Question High CPU usage Inspiron 15 7560

[hebi]

Had this laptop for nearly 4 years, of course warranty expired already. Performance for the last year turned very bad with CPU going to 100% during playing any games, system updates, scans by antivirus, using programs like photoshop, longer video watching, video calls, basically anything "heavier" than scrolling.
It is no gaming laptop or anything like that, but I really don't know what caused this state other than manufacturing internal problems/new drivers. It was never ideal but with performance like that it basically cooks itself all the time with fans obviously working non-stop. I don't think that Heroes 3 from year 1999 should be running on 100%cpu, especially since I used to play games much more cpu heavy just fine. It should be also mentioned that performance is terms of smoothness/FPS in games is all right.
Contacted Dell support, did all the updates (BIOS too), checking with all the diagnostic tools, nothing. There's even an official article on this problem from Dell, but what it says is just that- updating drivers.
They took my laptop 2 times, motherboard, battery was all exchanged but even that didn't work. After second time they say they can't find an issue. I was probably scammed. Now, I'd be contacting them again, but since I still need to use this laptop daily, I can't afford to lose it for another 2 weeks.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

If these are the specs to your laptop, then it's yet relevant with todays tasks. You might want to see what the version for your BIOS on the laptop is currently. Then take a look at the version of your OS. We're currently on version 20H2.

While the laptop is idle, with Task Manager open, do you see it hit 100% usage on any resource all the time? If so, then you have a memory leak. The only way forward from that issue is to reinstall the OS. Back up your critical content, then fabricate your bootable installer using Windows Media Creation Tools, then reinstall the OS. Once OS installation is complete, install all relevant drivers for the laptop in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

 

[hebi]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

If these are the specs to your laptop, then it's yet relevant with todays tasks. You might want to see what the version for your BIOS on the laptop is currently. Then take a look at the version of your OS. We're currently on version 20H2.

While the laptop is idle, with Task Manager open, do you see it hit 100% usage on any resource all the time? If so, then you have a memory leak. The only way forward from that issue is to reinstall the OS. Back up your critical content, then fabricate your bootable installer using Windows Media Creation Tools, then reinstall the OS. Once OS installation is complete, install all relevant drivers for the laptop in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

Hello, thank you for offering help.

Specs you provided are accurate. My BIOS version is 1.41.1- the newest one. With OS version you were right, I had older one, so I updated it to 20H2 but it didn't resolve my problem.

While idle, CPU usage is normal 5%-20%; with just using my browser, one tab open and maybe spotify in the background usage is alright too- 30%-50%. Anything heavier than that (for example more tabs open or more programs open, all games, screensharing when in video call) and cpu usage rises to 70%-100%. Fans start overwoking and they already had to be replaced.
If my frames in games dropped, or overall performance during that "heavier" usage became worse I'd say "alright, it doesn't follow up anymore", but that's not the case. Even with cpu on 100% usage during games, fans nearly exploding and temperature reaching 70 degrees my FPS don't drop.