CPU Running Full Speed, 100% CPU Usage in W10

[DescentGuy195]

Greetings,

I come to Tom's Hardware to get the advice of you people. I have a Core i7-5820k, running on a MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon, not overclocked, with a 16GB kit of Corsair Vengeance @ 2400MHz. XMP is enabled.

Sense yesterday, my CPU's been running hot recently. I thought it had to do with the room being hot, sense in good old Pennslyvania, the temperatures have been raising. But it wasn't exactly the hottest in the room, especially sense there's another X99 system near me (running 6850k, ROG V10 board) So I decided the best thing to do was to check task manager to see if anything was running. Windows was reporting a "100%" CPU usage, but there were no processes running that would be running the processor to it's full potential

What's even weirder is my CPU is being clocked to 3.4GHz, which is around the 3.3GHz base clock. And that might explain why my processor is running hot. All yesterday I was trying to figure out what was going on with my processor? I will note that booting into my Windows 7 dual-boot seemed to have lowered the CPU usage down, and the temperatures with it. I'm saying this could be a Windows issue, but it could also be with my motherboard. I did check through my BIOS and looked for any option that would just force a processor to run like that. The last thing I will note is my friend has a similar experience with his 4790k, but it was because of a "windows compression service". However if I remember correctly, I wasn't having high disk usage.

Any help will be appreciated, thanks.

 

[MeanMachine41]

Hi DescentGuy195 A few things that may help resolve your issue and Task Manager may not show the cause.

Download Process Explorer for better clues as to what's running at startup and check your system for Malware that can be a cause. I would also check with a rootkit revealer for Hierarchical corruption that may not be seen. Malwarebytes is good. Did you happen to download anything recently.?

It can be a service at startup and MS updates can be a hog.
Some none essential services can be delayed or stopped in Services.msc so run it and see. Be careful you don't stop any essential services and if not sure, then google is your friend.

There are a few other checks you can do if the above is not the cause like: sfc /scannow for windows file errors or corruption and run a check on your disks with CHKDSK just incase. These are done in an elevated command prompt.

 

[DescentGuy195]

Hi DescentGuy195 A few things that may help resolve your issue and Task Manager may not show the cause.

Download Process Explorer for better clues as to what's running at startup and check your system for Malware that can be a cause. I would also check with a rootkit revealer for Hierarchical corruption that may not be seen. Malwarebytes is good. Did you happen to download anything recently.?

It can be a service at startup and MS updates can be a hog.
Some none essential services can be delayed or stopped in Services.msc so run it and see. Be careful you don't stop any essential services and if not sure, then google is your friend.

There are a few other checks you can do if the above is not the cause like: sfc /scannow for windows file errors or corruption and run a check on your disks with CHKDSK just incase. These are done in an elevated command prompt.

I'll check Processor Explorer when I get home from school. I did run a Malwarebytes scan when theese symptomns started, and it picked up nothing. People did say to use CHKDSK. I do have a boat load of services disabled (in order to give my 960 Evo a breath of life of not having to start 50 different programs).

Also, 'overclocking master', I might start overclocking my 5820k manually once I fix this issue.. any tips or anywhere to begin? 😛

 

[DescentGuy195]

Well, edit on the whole situation.

I went through and did everything. Checked Process Explorer.. said that my CPU was running at 8% usage idle, while Task Manager is telling me 100%, now at 3.6GHz. My CPU is still running hot. I ran MBAR, Malwarebytes Rootkit, and got nothing. I ran MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, nothing picked up. And finally, I ran sfc /scannow, nothing.

My friend suggest I do a Nuke and Pave, and I will probably do that. I'm a starting enthusiast.. and I don't like seeing my CPU temperatures run hot for no reason. Someone else had this issue and they couldn't figure it out either. Thank goodness I have a NVMe SSD.. it'll probably be quick 😛

 

[mdd1963]

(Was able to do full install of Win10 Pro from USB to M.2 drive in about 4-5 minutes, so, yes, it's a pretty quick 'nuke and pave' these days....!)

 

[MeanMachine41]

Hi DescentGuy195 A few things that may help resolve your issue and Task Manager may not show the cause.

Download Process Explorer for better clues as to what's running at startup and check your system for Malware that can be a cause. I would also check with a rootkit revealer for Hierarchical corruption that may not be seen. Malwarebytes is good. Did you happen to download anything recently.?

It can be a service at startup and MS updates can be a hog.
Some none essential services can be delayed or stopped in Services.msc so run it and see. Be careful you don't stop any essential services and if not sure, then google is your friend.

There are a few other checks you can do if the above is not the cause like: sfc /scannow for windows file errors or corruption and run a check on your disks with CHKDSK just incase. These are done in an elevated command prompt.

Also, 'overclocking master', I might start overclocking my 5820k manually once I fix this issue.. any tips or anywhere to begin? 😛

Well Nuke and Pave as a last resort cause you will then have to re install your OS and all your apps.
If you go this way make sure you backup all your important files.
Why your system is overheating is another matter and you should look into your cooling system.
Even 100% should not cause the system to overheat. What are your current CPU temps under load.?
Don't use Windows or any third party software to OC your CPU. OCing should only be done in your Bios.
It's OK to use Overclocking Master for your GPU.
What were the results of CHKDSK.?

 

[DescentGuy195]

@Mean Machine It's not my cooling that's the issue. Infact booting into Windows 7 it doesn't have this issue. Most my "apps" (has the apple gen really made us use that term now?) are on the 1TB Barracuda. Scandisk showed no faults or nothing. Anyways the temps that was constantly running when in W10 were 49-50. Running Cinebench brung it to 55. It's a Windows issue from as far as I can tell. I'm installing Windows 7 right now on the HDD sense 7 doesn't support my NVMe drive until I get into the desktop.

Also what I meant by "overclocking master" is the title under your name. Presuming your a pretty good OCer. But good tips otherwise. 😛

 

[MeanMachine41]

@Mean Machine It's not my cooling that's the issue. Infact booting into Windows 7 it doesn't have this issue. Most my "apps" (has the apple gen really made us use that term now?) are on the 1TB Barracuda. Scandisk showed no faults or nothing. Anyways the temps that was constantly running when in W10 were 49-50. Running Cinebench brung it to 55. It's a Windows issue from as far as I can tell. I'm installing Windows 7 right now on the HDD sense 7 doesn't support my NVMe drive until I get into the desktop.

Also what I meant by "overclocking master" is the title under your name. Presuming your a pretty good OCer. But good tips otherwise. 😛

Oh sorry for the confusion lol, I thought you were talking about Overclocking your GPU.
I don't suppose your using Virtual reality software, maybe Oculus Rift software, as i heard there's a bug that can cause it.?
Maybe it's an app that's causing this, I'm running out of ideas.

Do one last check for me please.
Go to Services.msc and right-click the "svchost" process and select "go to file location". If it takes you to anywhere besides your Windows/System32 folder, it is almost certainly malware.

 

[DescentGuy195]

Unfortunatley, it's a bit too late. I'm already running Windows 7.. though through me checking through all the things that would be common sense to check, I suppose it could have been malware that wasn't detected by anything.

I'll probably have to go back to Windows 10 at some point, sense who knows when they are pulling the plug on 7.. plus general support for graphics cards and newer titles. Hopefully I'm lucky and Destiny 2 comes out on Steam.. and not that god-awful Windows Store.

But if this happens again, I'll remember to check scvhost, sense usually that's the common target for malware and viruses to mess with. (I've had experience with a piece of malware that would specifically mess with scvhost and cause Windows 7 to BSOD instantly.. it was a long time ago!)

Thanks for all the help everyone!