Constant 100% CPU usage?

[Seriel]

Halp.
My computer (Windows 7, have other partitions but too lazy to reboot and need windows for stuff) seems to have constant 100% CPU usage.
It seems to be used up by "system" (50%) and "svchost.exe" (50%) which is leaving nothing for anything else, resulting in a laggy mess of a pc.
Its reached the point where I actually have to type this post out on my phone, because my computer is busy dying.
I checked the temperatures and the CPU is sitting at 64°C.
Not sure if this is bad or not, considering I just turned my computer on for the morning.
I tried to attach screenshots but apparently it can't even manage that. Basically its at constant 100% usage, the graph is maxed out on both cores :/

 

[Roxe__]

why don't you post all the processing your CPU is running, and we could help you then!

 

[Seriel]

why don't you post all the processing your CPU is running, and we could help you then!

Read the post.
50% by "system" and 50% by "svchost.exe".
I can't attach screenshots because my computer is too busy dying.
I can't even write this post on it, had to use my phone.

 

[Roxe__]

Read the post.
50% by "system" and 50% by "svchost.exe".
I can't attach screenshots because my computer is too busy dying.
I can't even write this post on it, had to use my phone.

Yeah i was hoping for a screenshot!
Try this it might help, because it could be a number of things!
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/what-is-svchostexe-and-why-is-it-running/

 

[FAST6191]

svchost is the services host program. It can be many things but it is usually windows update that is causing this sort of CPU (and RAM and hard drive which also adds to the fun). Not sure why system is saying 50% if it means it, it is usually just the idle process so probably does not apply.

You can disable updates and get things back to a sane level, or you can force updates to apply and then disable it afterwards. I don't like disabling updates though. If you want to then click start run, type in services.msc and run that. Windows update is the service (down the bottom if you arrange alphabetically) so disable that or stop it with a right click.
You can also disable it in the windows update part control panel if you want, or simply torpedo the svchost in task manager, though if the you do the latter it will return when you reboot.

Also if you are still on 7 I guess you are on it for a reason. If you have not disabled the windows 10 stuff then it can also cause you fun. http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/ get GWX control panel from there and disable windows 10 icons and upgrades and such.

 

[Reiten]

If it's svchost.exe there's a good chance that it's windows update that's trying to find updates in the background(Since Win10 came out finding updates usually takes me anywhere from 30 mins to forever). Try disabling the windows updates and restarting the PC and check if the problem is fixed.

 

[Seriel]

Well.
I disabled the windows update service, and now its capping at 50%, the svchost is gone but system appears to be hogging a whole core to itself, using up 50% CPU when idle. :/

 

[Spaqin]

Try [Windows]+R -> resmon
In the resmon, see what svchost, with what PID is taking your cpu.
I don't remember if Win7's taskmgr allows you to see services and what PID they use (I use DBC TaskManager), but my very blind guess is kill/disable/stop Windows Update (I had similar problems with it recently).


/edit
oh, got ninja'd

did you try restarting?

 

[Seriel]

Restarted, svchost is dead, but system is still using 50%, and I still have crippling lag.

 

[Spaqin]

Hm, it could also be caused by a driver. Did you try unplugging external (ie. USB) devices, one by one? Maybe one's broken and system is trying to get a response.

 

[Seriel]

Hm, it could also be caused by a driver. Did you try unplugging external (ie. USB) devices, one by one? Maybe one's broken and system is trying to get a response.

All I have plugged in is my mouse and my phone. Unplugging both makes no difference.

 

[Red9419]

My laptop is always running at 100% constant cpu usage. It's expected on my laptop because it's shit haha. Hope you fix it as i wouldn't wish the slowness i experience upon another person.

 

[Spaqin]

What about Safe Mode? Does the problem still occur there?

 

[Seriel]

What about Safe Mode? Does the problem still occur there?

Ah!
That's a good idea.
One sec, will finish writing this post when I'm in safe mode lmao (thank god for phones)
Wew this resolution..

Ah!!
>0% CPU usage.
Well.
We're fine in safe mode xD

 

[Spaqin]

Well, now you could try restoring Windows to a point before the problem came up.

 

[Seriel]

Well, now you could try restoring Windows to a point before the problem came up.

Nah I disabled restore points because I like to live on the edge. (And they take up a lot of space)
Lmao.

I'll try uninstalling some recent programs and see if that helps at all.

 

[Spaqin]

I'd still bet on drivers. Did you (re)install any recently?

 

[Seriel]

Aaand here we go.
I uninstalled "ext2fsd" which I was using to view my Linux partition via windows. And now it's all fine.
I guess that uses drivers so maybe you were right ;P
Is there any alternative software which won't break my pc lel

 

[nero99]

I recommend getting a quad core or higher cpu. better performance and all that fun stuff will come out of it.

 

[AbyssalMonkey]

Ah!
That's a good idea.
One sec, will finish writing this post when I'm in safe mode lmao (thank god for phones)
Wew this resolution..

Ah!!
>0% CPU usage.
Well.
We're fine in safe mode xD

Sounds like a driver issue. Something I hate dealing with. I actually reinstalled windows from scratch because I couldn't be asked to hunt down the one in a billion drivers was causing a crash for my mixer, and reinstalling windows twice while slowly installing drivers was quicker. Turns out for me it was one of the motherboard drivers, and I refused to install it. Now every time I reboot, my computer prompts me with 5 messages saying a program failed to launch. Luckily I have uptimes of several months at a time, so I could care less about basically one time issues.

Something you might want to hunt down as well is if it might be a rouge startup service/program. Run msconfig.exe in safe mode and disable all non essential startup programs and services (essential as in microsoft services (unless you *really* know what you're doing) and graphics and chipset services). If you reboot into a standard startup, you know one of those done screwed up.