Every 60 seconds or so, my computer sounds like it's running a pro

....or booting up or something. Sounds like a fan starts up and gets really
loud. Just really annoying and can't figure out how to make it stop. Any
suggestions?

You need to find the specific process or application that's taking all
the CPU resources and causing all the noise.

To do this try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...sExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
(This will provide the detailed info you need)
Next click on the CPU column to sort processes by %CPU usage when the
problem occurs.
Then click on the process that's using most or all the CPU %,
once it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
google
This should display what out there on the web about that process.

Note: some entries like Explorer and svchost may need to be expanded to show
the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left on the
entry.

Still another tool is What's Running
http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

JS

"AGGIEALUM98" wrote in message
...
...or booting up or something. Sounds like a fan starts up and gets
really
loud. Just really annoying and can't figure out how to make it stop. Any
suggestions?

JS - thanks for the info. I've noticed in the task manager that the "System
Idle Process" is constantly above 90 CPU and most of the time up to 99.
That's the only process that's running at anything over 0, 1 or 2 CPU. Task
manager won't let me end that process (for good reason, I'm sure). Any
suggestions as to why it's using so much CPU or is this normal?

"JS" wrote:

You need to find the specific process or application that's taking all
the CPU resources and causing all the noise.

To do this try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...sExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
(This will provide the detailed info you need)
Next click on the CPU column to sort processes by %CPU usage when the
problem occurs.
Then click on the process that's using most or all the CPU %,
once it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
google
This should display what out there on the web about that process.

Note: some entries like Explorer and svchost may need to be expanded to show
the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left on the
entry.

Still another tool is What's Running
http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

JS

"AGGIEALUM98" wrote in message
...
...or booting up or something. Sounds like a fan starts up and gets
really
loud. Just really annoying and can't figure out how to make it stop. Any
suggestions?

System Idle Process is when the system is idle or doing nothing.

2 : to run at low power and often disconnected usually so that power is not
used for useful work
the engine is idling
Definition of idle - from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

System Idle Process reference...

quote
Idle: This is a generic process that is used when no other program or
process is requiring CPU resources. It is not a bad thing if it is using 99%
of your CPU! This process is a 16 k loop that the CPU processes while it is
not doing "anything" else. If you computer is called upon to do any other
task than nothing, the idle process allows that to happen and the % used
will decrease accordingly. You can not disable the idle process. If it is
using 97% CPU, which only means that the other 3% is used by real programs.
If your idle process is constantly at a low rate (for example, 3%) something
else, an application or process is using the CPU.
quote
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/strangeservice.htm

"Note The System Idle Process indicates the unused percentage of the CPU."
Task Manager may not calculate CPU usage correctly on Windows 2000, Windows
Server 2003, or Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873289

quote
System Idle Process - You cannot end this process from Task Manager.
* This process is a single thread running on each processor, which has the
sole task of accounting for processor time when the system isn't processing
other threads. In Task Manager, expect this process to account for the
majority of processor time.
quote
Default Processes in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263201

quote
Description:
the System Idle Process is not a process, more a counter which is displayed
in WinTasks used for measuring how much idle time the CPU is having at any
particular time. This counter will display how much CPU Resources, as a
percentage are 'idle' and available for use. Cannot be killed
quote
http://www.liutilities.com/products/...dle%20Process/

quote
System Idle Process
An option in the Windows XP Task Manager that indicates what percentage of
time the CPU is currently doing nothing but waiting for work. If no
applications are running that the user is aware of (although there may
always be some tasks running in the background), the percentage can be in
the high 90s.
quote
http://www.answers.com/topic/system-idle-process

quote
System idle process
In computing, The System Idle Process is a process in the Microsoft Windows
operating system that displays, as a percentage, how much CPU resources are
"idle" and available for use at any given time. The name of this "process"
may be a misnomer, however, as the System Idle Process is more of a counter
and less of a process that actually uses the resource percentage that it
displays.
quote
http://www.answers.com/topic/system-idle-process

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In ,
AGGIEALUM98 hunted and pecked:
JS - thanks for the info. I've noticed in the task manager that the
"System Idle Process" is constantly above 90 CPU and most of the time up
to 99. That's the only process that's running at anything over 0, 1 or 2
CPU. Task manager won't let me end that process (for good reason, I'm
sure). Any suggestions as to why it's using so much CPU or is this
normal?

"JS" wrote:

You need to find the specific process or application that's taking all
the CPU resources and causing all the noise.

To do this try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...sExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
(This will provide the detailed info you need)
Next click on the CPU column to sort processes by %CPU usage when the
problem occurs.
Then click on the process that's using most or all the CPU %,
once it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
google
This should display what out there on the web about that process.

Note: some entries like Explorer and svchost may need to be expanded to
show the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left on the
entry.

Still another tool is What's Running
http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

JS

"AGGIEALUM98" wrote in message
...
...or booting up or something. Sounds like a fan starts up and gets
really
loud. Just really annoying and can't figure out how to make it stop.
Any suggestions?

System Idle at 90 to 99% is normal. However you may have a process that runs
for a short but intense (high CPU usage) period of time.

Let 'Process Monitor' run (it has a CPU usage graph for a while and look for
spikes, if there are any spike move the cursor over the spike and you should
get a popup identifying the process causing the spike.

JS

"AGGIEALUM98" wrote in message
...
JS - thanks for the info. I've noticed in the task manager that the
"System
Idle Process" is constantly above 90 CPU and most of the time up to 99.
That's the only process that's running at anything over 0, 1 or 2 CPU.
Task
manager won't let me end that process (for good reason, I'm sure). Any
suggestions as to why it's using so much CPU or is this normal?

"JS" wrote:

You need to find the specific process or application that's taking all
the CPU resources and causing all the noise.

To do this try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...sExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
(This will provide the detailed info you need)
Next click on the CPU column to sort processes by %CPU usage when the
problem occurs.
Then click on the process that's using most or all the CPU %,
once it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
google
This should display what out there on the web about that process.

Note: some entries like Explorer and svchost may need to be expanded to
show
the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left on the
entry.

Still another tool is What's Running
http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

JS

"AGGIEALUM98" wrote in message
...
...or booting up or something. Sounds like a fan starts up and gets
really
loud. Just really annoying and can't figure out how to make it stop.
Any
suggestions?

Just a stupid idea, but are there any optical disks in any of your optical
drives? On many systems, the system fans will ramp up when a disk is in
an optical drive, and often the drive itself spins up and makes a lot of
noise occasionally. When mine does it it sounds a bit like a jet engine
winding up!

I currently have two PCs up and running and I haven't noticed a problem.
When burning a CD or DVD no problem here also.

JS

wrote in message
...
Just a stupid idea, but are there any optical disks in any of your optical
drives? On many systems, the system fans will ramp up when a disk is in
an optical drive, and often the drive itself spins up and makes a lot of
noise occasionally. When mine does it it sounds a bit like a jet engine
winding up!

I'm having the same problem. The noise is driving me crazy. Along with the
freezing and super slowness. Last week when I turned on my computer the
Windows logo came up and then immediatly went to power save. I had to do a
complete system restore, lost everything. That would've been okay if all was
working now but that noise is back something that should take 60 seconds
takes 15 minutes. I downloaded the ProcessExplorer, my question; How do I
know what should and shouldn't be running? When I right click on a process, I
don't get "google" as a choice. The only thing I see with an odd "company
name" is NeoPlanet butit's not using any CPU. The "System Idle Process" is
jumping from 95 to as low as 67, when that happens msn explorer and the
process explorer usage goes up, is that normal?

THANKS!

"JS" wrote:

You need to find the specific process or application that's taking all
the CPU resources and causing all the noise.

To do this try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...sExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
(This will provide the detailed info you need)
Next click on the CPU column to sort processes by %CPU usage when the
problem occurs.
Then click on the process that's using most or all the CPU %,
once it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
google
This should display what out there on the web about that process.

Note: some entries like Explorer and svchost may need to be expanded to show
the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left on the
entry.

Still another tool is What's Running
http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

JS

"AGGIEALUM98" wrote in message
...
...or booting up or something. Sounds like a fan starts up and gets
really
loud. Just really annoying and can't figure out how to make it stop. Any
suggestions?

Forgot that when Microsoft acquired SysInternals they released a new version
(the one your using) that now should say 'Search Online' when you right
click (Ctrl+M), which now sends a search query to MSN's Live search and not
Google's search engine as did the previous version.

As to what should be running, it depends on what you have installed on your
PC that runs when you boot and then log on, as well as a number of
SVCHOST.EXE processes that will be displayed when you expand on the process
named 'SERVICES.EXE'.

Remember that the process tree is displayed like a folder tree so you will
need to click on the + symbols to traverse do the tree to get to the lower
levels.

If you what to see what loads when you boot try Autoruns.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys.../Autoruns.mspx
This will show all apps/etc. that load/run when you first boot and
selectively allow you to stop any that you don't want.

JS

"Becky" wrote in message
...
I'm having the same problem. The noise is driving me crazy. Along with the
freezing and super slowness. Last week when I turned on my computer the
Windows logo came up and then immediatly went to power save. I had to do a
complete system restore, lost everything. That would've been okay if all
was
working now but that noise is back something that should take 60 seconds
takes 15 minutes. I downloaded the ProcessExplorer, my question; How do I
know what should and shouldn't be running? When I right click on a
process, I
don't get "google" as a choice. The only thing I see with an odd "company
name" is NeoPlanet butit's not using any CPU. The "System Idle Process" is
jumping from 95 to as low as 67, when that happens msn explorer and the
process explorer usage goes up, is that normal?

THANKS!

"JS" wrote:

You need to find the specific process or application that's taking all
the CPU resources and causing all the noise.

To do this try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...sExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
(This will provide the detailed info you need)
Next click on the CPU column to sort processes by %CPU usage when the
problem occurs.
Then click on the process that's using most or all the CPU %,
once it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
google
This should display what out there on the web about that process.

Note: some entries like Explorer and svchost may need to be expanded to
show
the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left on the
entry.

Still another tool is What's Running
http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

JS

"AGGIEALUM98" wrote in message
...
...or booting up or something. Sounds like a fan starts up and gets
really
loud. Just really annoying and can't figure out how to make it stop.
Any
suggestions?