Thanks to moose (January 6, 2008 08:42 PM ) with the tip on ATA/IDE controllers reverting to PIO mode instead of Ultra-DMA. This has been the biggest improvement I so far in a six month quest to figure out what was wrong with my slow running system.
After going through all of the time wasting Dvorak bashing I found Michael’s post on Nov 25, 2008. On my system the problem was caused by a Microsoft update. Entered safe mode, restored to a day before the update and the system now runs fine. Good Luck.
Awesome! You are using Ultramon also!
That’s exactly what I was searching for. You answered my question, Thanks.
Hello all,
I dropped into this thread thinking the title was a joke… but was surprised to see that many are asking the question why is the system idle process hogging my resources? in all seriousness. I see that many people have tried explaining the situation, but more keep chiming in with the question… so I’m going to try to explain some things about using Windows Task Manager and interpreting the information about your CPU and memory useage.
A little background:
I am an undergrad Computer Science student, and have some knowledge about operating systems and the underlying hardware, though I don’t claim to be an expert by any means. Something I’ve found out is that the deeper you dig into learning about computers, the faster you realize that they are much more complex than you ever would have expected. It seems like there’s always a deeper level to explore.
Anyways, first off, the System Idle Process (SIP) is NOT causing any of your sluggish computer problems, no matter what causal assumptions you’re jumping to based on numbers you see in the Task Manager. As others have said, to put it simply, this is not a working process at all. It’s just what its name implies: a process which occupies the CPU when the rest of the system is idle.
In the original post, look at the screenshot of the task manager. Are you looking at the column labeled CPU with the value 98 next to System Idle Process? It does not represent resource useage. That number represents the percentage of time the CPU is processing the SIP. The CPU and Memory are not the same thing - the CPU accesses memory to run programs. If you look to the right of the CPU column in the task manager, you’ll see a column that says Memory. This number is the actual memory useage of the process in kilobytes, and as you can see, the SIP uses the LEAST memory. It has the largest CPU value because the CPU spends that much time idle. The process is not stealing resources from any other processes though.
If you don’t see a memory useage column in your own task manager, follow these steps: make sure you’re viewing the Processes tab. Go up to the View menu at the top of the window, and click on Select Columns. The form which opens lists all the information you can choose to view in the process tab of the task manager. Click the check box next to Memory Useage if it’s not already checked, and click OK. Now you’ll see how much memory is used per process.
If you want to know even more about the running processes just go back into the Select Columns options and turn on more info. A guide to what each item is can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/prork/preb_mon_nbcl.mspx?mfr=true
Just scroll down to Table 27.5 for a list, and if you look below the table, there is also a lot of useful information about interpreting the Performance tab of the task manager. For those of you experiencing system lag and looking for an answer, I recommend visiting the above link. You’ll learn what all the performance numbers actually mean, and then you can use it when you go take a look at your own performance information.
If you go to the processes tab and click directly on the Memory Useage column name, it puts the processes in order by amount of memory used, and you can easily see what is using the most memory. Now you may be tempted to start ending processes to regain memory, and you can do that, but I caution you: know what the process is before you end it! Otherwise, just leave it alone, because you may do more harm than good. For reference, this site lists the default processes (those you should leave alone) for Windows 2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q263201ID=Q263201
I run XP and the names are the same. Note that the explorer.exe process does not refer to Internet Explorer, as some think (IE is the iexplorer.exe process).
It’s impossible to provide one solution that will magically cure everyone’s lagging speed problems because there are so many different possible causes. If you don’t do it already, make sure you do regular disk cleanups on your hard drive and defragment it often. The longer you wait between defrags, the longer it’ll take to complete next time. This won’t provide substantial speedup, but it does help.
If there are non-windows processes taking up a lot of memory, google search their name to find out what program is running them and whether or not you want to end them. Also, if you use a lot of instant messengers and things that start up automatically when you boot windows, it might be good to change your preferences in each program so that they don’t. Then they won’t be running in the background when you’re not even using them.
When your computer does slow down and stops responding to your mouse clicks, the best thing to do is STOP clicking until it catches up. I saw somebody tell about how they’d click a bunch of times and then there would be a flurry of activity when the CPU finally caught up. Unless your mouse is malfunctioning, your clicks are being stored, and they will execute eventually. Continuing to click when nothing is happening just adds more inputs to the queue of tasks your computer is trying to get done, and makes it take longer.
So that’s all I have for you. Examine your computer’s performance numbers in the task manager and compare the physical memory and commit charge values (as explained at the website I linked to), and you may find that you simply need more memory. Or you may find malicious processes and discover that you have a virus, in which case you’ll need to take steps to exterminate it.
Good luck.
well… system idle process means the CPU usage available to us… it’s good if thats 95%…
95% system idle process = 95% CPU resources available…
What a hoot of a blog! A delight! Thank you.
Here’s the rub - In Task Manager click the View tab, click Select Columns and then select: I/O Read I/O Writes I/O Other (sort by ‘cpu’ so that System Idle Process is at the top) and you will see there’s nothin’ happenin’.
pakx
Hi…
Found very much interesting… the entire discussion…
Did any body got success to resolve this problem…finally waht does it count is a LAG FREE system…
Would prefer if someone of you GURUS GYANIS can send me an email on that krutaarth@hotmail.com
Thanks …Chill
Krutarth
Another thing, I hope that you realize that when it says 98%, it means 98% of the 3% that you are using, lol.
I had this problem. I did a search and ended up here. What I can’t believe is the post itself, and the number of profoundly ignorant people that would take issue with him, yet never answer his question.
I have no doubt that John Dvorak knows what the System Idle Process is. The question was Doing what? If the system is idle, why is it completely unresponsive for a period of five minutes to half an hour?
If you’re such a genius – you’re going to explain to John Dvorak what the System Idle Process is – how is it that you completely miss the point? And why don’t you answer his question?
I realized what the system idle process ‘was’ only didn’t understand ‘why’ it seemed to just start happening, and ‘why’ my system seemed to pick times I was busy to decide to go idle. I know just a little about computers. I stole my first one which was an 8-bit monochrome antique way back when IBM (16 bit)and the company who made that piece o’ crap were fighting for dominion. I taught myself how to use it by hit and miss (I stole all the floppies too). I studied computer programming in prison, but since my hobbies included drugs, extortion, and killing, I had just barely passed the algebra part and was starting to learn language (Cobalt, FORTRAN, Lotus 123, etc. for the one who aren’t old as hell) but kept getting put in Super Max for murder investigations and weapons busts. When I got out I got a Commodore 64 when they was ‘the s***’. Anyways, I tried to complete my computer ‘book learning’ around 2004 when, at 50 years old, I started going to NMSU. Well, long story short I went to NMSU and got my micro-processor cert and took PC Maintenance and repair but still feel like I know nothing.
Now to the present. Right now I’m off the grid, so to speak. Let’s put it this way, sometimes it’s not nice to be ‘wanted’. I got no income and I live as a hermit with only a few knowing where I live and less knowing who I am or my real name and I build my stuff from old parts that others give me. This one I’m using now I built. It started with a 750MGz Pent II and I scored a motherboard with a 1GHz AMD and a couple of RAM sticks but I built three from the pile of junk I got. So, I only got 368MB of RAM. This is my Frankenstein cause every part of it came from different hosts. My situation doesn’t allow for many hardware upgrades although I put in a 80GB HD and a 20GB slave and scored a DVD/CD-RW.
Now to the point, I just wanted to give history so you know my sources and limitations and can understand why all the dissing caused me to give up half-way through and just scan for info for the rest of it. What I’m trying to find is ‘causes’, not hear belittling from punks that wouldn’t stand a chance in prison or perhaps real life. My systems run fairly well and were amazingly fast on first builds but I rely heavily on free software. I always research any before installing but… I discovered that my ‘upgraded’ AVG (Anti-Virus Guard (a heretofore great freeware), was having a conflict with my WinPatrol. So I killed the WP. The old version of AVG had no problem so I got no clue. The advice on killing the Auto updates sounds, sound, so I’ll give it a try. What seems to be a clue is the system going idle and freezing up seemed to occur just after I installed Updates. I’m running XP, from a disk I snagged from a laptop, with SP2 and SP3. I’ve used this disk on several computers I made with no problems but one of these last auto updates seemed to cause the problem. I have no advice on the problem but I do on people’s attitudes on here. Many have a true concern for Why, not if their question is stupid or not. I have an IQ of about 150 and I don’t have the answer, because I never gained the knowledge but that’s why I ended up at this site, searching for it. I solve most of my problems by hit and miss because I hate know-it-alls who really are all talk, always trying to seem superior. I can ask you questions in fields I excel in and make you look stupid too, because knowledge is acquired mostly from necessity and, since we live in a Google world, we don’t worry about reading books or go trying something we shouldn’t because we can ask someone who’s already acquired that knowledge. So, I’m gonna try the only seemingly viable action that this whole long a** forum sprouted and turn off my auto updates. To those who asked questions I applaud you on your thirst for knowledge. For those of you who answered with smart a** put downs. Just remember 'What goes around, comes around, and one day you’re gonna need help and will be just ridiculed and left to perish.
Phoenixovid
I got fooled by this, I came hear searching system idle process. I think my computer has other problems, but I noticed this was using a lot of the CPU while it is running slow, but I now see that even when it is running great, that number still seems high in system idle process.
FFS ppl…
if system idle process is less than like 70 ur pc will lagg like hell.
but when its 90 or over, ur pc runs smooth like hell :-]
(if u got XP)
Thank you Andy G! After spending 2 weeks checking for viruses and spyware and trojans and bad drivers I read Andy’s solution. It worked!
I am reprinting his solution so you do not have to look it up again:
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.
Ok i had the same problem for months - every time i booted up the pc would go idle for 1-5 minutes, 0-5% pc usage and system idle at 99.
I ran msconfig ans services.msc and literally unticked almost everything one by one until i finally found the solution.
In my case it was a program running under services called workstation - i disabled this and now my pc starts in seconds.
I hope this works for other people - if not i suggest doing what i did - the good old trial and error method and post your results here.
Thank you Andy G, also. (I fully agree with Mike P)
It’s the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and the “PIO settings”.
I followed Andy G. recommended solution, and it worked.
First, I suggest grabbing Sysinternals Process Explorer. You can find it, along with the rest of the Sysinternals suite here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
I have done the same things as suggested by Andy G. In summary, I have reset my dma as per the suggestion here:
http://winhlp.com/node/10
I have also discovered that there are problems in the Windows Automatic Updates which have a few makeshift remedies here:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsupdate&tid=507fdfc2-c65b-4d88-bdee-9dc79a8e975f&p=1
Note: The batch file was the only thing I needed to run, as I already had both the update agent as well as the KB927891 update installed. However, I also defragged datastore.edb (explained below). Be sure to read the discussion following the main post in the above link - there are several various options presented. One post of particular interest is duplicated here:
//Begin Quote//
MowGreen [MVP] 5/21/2007 2:05 PM PST
The update history viewable on MU/WU is stored in DataStore.edb which
can become corrupted/fragmented due to scanning by antivirus software.
There is another update history stored in ReportingEvents.log located in
%windir%\SoftwareDistribution.
The detection scan hits DataStore.edb causing a buffer overflow.
One can run esentutl from a Command Prompt to defragment DataStore.edb
instead of deleting it in hopes that will resolve the issue -
esentutl /d %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\datastore.edb
If that doesn’t resolve the issue, attempt to Recover the file -
esentutl /r %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\datastore.edb
[This command performs recovery, bringing all databases to a
consistent state]
The next to last resort is to attempt to Repair it -
esentutl /p %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\datastore.edb
system image be done after running ANY of the above operations
- On XP Home Edition, one must stop the Automatic Updates service PRIOR
to running the above. This wasn’t the case when doing so on XP Pro *
The last resort is to delete DataStore.edb
To mitigate log/database corruption, MS suggests this:
Virus scanning recommendations for computers that are running Windows
Server 2003, Windows 2000, or Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158
Last Review :October 30, 2006
For computers that are running Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, or
Windows XP
Do not scan the following files and folders. These files are not at risk
of infection. If you scan these files, serious performance problems may
occur because of file locking.
Where a specific set of files is identified by name, exclude only
those files instead of the whole folder. Sometimes, the whole folder
must be excluded. Do not exclude any one of these based on the file name
extension. For example, do not exclude all files that have a .dit
extension. Microsoft has no control over other files that may use the
same extensions as the following files.
• Microsoft Windows Update or Automatic Update related files
• The Windows Update or Automatic Update database file. This file
is located in the following folder:
%windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore
Exclude the Datastore.edb file.
• The transaction log files. These files are located in the
following folder:
%windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\Logs
Exclude the following files:
• Edb*.log
Note The wildcard character indicates that there may be several files.
• Res1.log
• Res2.log
• Edb.chk
• Tmp.edb
//End Quote//
If none of these solutions provide a happy ending, check your CMOS battery (located on the motherboard). A dying CMOS battery typically has other symptoms, such as the system clock losing time, but I have noticed that as long as I am connected to the net my system clock updates automatically. This makes diagnosis a little more difficult. You can try disconnecting from the web for 24+ hours and see if your system clock loses time. Or you can just pony up the $4 for a new battery.
That’s everything that I have found. My problem is solved, and I hope this benefits others as well. Good luck! If you have any questions, I have provided my myspace account - feel free to send me a message there (please include a reference, preferably a link, so I know how you found me).
~Ian (The original FallenZen)
Disabling auto updates and indexing seems to have worked. Good luck!
I understand the inverse relationship between SIP and busy system…so I’m okay on that. THANK YOU to those who gave some ideas regarding possible problems and fixes. Those who poked fun at the questions were just showing off. Either way, I read this entire blog and found some good ideas, so it was helpful, although painful. Here’s hoping we all find our specific problem, fix it, and get back to normal. Thanks.
I have a questions… the SIP is running 95% however, I am also attemping to run the internet (and failing as it takes about ten minutes to load this page so expect the comment in the distant future) BUT the idle process is hogging up my CPU and the intetnet is running at either 01% or 00%.
help me stop this mr computer god!