David MacKenzie
December 11th 03, 10:51 PM
After installing SP1 on Windows XP Pro, the Task Manager's
Performance tab shows the CPU Usage staying between 40% and
60%, while the Processes tab shows the System Idle Process
taking 98%-99% of the CPU. View->Show Kernel Times reveals
that the system (kernel) is doing most of the CPU usage
(the CPU bar is mostly red, with a little green on top).
The hard drive isn't doing anything, so it's not disk I/O.
This is on a fresh install with no apps loaded or running,
and applying all of the post-SP1 updates doesn't fix it.
Neither does switching to the VIA 4-in-1 Hyperion drivers
from the Microsoft ones.
The CPU usage seems to be real, not a figment of the Task
Manager's imagination, because when I do load applications,
the response is sluggish. The computer used to be running
Windows 2000 with no performance problems.
The computer is a Duron 1300 on an MSI KT133A-based K7T
Turbo2 motherboard with 320MB of PC100 SDRAM. The video
card is a 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 AGP, though I replaced it
temporarily with an ATI Rage 128 AGP card with no effect on
the CPU usage. It has a 3com 3C905C-TX ethernet card and a
Plextor 48/24/48A CD recorder.
I haven't had this problem with SP1 on other computers,
even with KT133A motherboards (different models, though).
In the BIOS I have the onboard modem disabled but the
onboard audio enabled.
I can't find anything in the Event Viewer that looks abnormal.
Anyone have a clue how to find out what the system is doing
that's chewing so much CPU when the computer is idle?
Performance tab shows the CPU Usage staying between 40% and
60%, while the Processes tab shows the System Idle Process
taking 98%-99% of the CPU. View->Show Kernel Times reveals
that the system (kernel) is doing most of the CPU usage
(the CPU bar is mostly red, with a little green on top).
The hard drive isn't doing anything, so it's not disk I/O.
This is on a fresh install with no apps loaded or running,
and applying all of the post-SP1 updates doesn't fix it.
Neither does switching to the VIA 4-in-1 Hyperion drivers
from the Microsoft ones.
The CPU usage seems to be real, not a figment of the Task
Manager's imagination, because when I do load applications,
the response is sluggish. The computer used to be running
Windows 2000 with no performance problems.
The computer is a Duron 1300 on an MSI KT133A-based K7T
Turbo2 motherboard with 320MB of PC100 SDRAM. The video
card is a 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 AGP, though I replaced it
temporarily with an ATI Rage 128 AGP card with no effect on
the CPU usage. It has a 3com 3C905C-TX ethernet card and a
Plextor 48/24/48A CD recorder.
I haven't had this problem with SP1 on other computers,
even with KT133A motherboards (different models, though).
In the BIOS I have the onboard modem disabled but the
onboard audio enabled.
I can't find anything in the Event Viewer that looks abnormal.
Anyone have a clue how to find out what the system is doing
that's chewing so much CPU when the computer is idle?