Laptop has very high CPU usage

[Bassblaster505]

so my laptop sits at 100% while just at the desktop. there's noting running, no updates, no virus scans and i dont think its a virus it only a week old and only been used a few times

Win7 Pro 32Bit
AMD E1-6010
AMD Radeon R2 Graphics
4GB RAM

https://gyazo.com/0894928b486cc93f1694ff6c540ca66c

 

[dudeman509]

Open task manager, processes, show processes from all users, and sort by CPU usage. Find out what's running and kill or disable it.

 

[Bassblaster505]

Open task manager, processes, show processes from all users, and sort by CPU usage. Find out what's running and kill or disable it.

there's only a couple tasks running each using 5%

 

[dudeman509]

Open task manager, processes, show processes from all users, and sort by CPU usage. Find out what's running and kill or disable it.

there's only a couple tasks running each using 5%

If something opens multiple threads, to index or something, that could add up. Are they all the same name, or just random bits here and there?

Also, sometimes if the computer is running in a low-power mode like it does when it thinks the machine is on battery power, that can easily top out the CPU chart. My Dell does this when it can't properly detect the wattage of the charger plugged into it.

 

[Bassblaster505]

Open task manager, processes, show processes from all users, and sort by CPU usage. Find out what's running and kill or disable it.

there's only a couple tasks running each using 5%

If something opens multiple threads, to index or something, that could add up. Are they all the same name, or just random bits here and there?

Also, sometimes if the computer is running in a low-power mode like it does when it thinks the machine is on battery power, that can easily top out the CPU chart. My Dell does this when it can't properly detect the wattage of the charger plugged into it.

hit the wrong button, meant to hit reply, my laptop might be doing that low power mode but i set it to high performance so would it still do that?

 

[Bassblaster505]

Open task manager, processes, show processes from all users, and sort by CPU usage. Find out what's running and kill or disable it.

there's only a couple tasks running each using 5%

If something opens multiple threads, to index or something, that could add up. Are they all the same name, or just random bits here and there?

Also, sometimes if the computer is running in a low-power mode like it does when it thinks the machine is on battery power, that can easily top out the CPU chart. My Dell does this when it can't properly detect the wattage of the charger plugged into it.

hit the wrong button, meant to hit reply, my laptop might be doing that low power mode but i set it to high performance so would it still do that?

 

[dudeman509]

Check Windows power settings and set it to high performance mode. Sometimes there's a CPU power option under "advanced".

Also check your FN keys for some sort of power management strategy the laptop vendor might include. I don't recall one on my Toshiba, but it was a 2007-ish model and they've probably changed since then.

 

[Aspiring techie]

Has it just started to do it, or does the CPU run at 100% even after a restart or a cold boot?

 

[Bassblaster505]

Has it just started to do it, or does the CPU run at 100% even after a restart or a cold boot?

cold boot 100%, restart, 100%, trying to do anything 100% and it always did this

 

[dudeman509]

Try this - open the start menu and type 'msconfig'. Select 'diagnostic startup' and reboot. Is it at a normal CPU % when it starts up again?

If that works, try turning on startup programs one by one or a few at a time. You can log off and back on instead of restarting every time.

 

[Aspiring techie]

Start the computer up in safe mode. If the CPU is running above 50% in safe mode (wait a minute or two for everything to load after you start it) then you need to reinstall windows.

 

[Bassblaster505]

Try this - open the start menu and type 'msconfig'. Select 'diagnostic startup' and reboot. Is it at a normal CPU % when it starts up again?

If that works, try turning on startup programs one by one or a few at a time. You can log off and back on instead of restarting every time.

sorry for the long wait for the reply, i did the msconfig diagnostic startup and reboot, it then took about 5 minutes to boot, then it stared to install updates when i installed all updates 2 months ago and now CPU usage averages 2% at desktop

 

[dudeman509]

Try this - open the start menu and type 'msconfig'. Select 'diagnostic startup' and reboot. Is it at a normal CPU % when it starts up again?

If that works, try turning on startup programs one by one or a few at a time. You can log off and back on instead of restarting every time.

sorry for the long wait for the reply, i did the msconfig diagnostic startup and reboot, it then took about 5 minutes to boot, then it stared to install updates when i installed all updates 2 months ago and now CPU usage averages 2% at desktop

Excellent, so back to normal? You can slowly enable startup processes back again and see if any of them spike CPU usage again.

Windows Update can be a total resource hog at times, especially on low-power machines. My Core 2 Duo grinds to a fan-screaming, hard-disk thrashing halt with Windows Updates.

 

[Bassblaster505]

Try this - open the start menu and type 'msconfig'. Select 'diagnostic startup' and reboot. Is it at a normal CPU % when it starts up again?

If that works, try turning on startup programs one by one or a few at a time. You can log off and back on instead of restarting every time.

sorry for the long wait for the reply, i did the msconfig diagnostic startup and reboot, it then took about 5 minutes to boot, then it stared to install updates when i installed all updates 2 months ago and now CPU usage averages 2% at desktop

Excellent, so back to normal? You can slowly enable startup processes back again and see if any of them spike CPU usage again.

Windows Update can be a total resource hog at times, especially on low-power machines. My Core 2 Duo grinds to a fan-screaming, hard-disk thrashing halt with Windows Updates.

my desktop with a G3258 OC to 4.2gHz will go to about 90% with updates running