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Vaio CPU Spikes

Started by mbaldw, March 18, 2007, 05:48 hrs

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mbaldw

Hi,

Well, after formatting the Vaio and installing XP Home (SP2) from scratch the Vaio is now very prone to CPU spikes.   For much of the time the CPU is running at 100% and everything crawls.   The problem is that there is no single program that appears to be causing the problem.   It seems that whatever program you open immediately starts using 100% of the CPU.   Here's what I've tried:

1. Spyware scan (Adaware & SpyBot) = Clean
2. Anti-virus Scan (NOD32) = Clean
3. Uninstalling ZoneAlarm and replacing with Sygate = No Change
4. Uninstalling other software known to be troublesome (e.g. Latest XviD, Nero Vision) = No change
5. Windows Update = PC up to date

Intriguingly, the problem seems to be related to KB833228.   Indeed, the Sony Vaio has this update on their downloads site, labelled as "CPU Hotfix".   However, this update is apparently included within SP2 and so I should already have it - I certainly cannot install it.   Does anyone know any other ways of nailing this problem?   Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Marc.

mbaldw

Having spent most of today trying to rectify (or at least pin down the cause), I may have stumbled slightly further forward.   It seems that the CPU spikes are typically related to Internet activity (e.g. using Internet Explorer 7, Opera 9.1 & Firefox 2.0.2).   We've been using Excel (XP), Nero, Acrobat Reader, Directory Opus & Family Tree Maker and haven't experienced any CPU spikes.   As soon as we try browsing the web, CPU = 100%.   Oddly, it is not the browser using it all.   As the browser percentage rises and falls (between 0 & ~50%), other functions (e.g. system, svchost, explorer.exe, taskmgr.exe etc.) fluctuate wildly keeping the CPU at 100%.   Even ending the browser process in Task Manager keeps the CPU at 100%, as another task just increases to take up the slack.   After a couple of minutes the system settles back down (CPU = 4 - 16%).   I've tried uninstalling Opera and using Firefox (no change) and uninstalling firefox to just use Opera (again, no change).   Outlook Express doesn't cause any problems.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Marc.

Buffalo2102

This seems to be a common problem with IE7 but I don't know if your problems are related.  Bear in mind that other programmes can use elements of IE in the background (for automatic updates) though.

Do a Google for 100% IE7 and you will see loads of hits and probably some fixes you can try, like turning off the phishing filter.

Other things to try are running things while off-line (not connected to the net or a network).
Running stuff while in Safe Mode - if that works OK then disable all non-essential startup processes in msconfig and then reboot and re-enable them one at a time (rebooting between each one).

If you suspect that KB833228 may be the issue then you could try uninstalling it from Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs.  You should then be able to reinstall it if you need to.
Vista x64 Home Premium. Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Abit IP35, 4 Gig Kingston HyperX PC8500C5 DDR2, GTX260, Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer, Antec 900 Gaming Case.

Carskick

I found Windows auto updater can cause this behavior as well. Try disabling it, and see if there is any improvement.
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mbaldw

Thanks for the suggestions, folks.   Unfortunately, it's not only IE that causes the problem.   It's just as likely to be Opera, Firefox, Word or whatever's running at the time.   Also, I thought that KB833228 might actually solve the problem (from the description on the MS website), but apparently it's incorporated into SP2 and as the laptop has that installed I was clearly mistaken.

I have also disabled Automatic Update, but the problem persists.   I think I'll try sticking Windows 2000 on it and see if I get the same problems.

Thanks again.
Marc.