CPU usage 100% while downloading

[Emson079]

As the title says, the CPU usage instantly skyrockets to 90-100% when I start a download of some kind, be it from Steam or uTorrent. It even goes to the point where I can't even lisen to music at the same time without the sound going crazy. Does anyone have an idea how to solve this? I have tried running a couple of virus scans with no result. The CPU is an i5 6600K.

 

[Borjie]

Well. I think you just run your download and dont use it while downloading

 

[Emson079]

Well. I think you just run your download and dont use it while downloading

Well yea that would be the easy solution, although a PC like this should have no problem downloading and doing something else at the same time

 

[Obakasama]

Sounds like something's wrong. Even my x4 760k can download a game from Steam and carry on playing music or other tasks with ease. Besides, downloading something shouldn't be a CPU task as far as I'm aware, so it sounds like something else is going on. However, depending how you play your music then there could be potential problems (though I'm specifically thinking of an internet music streaming service, and that would be battling your download for bandwidth causing problems).

Have you used Task Manager (assuming Windows) to check why the CPU is being pushed to its limits? Something has to be doing it but there's no mention of it in your posts. Since you've checked for viruses you may as well check for malware if you haven't.

 

[Emson079]

Sounds like something's wrong. Even my x4 760k can download a game from Steam and carry on playing music or other tasks with ease. Besides, downloading something shouldn't be a CPU task as far as I'm aware, so it sounds like something else is going on. However, depending how you play your music then there could be potential problems (though I'm specifically thinking of an internet music streaming service, and that would be battling your download for bandwidth causing problems).

Have you used Task Manager (assuming Windows) to check why the CPU is being pushed to its limits? Something has to be doing it but there's no mention of it in your posts. Since you've checked for viruses you may as well check for malware if you haven't.

When i look in the tank manager a thing called "system memory and compressed memory" is at the top and when i go to the file of the task it's named "ntoskrnl" in the system 32 folder. It's not just when i lisen to music, any type of sound gets really crazy and it's hard even to controll the cursor. I have also reinstalled windows but the problem is still here :/ Thanks for the response

 

[Obakasama]

I believe ntoskrnl is a Windows driver; an important one at that. It itself shouldn't cause troubles though I've read it often gets flagged due to other drivers in BSODs. It might be worth checking if any audio drivers need updating, though whether it resolves anything I've no idea. Since you've reinstalled Windows has it updated everything accordingly? Seems strange the problem persists after reinstalling Windows.

The only other things I can think of, until someone has a better idea, concerns your CPU temperature under load and HDD usage percentage in Task Manager.

 

[Emson079]

All the temps look good im afraid. And now its not just when i download things, when i open a browser and new tabs the browsers CPU usage skyrockets taking up around 70-90% of the CPU. It's just the first like 10 seconds though, then it settles to like 7% again, until i press something on the page that is, then it goes up again. And yes, i have tried other browsers and its all the same im afraid. I have no idea what to do now. It feels like I have tried everything.

 

[Obakasama]

So no apparent temperature issues with CPU, viruses, malware or any particular process.

Following up on the thing you mention with respect to Task Manager I came across this: https://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/45544-problem-compressed-memory-process.html#post623300
The poster there mentions a few things you may wish to try out to see if they help.

I would add for sake of comparison that I do see a spike in CPU usage when opening a browser, but I set my browser to continue where I left off (and I usually have at least four tabs opened).

 

[Emson079]

So no apparent temperature issues with CPU, viruses, malware or any particular process.

Following up on the thing you mention with respect to Task Manager I came across this: https://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/45544-problem-compressed-memory-process.html#post623300
The poster there mentions a few things you may wish to try out to see if they help.

I would add for sake of comparison that I do see a spike in CPU usage when opening a browser, but I set my browser to continue where I left off (and I usually have at least four tabs opened).

Okay so I did the clean boot thing and it worked! The CPU is still in the 50% range while downloading but all the audio stutter and things are gone! But what do I do now? How will I know which program is causing the problem since I would rather not do clean boot every time i start the pc? Thanks a lot for the help ^^

Edit: Okay so I unchecked a bunch of things in mscongif and it seems like it worked! I suspect it was a faulty Intel driver I used for getting internet connection that was the problem but I can not confirm that as of yet. I can now download things, lisen to music and browse the web without the PC going all crazy and stuff. Under those circumstances the CPU reaches around 60-70% but since I don't notice it it does not really bother me. The only problem now is that my antivirus Avast is using a lot of the cpu while downloading games but as I said, it's not as big of a problem yet. Let's hope it stays this way now and that I don't need to return here haha! Thanks bunches! You can't belive how happy I am

 

[Obakasama]

Sounds like it's a partial solution and one not specific to essential Windows files as the clean boot shows. If you have tracked it down to a driver, then it might be worthwhile to update the driver. Drivers can occasionally just get corrupted.