[CountRugen]

OK, here's the deal.

A few months ago I shut down my pc the hard way, by accidentally hitting the power strip's switch with my foot. When next I turned it on, it was running pecularly slow. That was 2 months ago. Since then it's been getting slower. The exact problem is the cpu speed. When merely sitting idle it'll spike up to 80%, and when doing anything, like opening this websites page, it'll sit at 100%, turning my pc into a vegetable.

I've done everything, like:
--swapped out the ram. No go.
--swapped out the video card. No go.
--swapped out the hdd. No go.
--formatted the hdd. No go.

PC stats are P4 2.0 gh cpu, 512 ram, 60 gig hdd, ATI all-in-wonder radeon, Windows XP Pro. Runs as slow as a 386. WTH?

My theory is that maybe I fried the cpu by shutting it down hard??? ANY thoughts, ideas, experience in this department are gratefully appreciated. I don't want to have to go buy a new cpu if it's not the issue...

Sloooooooooow in VA,
Roy

 

[sgooch]

Maybe this is just me but i had the same problem and when i upgraded from Windows. ME to XP it fixed it. On Win Me I used to have mine always be at 100% no matter what it was doing. Dont let me make you have to reinstall XP pro but maybe someone else could coraberate.

 

[bookime wood]

Anything running in the background? Anti virus up to date? Scanned for spyware/malware?


bookime

 

[CountRugen]

To answer both of the above replies:
Since I formmated the hdd, the only thing on my pc is windows xp and for what it's worth, it's completely updated with all available bug fixes and whatnot from microsoft.com

 

[demi4200]

there might be a boot sector virus (i think thats what there called) so its on there forever. also check out what process are running... also have u checked into underclocking ur pc. its pretty easy to do and it might give u an idea of whats wrong. but the first thing is to check whats running in the background. check out "msconfig" and "services.msc"

 

[CountRugen]

Hmm.
Checked out the task manager and the items that tend to have the highest "Mem Usage" are the svchost.exe and explorer.exe processes.
The item that consistantly has the highest "CPU" number is the "System Idle Process."

I'm not knowledgeable about underclocking, or how to manipulate msconfig or services, but I'm dubious that it's something XP related since it was running good several months ago. Yes, I did have some virus' prior to formatting, is there a way to check if I have a boot sector virus?

 

[demi4200]

try doing a google search for info on boot sector viruses... like for "boot sector viruse dector" or somthing.

as for services.msc go here for a complete list of what all the process do... http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

its really important to know whats going on while ur comp is on...

going throught ur sevices is just a good thing to go in general for speed and stabulity.

also if u dont know what a service is just type the name into google and it will show you!

also msconfig is super simple to use but remember to not stop process from inside it thats what services.msc is for.

just do a google search for more info on useing msconfig.

and finally for underclocking this is real simple cause for most overclocks ur upping the fsb core clock and voltage. for this u would be lowering it so u aint gonna fry it just take it a step down to see if it increases stabulity. if u need info on over clocking go here:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/overclockingfaq.php

 

[CountRugen]

Thanks for all the replies thus far folks.

I located another anomaly, which possibly (hopefully) might be the cause of the high cpu usage. My device manager shows a "? Other devices" and when I click the +, it shows "? SM Bus Controller." When I click the properties for that, it shows that the device isn't functioning properly because no driver is available.

???

Where could I find a driver for said bus controller? Anyone know? I wasn't even aware a bus had a controller...

 

[dustyjay]

What we are talking about here, and correct me if I am wrong, is not the cpu running at 100% speed but rather 100% usage right? If that is the case go to Start|Run| type in "msconfig" (no quotes" |enter. go to startup tab and check to see what you have loading at start up to see what all is runningin the background. This is usually where you run into high CPU usage when you are not running anythng else. If there are things inthere you know you dont need you can uncheck them. click apply then exit, and restart your computer. See if it helps any.

 

[demi4200]

hey if u got a system restore cd (should have came with the comp) run that it sould fix ur driver problem.

 

[CountRugen]

Dusty: my startup tab in msconfig is composed of only 3 system processes (as posted above, I recently formatted my hdd)

Demi: No repair cd, this comp was bought from a poor soul who was getting shipped off to Iraq for at least a year. So I have the pc, and my copy of windows xp. However, I'm going to give your "underclocking" a try in a second here.

Hypthetical to all: If my cpu is somehow damaged (as per my original post), how could I check that or rule that possibility out?

Much thanks to all!

 

[CountRugen]

I'm now stubbornly posting for posterity. hahaha

In the hopes that those with this issue who google up this thread in the months/years to come have a starting basis for investigation...

At any rate, I got rid of the device manager bus controller problem by downloading a driver from the intel website.

Demi: went to try your underclocking, but came up empty. My comp's fsb setting only goes from 100 to 200 mhz, and it was already set at the lowest number (100). Sooooo, I tried setting it to 200 to see if maybe I could overclock the pos, but that just slooooowed me down even further. Ah well.

I'm at a standstill now and have begun searching for cheap replacement cpu's on ebay. Once again, if anyone has any ideas (or other suggestions) how to determine if my cpu is damaged from a power surge or whatnot, *please* chime in.

Thanks all!

 

[dustyjay]

If your CPU were damaged by a power surge you would not be able to boot your computer. I would venture a guess (an experienced guess) that you are having a software/OS reason why your comuter is showing such high CPU usage. simply turning the surge protector off should not do this.

 

[CountRugen]

WTG Dusty!
Based on your 900+ posts I took your advice to heart and decided to wait a day or two and allow for further exploration before going and buying new hardware, and I *think* I've found the solution (once again, a post for future troubleshooters).

This article in Microsofts knowledge base seems to fit the bill:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330512&Product=winxp

During the time frame that I accidentally turned off the power I was doing ALOT of downloading and uploading, aka, the pc was running at 100%. And if I understand the article correctly, when there's a change in power when the cpu is running at 100%, the "cpu performance state" is not "restored to its maximum state." Hence, this could be the issue. Only problem is Micro$oft wants money for this fix.

Grrr.

Comments? I'll report back after more investigation.

Your man in Havana,
The Count

 

[dustyjay]

Hey count reading the link you posted seems to apply to only laptop or notebook computers. Is the computer ou are having a problem with a laptop or notebooK? Of course this may also apply to desk top systems but that is unclear in the Microsoft Article. And the charge they are talkign about is the service call charge. as it states in the article this charge may be waived on a case by case basis. Seems so petty and dishonest of them to admit there is a problem in their software but they may or may not charge you to find out how to fix it. I guess M$ has to make up the $619 million they got fined by the European Trade coalition for unfair business practices.

 

[CountRugen]

Yep, it applies to both desktop and laptop. Yep, I jumped through M$'s hoops and went through 3 tiers of customer support. Yep, I got the security-laden encrypted hotfix file that deleted itself after installing and...

...Yep, it didn't work. My comp is the same.

The final verdict is that I am "experiencing an error similar in nature to the one described in Knowledge Base Article 330512 but dissimilar in that the prescribed hotfix has no effect on system performance." A M$ employee has now been assigned full-time to troubleshoot this issue and will call me Tuesday. After fixing the error (assuming it's the OS, which all signs seem to point to), my problem will most likely become a new knowledge base article.

Greedy and aggressive yes, but their bug-fixing process struck me as being impressive. Of course, I'll hold my toungue till after my problem actually *is* fixed. hehehe

Oh yeah, the fee for customer service only applies after the first 2 calls to M$.

Still running on a slooooooooooooow P4,
The Count

 

[barfly]

Originally posted by CountRugen:
Hmm.
Checked out the task manager and the items that tend to have the highest "Mem Usage" are the svchost.exe and explorer.exe processes.
The item that consistantly has the highest "CPU" number is the "System Idle Process."

Hmm
Am I reading this correctly?

The system idle process has a high percentage?

 

[CountRugen]

barfly: Yeah, but evidently that's typical. The percentages shown in task manager are relative, not absolute.


PROBLEM RESOLVED!!!
My absurdly high cpu usage which slowed my pc dramatically was caused by corrupted bios settings, which can be caused by power outages/surges during times of high system usage.

Bottom line, in CMOS I toggled the "Load Bios Defaults" setting and restarted the pc and it worked!

My pc is back at full speed.

Props go out to all the folks who assisted in this forum and especially to M$ for the advice.