Process hogging 100% CPU (XP)

WillC · Aug 6, 2008, 07:42 PM

Recently I have been having a very annoying problem with XP. Basically, the computer will freeze or lock-up for 5-10seconds in which I can't do anything (like move mouse). It first happened in team fortress 2 and at first I thought my brand new GPU had died, but I decided to wait it out and I actually was able to play again for 10 seconds before it froze again with a very annoying looping noise. I believe it is a memory issue, because before the freezing took place the game would crash with an error saying <The instruction at "0x00010111" referenced memory at "0x09da17d4". The memory could not be "written". Click on OK to terminate the program>.
So I tried to look into Task Manager to see what exact process was taking up all the memory, and I am having great troubles because I can see that indeed the CPU has 100% usage during these freezing periods, but I am unable to tell which process it is.. Also, when the computer is not freezing, loading speeds seem to be the same as before these freezes (errors or whatever - no error messages though).

It seems to be really bad soon after I log in, and it keeps freezing periodically, but then it starts to calm down. I'm not exactly sure on this as it is still freezing as I write this.

If anyone has any sort of help that would be appreciated. I have tried sys restore and virus scanning but these just don't work.

Thanks

BlueMak · Aug 6, 2008, 08:32 PM

Windows Sysinternals: Documentation, downloads and additional resources
procexp to check you running processes.

For the rest, I don't know.
From time to time I will get a similar, but not that similar message, with a "could not be written" or "read", usualy explorer crashes, but a temp problem.

Might be corrupted windows, or codecs. I am not saying it might not be something else.

mkk · Aug 6, 2008, 08:51 PM

To me that crash message suggests hardware instability like the CPU, memory or motherboard becoming unstable. The rest is likely to be symptoms of the problem rather than the cause, but you could always try updating drivers first just to try the simplest thing first. After that it's time to run some CPU stress testing or memory verification utilities, and/or having a look at BIOS settings.

WillC · Aug 6, 2008, 10:01 PM

I updated my 8800GT and GA 965P-DS3 but I haven't checked it yet.

The strange thing is, my computer worked perfectly fine all last week, I was away from home all weekend and when I got back I got the memory could not be "written" error. The next day after restarting and disabling services that are unneeded I stopped getting it but soon after the game and computer started freezing, which is the current problem. I no longer can play long enough to even see if I would still get the memory could not be "written" error. So let's say I no longer have this error, but rather this new freezing prob which is way worse because I never know when it will occur and restarting does not fix it!

Where would I find stress testing programs that I could use to see if there was a hardware problem... It might be a program called "Steam" becuase in procmon it continually makes operations over and over and it pretty much floods the screen forever. The operation is called "RegQueryValue" and "RegOpenKey", I have no idea if it has to make all those strings or whatever you would call them, but it is an online type of chat/gaming program so it might need to. I have not had a freeze yet but I was installing and running tests so I would not have noticed them until now.

Judas · Aug 6, 2008, 10:06 PM

i'd suggest downloading memtest86+ from Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

burn the iso to a cd... boot from cd.. and let it chew throug..... see if any memory errors show up.

WillC · Aug 6, 2008, 10:35 PM

Ok, so what I did to update the chipset drivers was go to the website and download the chipset rev 3.3 or whatever and then I just installed over the old one, is that how it works because I have never done it... Right after I installed the new drivers for mobo chipset it took around 10-15 mins from post screen to actually load my desktop. This seemed far from normal to me.

I ran memtest, the one where you have it go while system is running. It showed no errors, but I guess I could scrounge around here for a CD I might have one laying around I hope.

Is there other CPU stressing programs that I could use safely, I'm not really knowledgable at these things. I just know basic things but not too much about stressing systems.

mkk · Aug 6, 2008, 10:47 PM

A relatively easy to use utility is one called Orthos, that can be set to stress both CPU and RAM or either. Download Stress Prime 2004 BETA It's not quite as good at testing memory as Memtest, but good enough to start with. Leave Orthos running for at least a couple of hours and start with testing just the RAM. You can use the system for simple tasks like surfing at the same time.

WillC · Aug 7, 2008, 02:32 AM

I couldn't find out how to test just the ram so i did the CPU & RAM one. So far it passed all the tests and it's been 3 hours (11 tests).

I think it's just testing the CPU but I have no clue how this works. I don't think the computer has frozen up yet, but again I have not tried any games. It's not freezing up stressing it, I don't think the memory is being tested though. That's the only problem.

I have just selected "Large, in-place FFTs - stress some RAM" becuase that is the only RAM related test w/o testing the CPU as well. I don't know what all the FFT (min) and FFT (max) are so I did not do a custom test. Also I thought programs could only use a max of 1gig or memory?

WillC · Aug 8, 2008, 07:04 PM

BUMP

Ok, so my RAM/CPU seem to have no problems, and I still have no idea what is causing it. It seemed to have stopped for a few days but just today it started freezing and unfreezing more frequently than before. I thought the problem was fixed but as I downloaded things off of filefront it started to freeze when I had 2 downloads going. Normally that isn't enough to freeze it, but I have no clue still why it is doing this. Is there any checker I could run for processes that are malfunctioning or not supposed to be there?

Thanks

PangingJr · Aug 8, 2008, 09:08 PM

- backup your important files.
- update your motherboard's BIOS.
- test your RAM again with the software program that Judas gave you earlier,
run the memtest for 8-12 hours or longer if you like, just for this time only, and you may don't need to do this again.
this will give you a sign about 99% or so that the system's RAM is actually good.

then clean install XP, unless you have a good reason not to.
keep us posted after updating the board's BIOS and checking your RAM.

WillC · Aug 9, 2008, 08:41 PM

Ok, I will run the test tonight. Is it possible to put memtest 86+ on a floppy? I don't have many spare CDs and I have a lot of floppies lying around. I think I may have booted from floppy before with memtest86+ but I can't remember if it was the same tester.

I never flashed a BIOS before and I heard it can be risky.. If I downloaded a .exe BIOS updater is there anything I should do, like Safe Mode or something?

Gooey0037 · Jun 27, 2009, 08:46 PM

goto Task Manager and see what has the highest "Cpu" usage and see what that see what that relates too.

Aug 6, 2008, 07:42 PM	#1
WillC HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 114 Rep Power: 0	Process hogging 100% CPU (XP) Recently I have been having a very annoying problem with XP. Basically, the computer will freeze or lock-up for 5-10seconds in which I can't do anything (like move mouse). It first happened in team fortress 2 and at first I thought my brand new GPU had died, but I decided to wait it out and I actually was able to play again for 10 seconds before it froze again with a very annoying looping noise. I believe it is a memory issue, because before the freezing took place the game would crash with an error saying <The instruction at "0x00010111" referenced memory at "0x09da17d4". The memory could not be "written". Click on OK to terminate the program>. So I tried to look into Task Manager to see what exact process was taking up all the memory, and I am having great troubles because I can see that indeed the CPU has 100% usage during these freezing periods, but I am unable to tell which process it is.. Also, when the computer is not freezing, loading speeds seem to be the same as before these freezes (errors or whatever - no error messages though). It seems to be really bad soon after I log in, and it keeps freezing periodically, but then it starts to calm down. I'm not exactly sure on this as it is still freezing as I write this. If anyone has any sort of help that would be appreciated. I have tried sys restore and virus scanning but these just don't work. Thanks

Aug 6, 2008, 08:32 PM	#2
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,470 Rep Power: 349 System Specs	Windows Sysinternals: Documentation, downloads and additional resources procexp to check you running processes. For the rest, I don't know. From time to time I will get a similar, but not that similar message, with a "could not be written" or "read", usualy explorer crashes, but a temp problem. Might be corrupted windows, or codecs. I am not saying it might not be something else. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Jun 27, 2009, 08:46 PM	#12
Gooey0037 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Alcester, Uk Posts: 25 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: Process hogging 100% CPU (XP) goto Task Manager and see what has the highest "Cpu" usage and see what that see what that relates too.

Aug 6, 2008, 08:51 PM	#3
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,495 Rep Power: 132 System Specs	To me that crash message suggests hardware instability like the CPU, memory or motherboard becoming unstable. The rest is likely to be symptoms of the problem rather than the cause, but you could always try updating drivers first just to try the simplest thing first. After that it's time to run some CPU stress testing or memory verification utilities, and/or having a look at BIOS settings.

Aug 6, 2008, 10:01 PM	Thread Starter #4
WillC HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 114 Rep Power: 0	I updated my 8800GT and GA 965P-DS3 but I haven't checked it yet. The strange thing is, my computer worked perfectly fine all last week, I was away from home all weekend and when I got back I got the memory could not be "written" error. The next day after restarting and disabling services that are unneeded I stopped getting it but soon after the game and computer started freezing, which is the current problem. I no longer can play long enough to even see if I would still get the memory could not be "written" error. So let's say I no longer have this error, but rather this new freezing prob which is way worse because I never know when it will occur and restarting does not fix it! Where would I find stress testing programs that I could use to see if there was a hardware problem... It might be a program called "Steam" becuase in procmon it continually makes operations over and over and it pretty much floods the screen forever. The operation is called "RegQueryValue" and "RegOpenKey", I have no idea if it has to make all those strings or whatever you would call them, but it is an online type of chat/gaming program so it might need to. I have not had a freeze yet but I was installing and running tests so I would not have noticed them until now.

Aug 6, 2008, 10:35 PM	Thread Starter #6
WillC HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 114 Rep Power: 0	Ok, so what I did to update the chipset drivers was go to the website and download the chipset rev 3.3 or whatever and then I just installed over the old one, is that how it works because I have never done it... Right after I installed the new drivers for mobo chipset it took around 10-15 mins from post screen to actually load my desktop. This seemed far from normal to me. I ran memtest, the one where you have it go while system is running. It showed no errors, but I guess I could scrounge around here for a CD I might have one laying around I hope. Is there other CPU stressing programs that I could use safely, I'm not really knowledgable at these things. I just know basic things but not too much about stressing systems.

Aug 6, 2008, 10:47 PM	#7
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,495 Rep Power: 132 System Specs	A relatively easy to use utility is one called Orthos, that can be set to stress both CPU and RAM or either. Download Stress Prime 2004 BETA It's not quite as good at testing memory as Memtest, but good enough to start with. Leave Orthos running for at least a couple of hours and start with testing just the RAM. You can use the system for simple tasks like surfing at the same time.

Aug 7, 2008, 02:32 AM	Thread Starter #8
WillC HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 114 Rep Power: 0	I couldn't find out how to test just the ram so i did the CPU & RAM one. So far it passed all the tests and it's been 3 hours (11 tests). I think it's just testing the CPU but I have no clue how this works. I don't think the computer has frozen up yet, but again I have not tried any games. It's not freezing up stressing it, I don't think the memory is being tested though. That's the only problem. I have just selected "Large, in-place FFTs - stress some RAM" becuase that is the only RAM related test w/o testing the CPU as well. I don't know what all the FFT (min) and FFT (max) are so I did not do a custom test. Also I thought programs could only use a max of 1gig or memory?

Aug 8, 2008, 07:04 PM	Thread Starter #9
WillC HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 114 Rep Power: 0	BUMP Ok, so my RAM/CPU seem to have no problems, and I still have no idea what is causing it. It seemed to have stopped for a few days but just today it started freezing and unfreezing more frequently than before. I thought the problem was fixed but as I downloaded things off of filefront it started to freeze when I had 2 downloads going. Normally that isn't enough to freeze it, but I have no clue still why it is doing this. Is there any checker I could run for processes that are malfunctioning or not supposed to be there? Thanks

Aug 8, 2008, 09:08 PM	#10
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 71	- backup your important files. - update your motherboard's BIOS. - test your RAM again with the software program that Judas gave you earlier, run the memtest for 8-12 hours or longer if you like, just for this time only, and you may don't need to do this again. this will give you a sign about 99% or so that the system's RAM is actually good. then clean install XP, unless you have a good reason not to. keep us posted after updating the board's BIOS and checking your RAM.

Aug 9, 2008, 08:41 PM	Thread Starter #11
WillC HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 114 Rep Power: 0	Ok, I will run the test tonight. Is it possible to put memtest 86+ on a floppy? I don't have many spare CDs and I have a lot of floppies lying around. I think I may have booted from floppy before with memtest86+ but I can't remember if it was the same tester. I never flashed a BIOS before and I heard it can be risky.. If I downloaded a .exe BIOS updater is there anything I should do, like Safe Mode or something?