Hardware & Technical CPU maxed out - help!

Caspar · Apr 2, 2016

I'm baffled.

I've noticed that my CPU fan has been going mental recently - so I checked task manager and found that all 6 cores (FX6350) are at 100%. I thought it would be easy to troubleshoot:

* Load up task manager
* Look at Resource Monitor
* Sort processes by CPU usage
* Find evil process and kill it ... remove the software etc

But I can't find any killer process. Nothing!

I tried running TM and RM as admin to see if hidden processes were causing the workload - but nothing.

Any ideas???

EDIT:

Also I've tried upgrading the BIOS ... and booting in to safe mode. Same all round.

Edit - here's what it looks like from Windows 10 Resource Monitor .. and Process Explorer -

http://imgur.com/a/4sKDp

Why the difference???

Porina · Apr 2, 2016

What version of windows? Is task manager set to show processes from all users? In later windows there's a details tab in task manager that shows different stuff from the process tab that might give a clue also.

DanTheMan · Apr 2, 2016

I used to get that on my AMD 6-Core CPU when an internal Windows "System" process just took over everything.
I found the only way to stop it each time was a re-boot.

Surfinjo · Apr 2, 2016

Caspar said:
I'm baffled.

I've noticed that my CPU fan has been going mental recently - so I checked task manager and found that all 6 cores (FX6350) are at 100%. I thought it would be easy to troubleshoot:

* Load up task manager
* Look at Resource Monitor
* Sort processes by CPU usage
* Find evil process and kill it ... remove the software etc

But I can't find any killer process. Nothing!

I tried running TM and RM as admin to see if hidden processes were causing the workload - but nothing.

Any ideas???

EDIT:

Also I've tried upgrading the BIOS ... and booting in to safe mode. Same all round.

Edit - here's what it looks like from Windows 10 Resource Monitor .. and Process Explorer -

http://imgur.com/a/4sKDp

Why the difference???

Use these:

http://www.nektra.com/products/spystudio-api-monitor/spystudio-purchase/ This will tell you exactly what is running and allow you to stop it. Needs some study to use it effectively.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/rkill/

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/junkware-removal-tool/

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

Good luck.

Caspar · Apr 2, 2016

Porina said:
What version of windows? Is task manager set to show processes from all users? In later windows there's a details tab in task manager that shows different stuff from the process tab that might give a clue also.

Windows 10 .. the UI seems quite dumbed down from previous efforts and I can't find a switch that reveals additional processes.

@SurfinJo ... thanks for these. I'll dig in to see what I can find. Much appreciated.

lysan · Apr 2, 2016

Caspar said:
Windows 10 .. the UI seems quite dumbed down from previous efforts and I can't find a switch that reveals additional processes.

@SurfinJo ... thanks for these. I'll dig in to see what I can find. Much appreciated.

Oh well, that is the evil windows version, only a good old exorcist can fix that one.

Still there after a reboot?

Porina · Apr 2, 2016

Task manager, details tab. Click on CPU to sort for max usage first. Any clues there?

The show all processes option I think was more a Win7 thing as I don't recall seeing it on Win10.

There is a known thing with Windows which may contribute, dunno if it is worse on Win10. After updating some MS software, particularly after a Windows Update, but could be other times too, you can get high CPU usage while it optimises stuff. It will eventually pass if left alone. On slower computers it does seem to take much longer.

Tomtom · Apr 3, 2016

Check your CPU clock speed and temperature as well. If the CPU cooling has failed it will throttle back to prevent overheating, which might result in seeing 100% usage even while doing very little.

xondk · Apr 3, 2016

Caspar said:
Windows 10 .. the UI seems quite dumbed down from previous efforts and I can't find a switch that reveals additional processes.

@SurfinJo ... thanks for these. I'll dig in to see what I can find. Much appreciated.

on windows 10, its process monitor is much much improved actually but has different modes and choices, default one is kept a bit simple for good reason.

Porina said:
http://s5.postimg.org/azpht4pnr/taskmgrdetails.png

Task manager, details tab. Click on CPU to sort for max usage first. Any clues there?

The show all processes option I think was more a Win7 thing as I don't recall seeing it on Win10.

There is a known thing with Windows which may contribute, dunno if it is worse on Win10. After updating some MS software, particularly after a Windows Update, but could be other times too, you can get high CPU usage while it optimises stuff. It will eventually pass if left alone. On slower computers it does seem to take much longer.

You are running boinc or similar program that is using your computer to make calculations for certain stuff, be it SETI@HOME or folding@home, or many kinds of other stuff you can 'help' with by allowing them to use your cpu/gpu, it is a program that allows scientific endeavours to use your CPU and GPU to process the large amounts of data that they have. Which takes up a lot/all of your CPU/GPU because that is what it is meant to do, so stop the program and the problem should go away.

Also note in windows 10: open task manager, hit more details.

Porina · Apr 3, 2016

xondk said:
You are running boinc or similar program that is using your computer to make calculations for certain stuff

I know I am, the screenshot was put up to illustrate what the OP could look for.

Surfinjo · Apr 3, 2016

xondk said:
on windows 10, its process monitor is much much improved actually but has different modes and choices, default one is kept a bit simple for good reason.

Yep, it is good.

But if you check out Spy Studio you will see the difference. http://www.nektra.com/products/spystudio-api-monitor/spystudio-purchase/

The difference is huge.

GuruNot · Apr 7, 2016

Caspar said:
I'm baffled.

I've noticed that my CPU fan has been going mental recently - so I checked task manager and found that all 6 cores (FX6350) are at 100%. I thought it would be easy to troubleshoot:

* Load up task manager
* Look at Resource Monitor
* Sort processes by CPU usage
* Find evil process and kill it ... remove the software etc

But I can't find any killer process. Nothing!

I tried running TM and RM as admin to see if hidden processes were causing the workload - but nothing.

Any ideas???

EDIT:

Also I've tried upgrading the BIOS ... and booting in to safe mode. Same all round.

Edit - here's what it looks like from Windows 10 Resource Monitor .. and Process Explorer -

http://imgur.com/a/4sKDp

Why the difference???

I am personally a fan of the sysinternal tools, if you want to see what is running on your machine try Process Explorer , you can either run it direct from here or download the zip from their page.

Should anything look suspicious , then download and run Hitman Pro , if it finds anything you can immediately activate a free fully functional 30 day trial to clear it up.