[SOLVED] CPU Usage at 100% Even in Safe Mode

[kingmoney8133]

So about a few days ago I began noticing some lag on my PC if I had just a few things open. Things like Discord audio lagging, FPS drops in games, Chrome becoming unresponsive. I never have that much open on my CPU, so I checked task manager for a solution. I found that I was using 100% of my CPU. I close everything and, even then, it's still using 100% of my CPU. I would normally post a photo of the task manager, however it's never a consistent program. I can close my top-usage process and something else will just spike up to take up the newly-available processing power. It's as if every single process on my computer is racing to use as much of my CPU as possible. To try and fix this issue, I took the following steps and none of them helped.

-Restarted: computer starts immediately at 100% and never decreases
-Updated MB drivers: No impact
-Ensured Windows was up-to-date: installed new update, but no impact
-Ran Malwarebytes to check for viruses: none found
-Ran computer in safe mode: CPU usage was still at 100%. Programs such as task manager were registering at like 75% CPU usage. It was as if the programs were making a concerted effort to use 100% of my CPU, even with nothing open in safe mode.

I am out of ideas here. I'm leaning towards a hardware issue at this point, since the problem is even occurring in safe mode. Other options I've thought of are reinstalling Windows or updating the BIOS. Does anybody have an indication of where to start? I was hoping to start by running tests to see if the CPU is going bad. Is there any software I can use to do this? I've attached a screenshot of my CPU performance tab from Task Manager. I have an AMD Ryzen 5 2600X. Everything looks normal from that screen. Any suggestions are appreciated.

https://imgur.com/a/x7gWE1L

 

[madchemist83]

Close all extra programs please. Looks like something is using harddrive too. Have you tried running other Antivirus software like Norton ?
What about diskcheck for corrupted space ?

 

[Nemesia]

CPU at 100%, Disk being used and WIFI being used.

Can you make a screenshot of task manager where we see the processes to see which process takes that 100% CPU?

 

[kingmoney8133]

CPU at 100%, Disk being used and WIFI being used.

Can you make a screenshot of task manager where we see the processes to see which process takes that 100% CPU?

Here it is. Though I will note, it's a little arbitrary based on when I take a screenshot. All the processes are fluctuating a lot and, if I close a high-usage process, a completely different process will shoot up in usage to keep the CPU at 100%.

https://imgur.com/a/dP9gX5y

 

[Nemesia]

Here it is. Though I will note, it's a little arbitrary based on when I take a screenshot. All the processes are fluctuating a lot and, if I close a high-usage process, a completely different process will shoot up in usage to keep the CPU at 100%.

https://imgur.com/a/dP9gX5y

A quick search and it looks like it's from MSI gaming app or MSI X-boost. Could be from other MSI OC type software too.

That trigger mode monitor needs to be removed.

 

[kingmoney8133]

A quick search and it looks like it's from MSI gaming app or MSI X-boost. Could be from other MSI OC type software too.

That trigger mode monitor needs to be removed.

I removed basically all MSI software and the issue is still there. While I got rid of trigger mode monitor, other processes just took its place. For example, right now Malwarebytes Services are using the most CPU. If I end that process, something else takes its place. I don't think the issue is tied to any specific process because, no matter if I get rid of the individual processes, other processes just cause the same issue.

I also tried changing power settings and running disk checks based on other suggestions. Neither fixed the issue.

 

[madchemist83]

It's hard to see that screenshot. Can you run userbenchmark and post results.

 

[kingmoney8133]

It's hard to see that screenshot. Can you run userbenchmark and post results.

Sorry about the screenshot quality, it got compressed. This link should be clearer, but you have to click on it instead of using the embedded image:

https://imgur.com/WVLHFz4

View: https://i.imgur.com/WVLHFz4.png


And here are the userbenchmark results:

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/37583714

 

[madchemist83]

Still can't see it.
Interesting enough is that background cpu use is very low during userbenchmark.
Now back to the problems. I would suggest reinstalling Windows into your second SSD. Run sfc scannow, check your drives for errors.

 

[Nemesia]

Still can't see it.
Interesting enough is that background cpu use is very low during userbenchmark.
Now back to the problems. I would suggest reinstalling Windows into your second SSD. Run sfc scannow, check your drives for errors.

Can you see OP's picture using this website instead?

https://postimg.cc/yJk7z3y0

 

[madchemist83]

Yes thank you, much better. Still doesn't really explain what's happening. There are some guides online that describe this issue, have you tried those solutions?

 

[kingmoney8133]

Yes thank you, much better. Still doesn't really explain what's happening. There are some guides online that describe this issue, have you tried those solutions?

I've been making my way through some online solutions. Issue is most of them are dissimilar in that the issue goes away in safe mode.

I found one similar problem and it was solved by changing the power settings, but that unfortunately did not help me. Nor did sfc scannow. I'm going to try reinstalling Windows after trying a few more suggestions

 

[Nemesia]

Just reinstall Windows 10 using the latest version using Windows Media Creation Tool on a usb key of 8GB minimum.

Let me know if the issue is still there after a Windows 10 reinstall.

 

[ALTF4 Computers]

I had this problem last week with a customer. We suspected malware but he had so many apps that after spending hours on it we decided to reload windows. Fresh install - all problems disappeared. My Suggestion:

1. Run a Windows System restore back to before the CPU Usage went nuts.
2. If that clears up the problem then image the machine, Run all windows updates manually.

From my research into this problem it seemed to occur after a windows update. We ran a sfc scannow (a;ways run twice) and found errors on the hard drive. Although that in itself did not fix the issue - the only thing that did was a full system reload.

ALTF4 Computers