completely unresponsive. It lasts until the connection becomes stable again or you disable the wireless.

I spoke to IBM about it but i was unable to convince them it was a driver problem (I have no problems when connected to the wireless at my school) and they sent me a new wireless card anyways. Of course it didnt fix it.

Maybe someone else here can talk to them and make them fix this stupid problem once and for all.

davidspalding · #11 Post by **davidspalding** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:17 am

I'm confused. if you run Task Manager (CTRL + SHIFT + ESC), click the processes tab, and then click the CPU column (sort highest to lowest), none of the processes indicates high use (> 75%)?? Do you see "System Idle Process" taking up a lot, WHILE the Performance tab is indicating 100% use?

That would tell me you have a Trojan or something.

While you're at it, in the Performance tab, enable View > Show Kernel times. The little red line is useful to show if it's the OS kernel driving the CPU utilization.

dr. zoidberg · #12 Post by **dr. zoidberg** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:02 pm

davidspalding wrote:I'm confused. if you run Task Manager (CTRL + SHIFT + ESC), click the processes tab, and then click the CPU column (sort highest to lowest), none of the processes indicates high use (> 75%)?? Do you see "System Idle Process" taking up a lot, WHILE the Performance tab is indicating 100% use?

That would tell me you have a Trojan or something.

While you're at it, in the Performance tab, enable View > Show Kernel times. The little red line is useful to show if it's the OS kernel driving the CPU utilization.

Those processes aren't shown in Task Manager. You need to get Process Explorer (a very good, free process viewer far superior to task manager)
The "Interrupts" and "DPCs" aren't processes in the normal sense since they take up no memory and are un-endable. The Interrupts 'process' is described by Process Explorer as Hardware Interrupts and DPCs are Deferred Procedure Calls

From Microsoft:
"Interrupt Time is an indirect indicator of the activity of devices that generate interrupts, such as the system clock, the mouse, disk drivers, data communication lines, network interface cards, and other peripheral devices. These devices normally interrupt the processor when they have completed a task or require attention. Normal thread execution is suspended during interrupts"

"DPCs are interrupts that run at a lower priority than standard interrupts"

davidspalding · #13 Post by **davidspalding** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:10 pm

Interesting ... and amazing. I've never seen a CPU go 100% and nothing in teh processes tab accounts for it. That's on NT4, 2000, XP and 2003. See something new every day, I guess.

#14 Post by **Kyocera** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 4:37 pm

David Spalding:

See something new every day, I guess.

Yes, it is nice to keep an open mind and learn from others, as we don't know it all.

LtTPfan · #15 Post by **LtTPfan** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:28 pm

Kyocera wrote:Yes, it is nice to keep an open mind and learn from others, as we don't know it all.

I'm a 52-year-old college senior, and while I'd say in most classes I already know 90+% of the info, I always learn something. And, as a martial arts instructor for many years, I am amazed at what I learn from even the youngest novice students.

Someone's sig here says something like, "The more I learn the less I think I know." I like that.

roadwarrior · #16 Post by **roadwarrior** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:43 am

Hi, I am thrilled to find someone has the same problem! My DPC's skyrocket on my Z60t when the connection is really weak on the WIFI. I have an Athero WIFI card too. Anyone else have this...or even better...have a fix for it??

DS

christopher_wolf · #17 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 3:56 pm

I haven't used the IBM/Atheros Cards on the Z60; but I imagine there should be a power level option just like on the Intel 2915ABG. In theory, it could be that, on the high/low power save option, it throttles the power output of the Wireless card. After this however, either on the high/low powersave setting, that the card has to make more "passes" at trying to find the network and lock onto it. Have you tried changing these settings and noticing what effect that has on the CPU Usage? Just a thought.

#18 Post by **BillMorrow** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:33 pm

ADMIN NOTE:
Dear Mr. roadwarrior,
please fix your email address..
*********
The original message was received at Mon, 13 Feb 2006 13:48:36 -0700
from 216-229-78-9-cablemodem-roll.fidnet.com [216.229.78.9]

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<daus300b@excite.com>
(reason: 550 <daus300b@excite.com>: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in virtual alias table)

----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to xmxpita.excite.com.:
>>> RCPT To:<daus300b@excite.com>
<<< 550 <daus300b@excite.com>: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in virtual alias table
550 5.1.1 <daus300b@excite.com>... User unknown
*********

and when it is fixed, let me know..

many thanks

roadwarrior · #19 Post by **roadwarrior** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:43 pm

sorry about that! Email is fixed..
DS

roadwarrior · #20 Post by **roadwarrior** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:39 am

I tried to adjusting the powersave mode, roam time and roam threshold. All were unsuccessful. Without a doubt, this problem happens on wifi connections that are weak and haven't established a connection.

DS

davidspalding · #21 Post by **davidspalding** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 2:19 pm

... Have NOT established a connection? Well, if AC or something is busily trying to negotiate a connection, that *might* account for the problem.

dr. zoidberg · #22 Post by **dr. zoidberg** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:49 am

Even if the driver is trying to negotiate a connection, it should be efficient about it, not make your computer completely unusable.

I'm pretty sure its the driver because I've tried it without Access Connection and even with the standard Atheros Client Utility and it still did it.

I gave up a long time a go trying to fix it. If only IBM would release updated drivers! There are updated drivers available for the non-ibm version of the Atheros card but they don't work with the IBM branded ones.

hoya · #23 Post by **hoya** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:38 pm

I thought this problem was ONLY occurring on the new Atheros cards found on the Z60 series, but it appears that it also happens on the T series.

for the affected users, are you using the IBM 11a/b/g I or II card? you can check device manager to see which is installed.

SpunkyXL · #24 Post by **SpunkyXL** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 5:48 pm

just do a format c:, and re-install the OS

hoya · #25 Post by **hoya** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:59 pm

SpunkyXL wrote:just do a format c:, and re-install the OS

what are you talking about? take a minute to understand the problem before wasting our time with such a thoughtless post.

dr. zoidberg · #26 Post by **dr. zoidberg** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:29 am

I have the IBM a/b/g I.

I thought this problem was ONLY occurring on the new Atheros cards found on the Z60

This further confirms my suspicion that it's a driver related issue. I'm curious to find out if any Thinkpads with this card which are running linux exhibit the same problem?

donking! · #27 Post by **donking!** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:32 am

dr. zoidberg wrote:I gave up a long time a go trying to fix it. If only IBM would release updated drivers! There are updated drivers available for the non-ibm version of the Atheros card but they don't work with the IBM branded ones.

Is that true? You can't just use the Atheros updates? Why would that be? It seems like it makes it more difficult for users and more of a pain for Lenovo to deal with.

What about switching to another manufacturer's card? Does this mean one can only uses wireless cards supported by Lenovo?

Or even has anyone tried switching to an Intel card as a solution?

#28 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:38 am

donking! wrote:What about switching to another manufacturer's card? Does this mean one can only uses wireless cards supported by Lenovo?

Or even has anyone tried switching to an Intel card as a solution?

Only IBM/Lenovo branded cards will work out-of-the-box. IBM/Lenovo has several different manufacturers cards that they offer. They modify the firmware in the card so that the BIOS looks for the IBM signature before booting up. There are hacks to get around this issue.

As an example, you can get an IBM Intel 2200BG card that will work without a hitch. But if you buy an Intel 2200BG card from Newegg, it will not work without the hack. Search "1802" (without quotes) for more info.

dr. zoidberg · #29 Post by **dr. zoidberg** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 12:15 pm

donking! wrote:Or even has anyone tried switching to an Intel card as a solution?

I was thinking about that but I've read that some people have problems with that card and Linksys wrt54g routers (which i own).

donking! · #30 Post by **donking!** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:20 pm

dr. zoidberg wrote:I was thinking about that but I've read that some people have problems with that card and Linksys wrt54g routers (which i own).

Maybe you could convince Lenovo that this is their problem, since they're not even providing a driver update, when Atheros has. So they should send you the Intel card gratis. Then at least you can try it with your router.

I had a similar problem with a Linksys PCMCIA wireless card once. I know it can be very aggravating when the CPU locks up like that.

why my cpu usage is always 100%?

why my cpu usage is always 100%?

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