100% CPU Usage, Computer Shuts Down

[Jeff-101]

Hello everyone, having a bit of trouble, hoping I can get some help from the helpful forum community.

So last night my computer starting acting very sluggish. Even running a website was slow and unresponsive. So I did a restart, updated my McAfee antivirus, and noticed the startup was incredibly slow as well. I ended up turning it off overnight and turned it on again this morning, and everything seemed ok for a few minutes. That is until I tried to stress the system to see if it would lock up and it did. This made me think it was the CPU so I checked it using task manager and saw that the CPU was hitting 100% and nearly stayed there whenever I ran even a virus scan or ran a web page. I tried closing all unnecessary processes and also checked the msconfig and turned off things that could cause the problem, although I didn't see anything suspicious in the bootup menu. When trying to run a virus scan, it eventually caused the computer to shutdown entirely, and left me unable to run an entire virus scan without it crashing again. I thought it may have been caused by the McAfee update, since I've heard and read about problems when using McAfee that it can eat up 100% CPU when they release an unstable build. So, I uninstalled McAfee (after trying to run a virus scan, unsuccessfully) and ran a program to make sure all McAfee associated filed were removed. After doing that and a restart, I still had the same problems as before. Then, I installed AVG antivirus and again tried to run a virus scan with the same result, the CPU overloads and crashes before it finished. It did manage to pick up a virus with "dynamic scanning", and it was some new virus, I think, that AVG didn't have records to, that ran under svchost. I then cleaned the virus from the system. Still, my problem persists. I started thinking it may be overheating, but I pulled the panel off, after it had shut down due to overload, and felt the components and did not feel any heat build up around the CPU. I have a CPU water cooling system - XTREME GEAR 120MM WATERCOOLER - but I've never serviced it and the computer is now 4+ years old, but again I couldn't feel any heat let alone excessive heat coming from the CPU, or any other part of the computer for that matter.

On a side note, I replaced my PSU and GPU about a month ago, and I don't think these are the causes or may be related, but I'm not technically skilled. I ended up using a more powerful GPU and used a PSU with 150W less than the one I replaced. The GPU and PSU were a combo deal, and the new PSU is a Corsair 550W Gold, so I think that isn't the issue but this may be relevant in some regard.

If anyone has any clues as to what may be the problem, I'd greatly appreciate your help. I really don't want to have to get it repaired after dropping $200 on it for upgrades. Thanks again!

- Jeff (novice with computers)




CAS: CoolerMaster Elite 430 Mid-Tower
CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
CPU: Intel(R) Core™ i7-2600K 3.30 GHz
CS_FAN: Maximum 120MM Case Cooling
FAN: XtremeGear Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
HDD: 640GB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
MEMORY: 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module
MOTHERBOARD: * [CrossFireX] GigaByte GA-P67A-UD3 Intel P67 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, 2x SATA-III RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 3 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI
MULTIVIEW: Xtreme Performance in SLI/CrossFireX Gaming Mode Supports Single Monitor
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OVERCLOCK: Pro OC (Performance Overclock 10% or more)
POWERSUPPLY: 550W Corsair CS550M Gold Power Supply
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
VIDEO: Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X 4096MB GDDR5

 

[cklaubur]

What are your CPU temperatures?

Casey

 

[Jeff-101]

I am not sure how to check it, if you have any advice as to how, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Jeff-101]

Ok, I found a program to check it. Using Real Temp, it says the cores are sitting at ~60C, with nothing running except Real Temp, so not under load. Min = 58C, Max = 76C

 

[cklaubur]

60 C at idle is too warm. 76 C under some load (not sure if that's at full load, or just a couple of cores loaded) is approaching the shutdown temperature. Max temperature according to Intel for Sandy Bridge processors (I3, I5, I7 2x00 series) is 72.6 C at the heatspreader.

Idle temperatures should be closer to upper 30s to low 40s at idle, especially with water cooling. When loaded, you computer could be getting too warm and shutting down to protect itself. My desktop's I5-3570K overclocked to 4.2 GHz idles at 40 C and reaches 60 under load, and that's with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. Your computer should be cooler.

With a watercooling system, the heat buildup won't be at the CPU, but instead at the radiator. I'd suggest cleaning any dust off the radiator and verifying that the fan(s) work properly.

Casey

 

[Jeff-101]

What are your CPU temperatures?

Casey

60 C at idle is too warm. 76 C under some load (not sure if that's at full load, or just a couple of cores loaded) is approaching the shutdown temperature. Max temperature according to Intel for Sandy Bridge processors (I3, I5, I7 2x00 series) is 72.6 C at the heatspreader.

Idle temperatures should be closer to upper 30s to low 40s at idle, especially with water cooling. When loaded, you computer could be getting too warm and shutting down to protect itself. My desktop's I5-3570K overclocked to 4.2 GHz idles at 40 C and reaches 60 under load, and that's with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. Your computer should be cooler.

With a watercooling system, the heat buildup won't be at the CPU, but instead at the radiator. I'd suggest cleaning any dust off the radiator and verifying that the fan(s) work properly.

Casey

So I checked the fans again, and the fans seem to be working properly. There is some dust build up on the radiator, but it isn't a significant amount as I dusted it off about a month ago. I'll pick up some compressed air tomorrow anyway to try to remove the remaining dust. Other than that, the radiator and fans seem OK..

 

[cklaubur]

Has the waterblock been removed from the CPU recently? If so, was the thermal paste replaced?

Casey

 

[Jeff-101]

Has the waterblock been removed from the CPU recently? If so, was the thermal paste replaced?

Casey

No, that part I never touched. Although, I'm thinking that I should probably take it off and replace the thermal paste, since I've never done that before. Was thinking of using something like http://

 

[cklaubur]

It would probably be a good idea, since if the waterblock hasn't been removed in a couple of years, the paste on it has probably lost its effectiveness.

Something I just thought of: You mentioned in your original post not feeling any heat on the CPU or other points on the computer. If you run your hands along the water lines from the waterblock to the radiator, can you feel any heat?

Casey

 

[Jeff-101]

It would probably be a good idea, since if the waterblock hasn't been removed in a couple of years, the paste on it has probably lost its effectiveness.

Something I just thought of: You mentioned in your original post not feeling any heat on the CPU or other points on the computer. If you run your hands along the water lines from the waterblock to the radiator, can you feel any heat?

Casey

When I checked the fans and radiator mentioned in my previous post, I ran my fingers down the lines and touched the radiator and felt no heat whatsoever, maybe it's not circulating properly? I noticed that the water cooling system had a blue light on while it's running, but it's just a solid blue light.

 

[cklaubur]

Circulation problems have crossed my mind. Is this an all-in-one sealed kit?

I'm hoping someone more experienced with watercooling speaks up at this point. Most of my experiences with watercooling involve cars, and while the basic principles are the same, I don't feel like I'm qualified enough to make a diagnosis at this point.

Sorry I can't be much more help.

Casey

 

[Jeff-101]

Circulation problems have crossed my mind. Is this an all-in-one sealed kit?

I'm hoping someone more experienced with watercooling speaks up at this point. Most of my experiences with watercooling involve cars, and while the basic principles are the same, I don't feel like I'm qualified enough to make a diagnosis at this point.

Sorry I can't be much more help.

Casey

I did some digging and found this information on the water liquid cooler;

Features
Fast and coo lproof Installation at the OEM, as it is mounted the same way and with the same means as current solutions. Integrated pump, reservoir and cold plate in one compact device that is smaller than a traditional heat sink. Very few joints, which eliminates potential leaks. Sealed and charged for its lifetime, with no worries about leaks or liquid evaporation. Industry standard maintenance-free lifetime of 50,000 hours! (certified by independent lab). The possibility of daisy chaining cold plates can provide cooling for multiple components, such as 2x CPU or CPU plus graphics. Building block principle. The solution can be tailored to accommodate different form factors, performance and noise levels. Possibility for system board cooling, for instance, cooling several components on a graphics card. For the first time, the cost of liquid cooling can compete with that of high end air cooling.

Think it's one of those types you never have to do maintenance for (all-in-one?), however looking at some posts, this particular brand is known for higher than average failure rate, although this one is over 4 years old. I'll try to replace the thermal paste and see if that does the trick. If not, I guess I'll assume the cooling system isn't working, and I guess replace it with a fan or something relatively inexpensive.

Anyone have any suggestions to test how the liquid cooling system is working or not? Or perhaps an inexpensive alternative to a liquid cooling system for minor overclocking?

PS Thanks for the assistance cklaubar! Learned something new today while trying to troubleshoot the overheating problem, thanks to you. Thanks again for the help!

 

[cklaubur]

Yeah, that's one of those sealed all-in-one kits I was talking about. They are easy to set up, but if something goes wrong, the whole system has to be replaced.

Glad I was able to help as much as I was able to.

Casey

 

[Jeff-101]

It would probably be a good idea, since if the waterblock hasn't been removed in a couple of years, the paste on it has probably lost its effectiveness.

Something I just thought of: You mentioned in your original post not feeling any heat on the CPU or other points on the computer. If you run your hands along the water lines from the waterblock to the radiator, can you feel any heat?

Casey

Yeah, that's one of those sealed all-in-one kits I was talking about. They are easy to set up, but if something goes wrong, the whole system has to be replaced.

Glad I was able to help as much as I was able to.

Casey[/qnuotemsg]

So I checked the water liquid cooling system and it does appear to have a leak. After checking it some more, part of it feels a bit loose as well. Don't have an appropriate tool to tighten it, but think I can borrow one from work tomorrow and will tighten it then. Will update tomorrow.