Question High CPU Usage & System Lockups (Taskhostw.exe)

[owensj836]

Over the past few months, I have been getting constant Windows 10 lockups. Even when my pc is idle, I will find that everything will become unresponsive for about 5 - 10 seconds and the Hard drive light turns solid red.
I look at Taskmanager and it says that my PC is using 100% CPU but does not show which process is causing the issue, disk and memory are all normal.

I have recently performed a clean install of Windows 10, removed everything and started again. Everything was okay for a little while but the issue started again and I have no clue what could be causing it.

All drivers updated, I have tried to disable Runtime Broker to no avail. Games lockup.

I have run Perfmon /report and it shows that Taskhostw.exe is using 98% of my CPU. I have checked taskhost on process explorer and comes up with a few crazy looking threads.

My virus scanner comes back as all clear and I have had a pc shop do a diagnostic and everything seems fine internally, they suggested reinstalling but made no difference.

I will try to attach a few Images of the things I have found #.

If anybody has any ideas as to what might be causing these lockups, I would be extremely grateful.


Thanks, J

 

[Lutfij]

Did you recreate your bootable installer using Windows Media Creation Tools and then proceed to install the OS afresh?

 

[owensj836]

Yes, I created the ISO on a USB stick. Formatted both SSD & HDD and then reinstalled Windows 10 onto the SSD.
It happened on a previous SSD that I had so I sent that one back thinking it was the SSD, got a replacement and the same thing has happened

 

[neojack]

Interresting problem, i did some research on google about it.


try to reset chrome to defaults (or uninstall completely, use firefox instead, just to see if problems reappear)

another thread I found says it was resolved by setting the windows power saving feature into "hibernate" instead of "sleep"
in cortana, type "control" to open the control panel, then power plan features. You would probably be on a "standard"power plan. edit it. desactivate sleep mode.

 

[owensj836]

Hi neojack, thank you for taking the time to look into the problem.
I will try your suggestions to see if it fixes the issue.
Thanks again

 

[Colif]

The genuine taskhostw.exe file is a software component of Windows service start manager by Microsoft. Taskhostw.exe is located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. If this file located any where else other than C:\Windows\System32 folder then its a malware infection.

Can you boot Windows 10 into Safe Mode to see issue persist.

link

 

[owensj836]

- Neojack, I tried your suggestion. The issue still persists but doesn't seem as regular. Thanks again, I'll keep you updated.

- Colif, thanks for helping me try to work this out. I have located Taskhostw.exe in the system 32 folder, as well as a few MANIFEST files, which also include the taskhostw name in them. I have previously booted the pc in safe mode and the issue went away. I am at a loss over what could be causing it. Thanks for getting in touch

 

[Colif]

Try doing a clean boot and see if it is still a problem. Read instructions carefully and make sure NOT to disable any Microsoft services - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

if it fixes it, slowly re enable the programs you stopped at startup (over a few startups) to isolate the cause

What motherboard do you have?

 

[owensj836]

A few weeks ago I did a completely new clean boot. Removed everything and then reinstalled everything as a fresh start (i.e. I didn't restore from a backup) and it started off ok but soon the issue came back. My motherboard is an MSI H110M Pro-Vh

 

[Colif]

so even on a totally clean boot you got the problem?

did you run live update 6 to make sure it thinks you have latest software on board? Its on the utility tab of motherboard web site

it could be your BIOS version, Live update 6 should check that, otherwise check what you have installed (look on system info) compared to their web site.

All of the processes you have linked in threads in Process explorer are identical to the ones on my PC except it has wdmaud.drv listed which is Windows Audio. It might not mean anything, just saying the rest of them are normal.

 

[owensj836]

Okay, I'll have a look at live update 6 to make sure everything is up to date. Its good to know that the rest of the processes are okay. I will check the windows audio driver to make sure everything is okay there as well. Thankyou mate