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Vista 100% cpu usage

Hi, I'm having problems with my vista.  My computer is old; it's a compaq presario running on 32-bit Vista home premium, intel dual core.  A week ago it suddenly started running very slowly, and cpu usage jumped to 100%.  After trying to fix it myself, I took it into a computer repair place and they reinstalled Windows.  I got my computer back yesterday, downloaded some basic programs (Chrome, Firefox, skype, etc.), and installed Office 2007.  It worked well for about seven hours, and then after I took the computer out of hibernation my wireless stopped recognizing networks.  I updated the wireless driver, and my wireless started working again.  About 10 minutes later, the cpu usage spiked up again, and I haven't been able to get it back down. 

When I tried to turn the computer on again, it wouldn't start up, and recommended system repair (recovery?) which reverted it back to the original state after Windows was reinstalled.  However, the cpu usage keeps going back up.  It's not occasional spikes; it's continuously at 100%, the same problem as before.  I looked at the processes, and it looks like dwm.exe, trustedinstaller.exe, explorer.exe and taskmgr.exe are taking up about a quarter each. 

Hi rptr2154,

Dwm.exe, the desktop window manager is the program that controls the awesome graphics effects for your desktop and TrustedInstaller.exe is the Windows Module Installer program used in Windows Vista.

What is the version of service pack installed on your computer?

Step 1:

If you do not Windows Vista Service Pack 1 installed, I would suggest you to upgrade to service pack 1. This seems to be an issue that has been fixed in the Windows Vista SP1 release.

How to obtain the latest Windows Vista service pack/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935791

Step 2:

The following fix is intended for situations where trustedinstaller.exe causes problems due to the Problem Reports and Solutions history maintained in Windows 7.

Refer the below steps to clear the history:

a. Go to Start and then select Control Panel.

b. Turn on Classic View.

c. Select Problem Reports and Solutions.

d. Click Clear Solution and Problem History in the left panel.

e. Confirm your decision.

f. Exit the Problems Reports and Solutions Window and Control Panel.

A variation to this fix is to click Change in the Problems Reports and Solutions Window. And then modify the configuration from Check for solutions automatically setting to ‘Ask me to check if a problem occurs’.

More information about problem reports:See all problem reports for this computer 


Regards,
Manasa P – Microsoft Support.

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Hi,

please make a xperf trace [1] to diagnostic the high CPU usage. Please upload the etl file to your SkyDrive [2] and post a link here.

I'll take a look at it, maybe I can see more details.

André

[1] http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=140264
[2] http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/4fc10639-02db-4665-993a-08d865088d65
"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/

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I tried to install the service packs.  When I checked to see if I had installed them previously, it indicated that I hadn't.  As I downloaded them, I checked the dialogue box to run the installation.  Both times after they finished, a dialogue box indicated that I already had installed the service packs.  I don't know if this is because I had them run as I downloaded them, or if I already did have them installed.  Regardless, my CPU usage is at about 6% right now, which is perfectly wonderful.  I didn't check to see what the CPU usage was before downloading the service packs, but I'm happy.  Thanks for your assistance!

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Actually, it's kind of off & on.  It was working perfectly, then I started playing music on Windows Media Player.  CPU usage shot up to around 50 - 80%.  I installed some updates, and restarted the computer.  It started sluggish again with CPU usage at 100%.  Then, it suddenly went back to CPU usage around 6 - 14%.  I played some music, and it hasn't adversely affected the computer.  Do you think this could be a hardware issue?

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why are you not making the xperf trace?
"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/

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Vista is so bad.  Not to be negative, Windows 7 works so well.  I encounter a Vista Laptop or PC every so often, it takes about 2 minutes to remind myself how ugly that OS can be.  High CPU usage, etc.  I have installed Windows 7 on several old Visa machines and brought them back to life.  Same memory, same CPU, just an OS that works.

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I´ve had the same problem on newly installed system. Host process  was using 100% of cpu and too much of memory. What I have find out is, that it was because of wuauserv service-windows update.  After disabling automatic updates everything gets back to normal, cpu at 10%. I was surprise, how easy was the solution.

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I had a very similar experience. Finally narrowed the problem to Windows Update. I disabled the Windows Update Service and hid the annoying notification icon.  CPU is now running normal.

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Yep!  Disabled WINDOWS UPDATER did the trick to resolve "k-netsvcs" issue on VISTA HP/COMPAQ PC.

Did this is several places.   Question now is, will updater work manually?

One puzzling issue right after restart, after all programs loaded and system stabilized, with only Task Manager and Windows Mail running, system  went went into sleep or hibernate.  After repeated mouse movements and space bars system resumed after being prompted tp do so?   Will see if this reoccurs.  Might just have been a hiccup. So far, so good.

Grazie,

FedCURE

I had a very similar experience. Finally narrowed the problem to Windows Update. I disabled the Windows Update Service and hid the annoying notification icon.  CPU is now running normal.

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Thank you RaDaKaB623!

I had the same problem and disabling of the Windows Update resolved the problem.

JC

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Last updated February 28, 2022 Views 33,783 Applies to: