I’m getting a high idle process which is making AOE II jerky when I scroll around, but I’m running Firefox 3, Windows Live! Messenger, Comodo FIREWALL, WinAmp, and BitDefender.
Any help?
So, if the system idle process isn’t really using 98% of my cycles, why do I get strange delays while typing whenever the system idle process is shown using that amount? I’ll be typing an email, and the system can’t keep up (I’m not fast). All the other processes are showing sero or near it.
Andy G,
My laptop suddenly started running very slowly a couple of weeks ago, it was becoming unbearable to use, taking 15 mins to start up etc. Tried everything to get it working again as you did.
Used your little tip and it’s working perfectly again!
Thank You Thank you!
Something that I think would clarify this discussion is that a program can be slow for more reasons than not having enough CPU time available. If a program is waiting for some other operation to complete – reading a file from disk, storing data to a USB flash drive, rendering a frame on the graphics card, the CPU may be idle (and thus the Idle Process may hog the CPU, since there’s nothing better for the CPU to do), while the program appears to lag or run slowly.
I actually experience this on my Linux system sometimes – normally, my programs start very quickly, since I’ve opened them recently and they’re still cached in RAM. But if I do some operation that uses the disk a lot, like a backup or a file search, programs will launch much more slowly the next time. They don’t use a lot of CPU when starting, but there is a lot of disk activity.
All,
I have read through the comments pertaining to system idle process. My computer is fluctuating every 0.5 second or so (constantly) between 0% and 100% CPU usage and constantly switching between 95% usage between system idle process and WUSB45GC. Is this normal? I get the feeling that two programs are competing with CPU? Any help is appreciated.
Harry
Hello All, I think most ALL the problems mentioned above stems from programs automatically starting like: Auto defraging the HD or Boot sectors defraging etc, virus searches automatically activated, or maybe viruses introduced into the run folder in the registry files. Your system tray should show you what program is usuing up your resources. Check out out your run folder in Regedit, currect user, software, microsoft, windows, current version, look for your run folder. Items in this folder run automatically when you start your computer. If you dont want any program in the folder to run, delete it. CAUTION: Messing around in the registry can screw up your computer. Everytime is I see my computer bogged down, it is ALLWAYS one of the above problems. Disable or cancel operation and your computer is back to normal.
Let me make grammar corrections.
Hello All,
I think most ALL the problems mentioned above stems from programs automatically starting like: Auto defragging the HD or Boot sector defragging etc, or virus searches automatically activated, or maybe viruses introduced into the run folder in the registry files. Your system tray should show you what program is using up your resources. Check out your run folder in Regedit, current user, software, Microsoft, windows, current version, and look for your run folder. Items in this folder run automatically when you start your computer. If you don’t want the program in the folder to run, delete it. CAUTION: Messing around in the registry can screw up your computer. For some reason these auto Every time is I see my computer bogged down, it is ALLWAYS one of the above problems. Disable, stop or cancel the program and your computer is back to normal. One person above mentioned letting defragging and virus searches run when you are not using the computer. For some reason these programs when automatically activated are reflected in the System idle processes usage.
I had the same issue and it completely ended after I turned off automatic update completely.
Finished reading this = the time it took for my system to free itself. It is not indexing, or updates in my case as they have always been off. Possibly hardware as I have dual monitors one being a HDTV.
Observation:
SIP was at 90% in process tab. In performance tab the CPU was @ 100%.
Now SIP reads 97% and CPU in performance tab is 0%. It took a good half an hour and nothing I can tell has changed. Yes my PC is always on…but then why is is so happy now all of a sudden? Looked in the device manager also, not seeing conflicts. Seems to me that yes in fact…SETI is using my PC. Come to think about it I think I started having this problem when the patriot act became effective.
So the question is actually…what is my CPU working on that doesn’t show up in processes? It certainly was busy.
80% of people have the same system idle process problem but still no solution from any compuetr expert!!!how awfull it is!!!
If u guys say that its coz of some virus or malware then its impossible coz i have latest kaspesky internet security n i had a full computer scan no virus or malwaare was detected…Soo y the hell 99%of my CPU is used by system idle process.Any answers???
Hey, thanks for explaining it to me, I know a lot about computers and such, but the System Idle Process has always stumped me. And I thank you for explaining it so well.
Scanning the comments on line about this, the problem I see that is repeatedly overlooked is that the computer heats up massively because of the amount of CPU that is being used by SIP. It would be nice to hear a solution that at least causes the fan to not have to run (like it was when I first go the computer and it did not overheat or kick on the fan except for when it was obviously running several programs at once.
Could this be Microsoft’s secret way to tap and channel the power of hundreds and thousands of computers into an exponentially powerful processing machine for their own benefit ?
If done at the appropriate times at short intervals… most people won’t even notice. Then again, I think I had too much Kona coffee.
Anyways, I disabled Automatic Updates and Indexing Service. No further problems.
Please test the solutions provided, and for the love of god post the solution at the top of the page. Desperate users seeking help here, should be able to find a solution as fast as possible, not drown into a sea of n3rdy p|c battlez.
What is strange to me is when the system idle process is taking 99 percent of the cpu with 100% cpu usage… I just got given to me a sony vaio vgn fs600 with problems. My friend was quoted $600 at the geek squad so she bought a new one and gave up on this… It was free and I was able to boot into safe mode, run check disk and eventually reinstall winxp pro. Sony shipped this laptop originally with xp home, but always neglects to ship the software… Turns out there is a secret partition with the reinstall… Well, in hindsight I might have tried that, but who wants xp home if you have a legit copy of pro… Now, it takes about 30 mins to boot and when I have more then 3-4 windows up it bogs terribly. So, instinctively I look at the processes… To my surprise the process taking most of the cycles is the process using the LEAST amount of mem… I don’t pretend to be a computer genius but I have spent a lot of time fixing them. What is up with my FREE vaio!? please help.
Thank you Andy G, your suggestion fixed my problem with the SIP. Still takes forever to boot, but that was the worst of my problems, here is a copy of what helped me. Again, thanks!
I had similar problems for two weeks and continued to run antispy ware and anti malware. I even starting looking at new computers until I found a blog that gave the reason and solution to my problem.
If you are having a problem with idle system idle taking all of your cpu speed and/or hardware interruptions, it is most likely from an accidental switch by your computer of IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers to PIO mode when they are supposed to be in DMA mode. To fix this, go to the control panel, open system, select hardware/select device manager, then click to expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Right click to select properties of the Primary and/or Secondary IDE Channel. Go to Advanced Settings to make sure the current transfer mode is DMA mode. If you see PIO mode anywhere in the current transfer mode or transfer mode, you will have to uninstall the driver. To do so, you need to be in the Primary or secondary IDE properties menu, then select driver, then uninstall. After uninstalling, restart the computer. When you restart, Windows XP will automatically find the driver for both the primary and secondary IDE channels. You will then have to restart and the problem should be fixed. I am not sure if this works with Vista or any other Windows versions besides XP.
It should work. I am passing this on because it took me weeks to actually fix this and I hope to save someone the headache and money of reinstalling windows or buying a new computer. Please spread the knowledge to help others.
Andy G
I am still having problems with this happening. I have just found a website that tells how to change your default udma to pio from 6 errors to 6 errors consecutively, here is the link to that most informative page.
If your not comfortable with regedit I don’t recommend trying this.
Good luck and I hope this helps.
I also have this same problem on my laptop since a week. I thought it had to do with an infection, i’m still not sure that it isn’t. Unfortunately Andy G his fix didn’t help me, the IDE controllers are already set to ultra DMA. Please give me some suggestions what otherwise might cause the problems and i can do about it
Weird coincidence is that the problems started not long after i blew some dust away from the van. Could it be related?!