Intermittent cyclic slowdown due to processor spikes

[David Jones]

While not a catch-all, this is normally caused by one of
two things: Bad hardware or drivers, and utilties (like
motherboard monitors) that update every few seconds.

Start by closing everything in your taskbar and
notification tray, save Task Manager, and see which
process in Task Manager shows as using the CPU when you
hit a spike.

If you're still spiking, try removing all network cables,
all USB devices, and all unnecessary hardware. After
that, start updating your drivers, especially
video/sound/chipset/USB.

It's also helpful to know if this has always happened, or
if it is fairly recent. You may want to run a virus scan
as well.


>-----Original Message-----
>
>I am experiencing a cyclic (every few seconds) slow-down
>problem due to high intermittent processor utilization
on
>my Windows XP Professional Dell PC. The processor
>gets 'arrested' every few seconds. The processor
>utilization keeps going up and down every few seconds
>from 0-6% to 80-100%. Every time the processor
>utilization goes up, my systems temporarily freezes and
>even the mouse does not move. It will free up for a few
>seconds and do the same thing (i.e. freeze up) again?
>
>Any help in this regard would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks!
>.
>