Question ntoskrnl.exe - - Sudden very high CPU usage and I can't pinpoint the cause ?

[Hankdp26]

Hi guys hopefully there is a hero here that can point me in the right direction cause I am losing my mind with this issue.

As the title states, suddenly when PC is on idle or I'm not using it I can see my temp indicator from my NZXT AIO jump from 34c to 39-42c which is always casued by System process, which I found out is the ntoskrnl.exe application.

I've been looking at literally by now 100s of different posts and websites that point towards the cause being many different reasons, Ive tried EVERYTHING and cannot seem to fix the problem:

1.- Went into device manager and literally tried to update the drivers of every single component, no driver was installed as everything was up-to-date.
2.- With bitdefender did a full custom scan of both my drives no issues, virus or malware was found.
3.- From CMD I tried using all the commands I could find: scannow, restore health etc and it did not find anything corrupt or fixable.
4.- I created a reg file with the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\TimeBroker]
"Start"=dword:00000003

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\SysMain]
"DisplayName"="Superfetch"
"Start"=dword:00000003

To alledgely fix the memory issue, it worked for like a couple of days then I saw the temp spike again and bang, like clockwork System process at the top running 20% of my cpu

5.- Updated BIOS
6.- Ran memtest and it found no issues on ddr memory.

I got two more things to try:
1.- Reinstall graphics drivers
2.- Perform a clean boot (I saw this option in one of the many websites I visited but not sure what am I looking for after the clean boot)

Any ideas to what I can do to source this problem? I am sure that, combined with my previous AIO pump malfunctioning, it even caused a BSOD a month-ish ago.

IT is driving me crazy and I know there is a major problem with my PC being that by the looks of it the ntoskrnl app is now corrupted?

Any literally any help will be so much appreciated, thanks!!

 

[Lutfij]

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model.

Updated BIOS
What BIOS version are you on for your motherboard?

Perform a clean boot (I saw this option in one of the many websites I visited but not sure what am I looking for after the clean boot)
Did you reinstall the OS or did you mean a reboot of your system?

 

[Hankdp26]

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model.

Updated BIOS
What BIOS version are you on for your motherboard?

Perform a clean boot (I saw this option in one of the many websites I visited but not sure what am I looking for after the clean boot)
Did you reinstall the OS or did you mean a reboot of your system?

Aaah duuuh yes:

Intel I7-11700KF
RTX 3080 EVGA FTW 3 ULTRA
2X32 GSkill Trident Royal Elite RAM @4266mhz (they both came in the same package sold as a pair)
SSD: XPG M.2 1gb / D. Drive: SSD Adata (cant remember the drives exact specs)
Asus Prime B560M-A AC
Cougar 850+ Gold PSU

Bios: updated from 1601 to 2001 (latest)

By clean boot I mean starting windows with minimal processes and drivers https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd

But not sure what to look while doing that, I know I should be looking for conflicting software (maybe))

 

[Misgar]

It's complicated, but if you want to discover exactly what processes are running in the background behind ntoskrnl.exe, try Process Explorer from Sysinternals.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

In addition, there's Process Monitor.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon

Whether or not they help you to find a solution is a different matter.

If you have a spare SSD, even a 120GB 2.5" SATA drive, try a fresh install of Windows.
It takes me less than an hour to get a basic Windows installation up and running - enough for troubleshooting.

 

[Hankdp26]

It's complicated, but if you want to discover exactly what processes are running in the background behind ntoskrnl.exe, try Process Explorer from Sysinternals.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

In addition, there's Process Monitor.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon

Whether or not they help you to find a solution is a different matter.

If you have a spare SSD, even a 120GB 2.5" SATA drive, try a fresh install of Windows.
It takes me less than an hour to get a basic Windows installation up and running - enough for troubleshooting.

thanks man, I guess if I know the exact name of the process creating the ntoskrnl mess I should be heading somewhere at least. Reinstalling windows is like my absolute pull in case of emergency scenario as I would need to reinstall everything on my c drive irrc... sigh I digress. Thanks man

 

[jcyrss]

I just came here to complain to Microsoft Windows developers about this. Can you guys do this right?

I always find that 'ntoskrnl' process on top of the CPU usage list. Even I have ZERO application running, it still consumes like 2% CPU usage. I think that's why Windows laptop is way worse than Mac laptop considering battery life. The biggest problem is not CPU or other hardware, but the operation system itself!

 

[Misgar]

I'm not sure how many Microsoft developers read this forum but Ntoskrnl is at the the heart of Microsoft Services, so it's not surprising it consumes clock cycles when performing background tasks. Perhaps I should switch to an Apple Mac laptop for superior battery performance, but they tend to be outside my price range.

I delayed clean installing Windows as a fix on a sick PC for nearly 2 years, repeatedly restoring an earlier Macrium Reflect image to the faulty drive. After a while, the problem with the 10Gigabit network controller always returned and I lost my internet connection again. It didn't matter what NIC firmware or drivers I tried, the 10Gig card would fail.

Finally, I did what I should have done months earlier and started from scratch. It took just over half an hour to install Windows, another half hour to tweak the settings, then 6 hours to install all my favourite programs. I now have a stable system and no longer waste time trying to correct a fault on a 4-year old build of Windows 10.