# High CPU usage, programs crashing, windows hanging



## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

As the title suggests I am experiencing application hangs and when I check the task manager I routinely see my cpu usage to or near 100%. I have run malware bytes and ad aware and found nothing. Updated all my drivers and still see this happening. At a loss at what to do next.

Running windows 7 on a dell inspiron e1505 laptop with an intel dual core 1.73 GHz processor and 2 GB of ram. I know thats not a lot of memory but thats th most I can have in this machine and for what I use my machine for I have been told this should be sufficient.

Basically I surf the web and use itunes and windows media player. So I might have google chrome open (anywhere from 1 to multiple tabs open) and be streaming itunes over my wifi to my stereo. At first I though maybe I have too many chrome tabs open but after a week of trying to limit my open windows I am noticing this still happening with nothing but 1 open chrome tab (and itunes not even running). 

Now I don't know a lot about memory usage but it seems weird to me that my cpu usage is 100% and my physical memory is at like 50% I have been watching my task manager for a week or so and can't really see any other programs hogging the cpu. When the problem happens either itunes or chrome (or sometimes both) seem to be running at or around 50% cpu usage but sometimes it is not even that high.

Anyway seeing as how it does not appear to be a virus/malware and that I can't identify some rogue process eating up the cpu I am at a loss as to how to proceed to troubleshoot this so...help would be much appreciated.


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## cluberti (Aug 26, 2010)

Can you open resmon.exe, and then post a screenshot of the CPU tab (sorted by CPU usage %) and the Memory tab (sorted by Commit), when the issue occurs?


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

As soon as I started playing music the problem appeared and I took the above screen shots


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

Attempting to burn a cd via itunes here


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## cluberti (Aug 26, 2010)

A quick question - why is perfmon.exe running? It will actually contribute to CPU and memory usage depending on what counters you are watching. Otherwise, the bulk of the usage appears to be antivirus and iTunes, which is interesting. Does the issue occur when doing anything else?


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

I have no idea why it is running. When I google it it appears I am not supposed to stop it though. But to my knowledge I did not actively do anything that should have started it.

And yes that is microsoft security essentials.

Yes it will occur with google chrome running and nothing else in the foreground actively running (some things in the background are of course running like microsoft security essentials)


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

Ok so now I realize that perfmon is just resmon. It is running so that I could take the screen shot. But this problem is starting before I even open the resource mon or task manager


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## cluberti (Aug 26, 2010)

Hmmm. This is really odd, and the commit doesn't match the usage. I think we need a little better look at the RAM itself, although I think MSE has something to do with this. Can you download / run RAMMap, and when the problem occurs, do a File > Save to same the data (to a .rmp file), and then post it so we can look at it?


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

I can but it won't be till tomorrow. At work all night. thanks for the help though, much appreciated.


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

It says that trying to upload a .rmp file is an invalid file type. Am I doing something wrong?


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## TheGift73 (Oct 17, 2006)

Right click on the .rmp file and then Send To>Compressed (zipped) Folder. Attach that zipped file to your next post.


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

I had about 6 chrome windows open here and experienced the poblems. Itunes was not open. I hope this file shows what was happening. Had trouble opening the program cause windows was hanging petty bad and it kinda seemed like the program finally loaded right as the cpu usage dropped back down from 100%. So I guess I'm not sure if its a true snashot of what was going on duing the 100% usage.


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

Just hoping to bump this thread as it has fallen off and not getting any more replies. Thanks


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## cluberti (Aug 26, 2010)

I have to build a 32bit VM to analyze this, as I don't have a 32bit machine around.


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

Thanks for the help. Much appreciated. This computer is getting so frustrating I've been contemplating just buying a new one but it seems like a waste of money as this pc isnot all that old and still has decent enough specs that it should be able to d o what I want it to.


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## cluberti (Aug 26, 2010)

I managed to get it open with a newer version of RAMMap. In looking at the actual pages used, it appears that something on the system is creating memory-mapped files (all types of files on the system) and not letting them go, thus consuming memory (that isn't tracked in a process' active pages, hence the discrepancy). I note you have Avast on here, as well as MSE, and Avast has the lion's share of mapped files. If you remove Avast, does the problem go away? Note having two scanning engines on one machine is a bit of a precarious position to put yourself in (and MSE doesn't play well with a second engine running on the machine, and neither does AVAST), so you really should be using one or the other anyway. However, in this instance, it does look like an Avast issue, at least from what RAMMap says is actually in physical RAM.


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

I just uninstalled avast. Will report back on the performance.


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## cluberti (Aug 26, 2010)

Good luck - note that after you uninstall Avast, you will have to reboot to get the drivers to unload. You may have already done that, but I figured it was worth mentioning just in case.


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

OK so it is still happening. Not sure what to try next.


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## cluberti (Aug 26, 2010)

Get another .rmp file when it's occurring, and post it back. If it's not the culprit, it was a victim and a false positive.


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## Hugo Go (Sep 24, 2010)

Just a question, how long do you use your laptop? what are the things that your doing? maybe the you open a lot of application? or maybe the laptop is over use that the system cant handle the heat inside.


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## cluberti (Aug 26, 2010)

Opening a lot of applications, maybe, although if you'd have looked at the .rmp file you would see what's open. Heat nor malfunction would cause memory-mapped files to be kept open, so that's not it either.


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## Hugo Go (Sep 24, 2010)

Maybe uninstall more application that is not necessary maybe its on the applications you installed.


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## pcizzy (May 25, 2011)

I'm starting to wonder if this is a memory leak related to chrome. One thing I keep noticing is after I get the 100% cpu spike often times (although not everytime) I get an error message from chrome indicating shockwave flash is unesponsive. Just doing a quick google search for (memory leak chrome flash) brought up tons of cases similar to mine. Problem is I was unable identify a suitable solution. Not sure if I am on the right tack with this but it seems like it might be a possible source for my problems


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