Apu/Cpu 100% load always. Please help.

[irva]

SORRY ABOUT THE LONG POST!
I've been trying to help a good friend of mine fix his problems for over 8 hours....We can't find a solution. His CPU/APU (a10 7800 3.5ghz) is always at 98-100% load, even with nothing open. Nothing sticks out on the Task manager either...Open up skype, and then it says skype 50% cpu, but everything else is at 0 - 2%. (cpu is still at 100% here btw).

Heres a list of things I've tried.

-We've done several scans with malwarebytes and roguekiller in both normal mode and safe mode. It cleaned up a lot of stuff, but still same problem. (Took a lot of time, his hard-drive is nearly full. 30gb free)
--We've ran the SFC command and the DISM command. Nothing.
---Fully updated windows.
----Uninstalled, deleted clean and removed every single AMD software / driver on the computer. Reinstalled Crimson and updated with all the newest drivers.
-----Removed all other anti-virus's on his computer, installed norton.

On the AMD System Monitor app, It shows the cpu at 100% load aswell, with the gpu at 0% load. Even with games and or apps open, the gpu stays at 0%. The integrated graphics go from 1-100% load randomly, even with nothing open.

I'm under-educated on how the AMD dual-graphic stuff works, but I feel like the APU is always under load because its compensating for the GPU, that is doing absolutely nothing. The GPU is enabled, and in working condition.

There was a brief 10 minute period where the CPU went back down to 10-15% with skype and a few youtube videos open, then it randomly spiked again and has been 98-100% since.

I'm open to all suggestions, i'm really completely out of ideas now. Please give feedback.

AMD a10 a7800 @3.5ghz 4 cores.
8 GB standard ddr3 ram
1tb Standard Hard-drive
Radeon R7 240 2gb.

 

[Ecky]

CPU being at 100% load will almost certainly have nothing to do with the GPU, at least not directly. This is almost certainly a software issue. If it's possible, I'd suggest downloading Windows from Microsoft an doing a clean install, and seeing if the helps.

For what it's worth, dual graphics with an APU often results in similar or even worse performance than just using the discrete GPU or integrated GPU alone. If it were mine, I'd probably pull the card out and sell it.

This is an older review, but to my knowledge AMD never did anything to address it, so it's probably still relevant:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dual-graphics-crossfire-benchmark,3583.html

 

[irva]

CPU being at 100% load will almost certainly have nothing to do with the GPU, at least not directly. This is almost certainly a software issue. If it's possible, I'd suggest downloading Windows from Microsoft an doing a clean install, and seeing if the helps.

For what it's worth, dual graphics with an APU often results in similar or even worse performance than just using the discrete GPU or integrated GPU alone. If it were mine, I'd probably pull the card out and sell it.

This is an older review, but to my knowledge AMD never did anything to address it, so it's probably still relevant:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dual-graphics-crossfire-benchmark,3583.html

That'd be the next step, which for some reason he'd hate to do.

I'm just confused on what would cause the software issue with windows, when we've removed and replaced everything amd related. Thank you

Edit: Viewing in AMD OverDrive, all core's are spiking from 3.6ghz to 3.8ghz, when it should be a steady 3.5ghz. Constantly running at 3.8ghz with nothing open (cpu 100% load still)

 

[Sedivy]

If it's listed at 100% usage, task manager has to list processes that are using up that cpu. Even with no programs open, the detailed tab view will show you system processes that are doing this.

 

[irva]

If it's listed at 100% usage, task manager has to list processes that are using up that cpu. Even with no programs open, the detailed tab view will show you system processes that are doing this.

Of course it has a bunch of things on it, but none of them are requiring heavy cpu...It's not like the dwm.exe is taking 100%, or svchost.exe is hurting it either, all the normal CPU throttlers are acting just fine. It doesn't really add up to full load cpu...

 

[Sedivy]

Are you sorting it by cpu usage? With highest on top?

 

[irva]

Are you sorting it by cpu usage? With highest on top?

Yes of course.

 

[Sedivy]

Ok try this. Go to control panel, power options (under system), and set the power management to balanced, not high performance, also go into details (Advanced) settings for the balanced mode, and make sure that minimum processor state is set to 5% both plugged in and on battery (in case of laptops).
Are you seeing this same issue in safe mode?

 

[irva]

Ok try this. Go to control panel, power options (under system), and set the power management to balanced, not high performance, also go into details (Advanced) settings for the balanced mode, and make sure that minimum processor state is set to 5% both plugged in and on battery (in case of laptops).
Are you seeing this same issue in safe mode?

Already tried both of those things aswell, sorry. The cpu isn't maxed out when you first open up safe mode, it sits around 10-15%, but after about 3 minutes it goes to 98-100.

 

[Sedivy]

It...could be you got a virus or malware of some sort that's hiding and you can't see it in task manager. I know there was at least one that did this. Have you tried a third party process explorer? Like
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653
Yes I get that you installed norton but nastier bugs find ways to hide, and if you're installing on a machine that's already infected, it may not be enough to do the job, as it may prevent it from working properly. One of those startup AV checks ran from a usb would be better. Which again I'd not trust to make on a potentially infected machine. You'd have to make it on another computer.
If all else fails, wipe it, clean install windows and check if it's still happening with no programs installed, and no backed up data available.

 

[irva]

It...could be you got a virus or malware of some sort that's hiding and you can't see it in task manager. I know there was at least one that did this. Have you tried a third party process explorer? Like
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653
Yes I get that you installed norton but nastier bugs find ways to hide, and if you're installing on a machine that's already infected, it may not be enough to do the job, as it may prevent it from working properly. One of those startup AV checks ran from a usb would be better. Which again I'd not trust to make on a potentially infected machine. You'd have to make it on another computer.
If all else fails, wipe it, clean install windows and check if it's still happening with no programs installed, and no backed up data available.

Malwarebytes and roguekiller were done with a usb drive and windows safe mode for the scans. Same with norton.

 

[Sedivy]

From a usb before windows booted? Then yes that would be effective. If you booted into safe mode and then ran it from a usb stick, less so since you already established you have the same issue in safe mode.
I'd wipe at this point. Backup your data and wipe it all, it's going to take you way less time than all your troubleshooting so far took.
Have you by any chance tried booting from a linux on a usb? You could try that but...I still think wiping would be faster.
If even that doesn't fix it, then think about whether you can rma your cpu though at that point I'd take it to a professional to check if it's your mobo ramping up your cpu or the cpu itself that's acting up, and they can mount it on a different mobo, or get a different cpu on your mobo.

 

[irva]

Still need help with this, could it be a HDD issue from being to full?

 

[Sedivy]

If it's the drive your system is on, then yes, close to full drive will have trouble running. I'm not sure if 100% cpu is what you'd be seeing but it certainly isn't going to hurt to clean up some space on your HDD.