Ask a new question

System Process (ntoskrnl.exe) keeps spiking causing laptop to lag

Hello everyone,

The Problem:

The whole computer hangs every few seconds due to what I think is the system process. The laptop I'm using is quite old in terms of technology, but I'm mainly wanting it just to view Youtube and browse the web so nothing that it shouldn't be able to handle. Hopefully you can tell by this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLB6HM9-0nU

 the cursor freezes every few seconds and it's not just the cursor that freezes, it's the whole computer. The cursor is a good visual aid to show what the whole computer does. It's seems to pause in time with the system process going from a very low power state to moderate. Also it spikes the CPU usage up a small amount.

When the computer is idle, this is the performance graph of the CPU. Each time it spikes, the whole computer freezes:

What I've Done So Far:

I've reset the whole laptop to fresh as it was in quite a mess.

I've updated any drivers that need updating.

I'm currently in a clean boot environment.

I've disabled the realtek sound and DVD drive as that was something that I've seen that could cause pauses.

I've run the following commands:

SFC /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

I've searched the internet as much as possible and this is where I'm at so hopefully you ladies and gents can help me out getting this laptop to run as smooth as a old laptop can.

System Specs:

Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit (10.0, Build 19045) (19041.vb_release.191206-1406)

Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP
System Model: HP Notebook
BIOS: F.1F (type: UEFI)
Processor: AMD A6-6310 APU with AMD Radeon R4 Graphics (4 CPUs), ~1.8GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3530MB RAM
Page File: 4616MB used, 1484MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 12

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

Hi Seggons, my name is Jose, a Windows user like you. I'll be happy to assist you with this issue.
Sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue. In order to fix it, please use the following guide to do an in-place upgrade.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

If you need anything else, please let me know.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I watched the video and just want to ask one thing before I go ahead with that. Isn't that in-place upgrade the same thing as Microsofts reset tool where it downloads a fresh copy of Windows 10, installs it and you go through the setup process. If it is the same then that is what I've already done a week ago and am running on a fresh, new Windows 10 operating system that's fully updated.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks for your feedback. Reset this PC keeps your personal files, In-place upgrade keeps your personal files and apps. In both cases Windows files are replaced. Please check the following recommendation to improve the performance:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/tip...

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks for your feedback. Reset this PC keeps your personal files, In-place upgrade keeps your personal files and apps. In both cases Windows files are replaced. Please check the following recommendation to improve the performance:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/tip...

Thanks for the continued help Jose. When I did the reset I took off any files that I wanted to keep onto an external hard drive and told Windows to remove everything so there isn't any personal files or apps on this device currently. I've run through the steps in your above link and it's made no difference. The system process is still spiking and causing the whole computer to lag.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks for your feedback. Have you checked this article?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/tip...

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Unless I'm mistaken that's the same link as you posted before and I've tried all the steps and it's still not solved the problem.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks for your feedback. Please open the task manager, select the performance tab and take a screenshot for CPU, disk and RAM, then upload here, please.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks for your feedback. Please open the task manager, select the performance tab and take a screenshot for CPU, disk and RAM, then upload here, please.

As requested:

Each small spike makes the whole laptop lag in the CPU graph.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks for your feedback. The shared image has a 0 activity, 0 read speed and 0 write speed. This is not possible for a mechanical disk. If your computer has a disk light you can appreciate it. Led light is on too frequently.

Please go to the manufacturer support website and run a hardware diagnostic to validate it.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

5 hours of Hard Drive Testing:

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

 
 

Question Info

Last updated February 14, 2024 Views 2,717 Applies to: