Odd issue wtih CPU freeze ups

[BigTimMN]

It started yesterday with random freezes on the PC, while the wife was online playing warcraft, could only get it to work by doing a hard reboot.

last night i was trying to diagnose the issue, and it took a long time to reboot, i tried scans and multiple other issues and came to this one perplexing issue

On the CPU usage scren in task manager, the first core is looking normal tiny spikes and basically flat lined.

But no matter what i am doing the 2nd cpu is lookign like a heart monitor, spiking up to 100% and back to zero, every 2 seconds.

could the core be failing?

 

[BigTimMN]

Additional information, the PC takes about 2 minutes to boot up if not longer.. at first i thought it was the HD failing and causing these issues, until it began to happen when just trying to open "My Computer" to access the list of drives sometimes taking 30 seconds or more.


it even can take upwards of a minute to bring up task manager, but memory and overall cpu usage are always on the low end, just the crazy spikes on 2nd CPU.

It even occurs in safe mode.

 

[Frank Jr.]

I am no computer wiz but have you tried looking at your system resources in task manager. You may find something there. Also click on run type in msconfig and look at your startup files. You may be able to eliminate some things there as well. Good luck!

 

[BigTimMN]

Its nothing out of the oridinary running as far as i can tell, that was one of the first thing i looked at, ran spyware scans and they wre spotless (at least for as long as i could afford to let them run with the issues, completed 100k files worth). No real downloading or anything is done on this PC, only my wife and I are on it, so i was fairly confident i didnt pick something up anyways.

Its just the one core doing a constant spike from 0 to 100 every 2 to 3 seconds. with nothing running.

 

[navychop]

Got to let it do a complete scan. BTW, I have approx 2 million files on my computer.

 

[raiden]

Take a look at your heat sink on your CPU and make sure its not loaded up with dust. This may cause some freezing. Not sure if its the cause of the problem, but won't hurt to look.

 

[mdonnelly]

Got to let it do a complete scan. BTW, I have approx 2 million files on my computer.

Ditto.

Check the services running, and see which one is gobbling up the CPU time.

Run "msconfig.exe" from the Start Menu, select "Diagnostic Startup", restart, and see if it speeds up. If you were able to find the resource hog, run "msconfig" again, uncheck the service, and do a "Normal Startup".

 

[BigTimMN]

I am 99% confident in the issues being not related to spyware/malware.

I have fixed literally a couple hundred PC's with those type of issues, as i diagnosed and fixed issues for a side job for a few years.

This is somethign different, and i had never seen the CPU usage monitor exhibit the spiking from 100 to 0 back to 100 etc no matter whats going on, before i saw this i was leaning toward HD failure but that didnt make sense either as the HD was sounding normal with no extra clicking, grinding or anything.

plus, if it was spyware/malware it doesnt affect the PC at bootup.. the loading screen (with the flashing loading bar) stays on for about 2 minutes now and then the vista logo comes on and the screen goes dark for another minute or so and then the desktop comes up.

This all started yesterday, and i know for a fact nothing has been added or downloaded to that pc in at least 2 weeks, and nothing out of a small group of programs are ever used.

 

[Kevinw]

Check heat temps. WOW can really put the screws to a video card. I had to replace my sons as well as his power supply to get the lock ups to quit.

 

[JimK2]

Ditto.

Check the services running, and see which one is gobbling up the CPU time.

Run "msconfig.exe" from the Start Menu, select "Diagnostic Startup", restart, and see if it speeds up. If you were able to find the resource hog, run "msconfig" again, uncheck the service, and do a "Normal Startup".

I would run safe mode (F8 after beep) to see if cpu activity stops, if it does, then I would reboot and run "msconfig.exe" and uncheck everything in start-up and bring back and test by adding 5 at a time.

Do you have anyway to monitor incoming and outgoing internet data, that cpu spike might be a trojan trying to connect to a server.

Analogx Netstat Live is a good data traffic monitor.

Trojan Remover v6.7.6

 

[gbjbany]

What type of computer (laptop desktop), what OS.i assume windows but which one. what Chip, AMD or Intel, i assume dual core based on your comments

Have you tried to check the memory is seated ok ?
If you have multiple memory chips try see if one of these out fixes the issue.

is it possible it's overheating ? fans not working or blocked.
heatsink as someone else said is it seated ok.

Have you tried setting affinity (task manager) of a program to the second cpu ? if so does it hang immediately.

 

[Frank Jr.]

If you are using a laptop turn it off and remove the battery. I assume you have an a/c adapter. Turn it back on and click on control panel, then power options. Set it to never run on batteries. Hope this works. This can be caused by a bad battery. Something in Windows.............

 

[Foxbat]

Have you looked inside the case to examine your electrolytic capacitors? Depending on how old your PC is, this could be your problem. See the Bad-Caps site (Badcaps.net - How To Identify) and see if this looks familiar.