CPU Usage Will not drop below 20% at Idle

Just built a 1. 7GHz Celeron, 256MB PC2100, Intel 845 MB, Sound Blaster 128, Intel Nic, GeForce 2 GTS. Loaded FRESH INSTALL of Win2K and all Packs and Patches. Only have Norton 7. 51 running, no others programs or driver helpers.

Windows Hardware 9627 This topic was started by ,


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Just built a 1.7GHz Celeron, 256MB PC2100, Intel 845 MB, Sound Blaster 128, Intel Nic, GeForce 2 GTS. Loaded FRESH INSTALL of Win2K and all Packs and Patches. Only have Norton 7.51 running, no others programs or driver helpers. Even after disbling a sh*t load of services the CPU usage never drops below 20% at Idle! WTF!, there is nothing running, even when I turn off Norton it stays at 18%-22%.
 
On my old AMD 1.2GHz CPU at work with pretty much the same set up I see 0%-2% at Idle. Is there something I am missing?
 
CPU Throttle is at 12.5% in BIOS, and it is not overheating. I am not using any onboard devices except the USB for my scanner.

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I installed the chipset drivers that came with the board.
 
When I open Task Manager I have 16 Processes and in the CPU Field it has zeros all the way until System Idle Process which is at 99. Nothing else so much as peeps above 01.
 
 
What am I looking for in the Major Geeks links above?

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try and run a benchmark
according to the services u arent idling at 20%

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Quote:I installed the chipset drivers that came with the board.

When I open Task Manager I have 16 Processes and in the CPU Field it has zeros all the way until System Idle Process which is at 99. Nothing else so much as peeps above 01.


What am I looking for in the Major Geeks links above?

Umm... sorry those links need to be pasted into the browser input... blame this site... they do work.

the first one is the latest 845 chipset optomization and the second is the application acceliator. both from intel.

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What am I looking for in the benchmark?

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i shoulda explained but i was in a hurry

if u really have a 20% draw and it's hidden like u have indicated
it should stick out like a sore thumb on a benchmark
 
if not then suspect the program thats telling u it's running at 20%@idle

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Task manager is telling me 20% CPU Usage at Idle. I will try running some benches, just don't know what bench prog. will tel me what's running. This IS a fresh install of windows 2K SP3, so the only progs on it are Norton and all the drivers and patches for Intel and Windows.

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and the task manager also says no processes are working above 1% or so
sometimes the graph is wrong
any benchy will work as long as there is sunthin to compare to
sandra sisoft works well

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On Sandra 2002 it benches lower than a P3 1.0GHz! Results are 2500MIPS and 1601MFLOPS. WTF.
 
 
Update: So far tried disabling ANY onboard hardware, Flashing BIOS and running Adaware incase there is anything on there by mistake. Still will not drop below 20%.

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doh!
now im clueless. dont even have a w2k to test on
 
scanner still plugged in? u on a home lan
use sisoft and look thru the system info's
 
other than that im out of ideas


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Yeah I unplugged the USB devices and even pulled cards. I have another machine that has the same board and CPU so i will install 2k on it and see if it does the same thing. :x

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Is it kernel time(red bar) or not(green bar)?. Turn on show kernel time.

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It is green bar, CPU usage. The when I turn on to Kernal time it is close to being in sync with green bar, it varies once it a while by 1-2%.

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Then all the usage is kernel time. Try different video and sound cards. I assume ur already running bare minimum.
 
P.S. I'd also check your DMA settings and make sure DMA is turned on.

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Quote:BUT, the "SYSTEM PROCESS" in taskmgr.exe processes tab is really alot of things iirc, drivers processes as well. A shame it's not broken into all of its parts so you could "Zero-In" on the offending process!

I'm sure he said there is no processes on the processes list including system using any CPU time bar the idle process. Definately seems driver or hardware related.

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Here are the hardware specs:
 
Intel Celeron 1.7GHz
Hoxtek MB with Intel 845D chipset (lastest BIOS)
Kingston PC 2100 DDR, 256MB
GeForce 2 GTS 64MB DDR (41.09 Dets)
Sound Blaster 128 PCI
Intel NIC 10/100
IBM Deskstar 40GIG Drive Main
WD 30GIG Drive MP3s
12X DVD
ATI TV Wonder VE (MM 7.1)
Canon USB Scanner
HP LaserJet 3P LPT1 (with IRQ enabled)
DMA is enabled on all drives
 
Windows 2000 SP3 with I.E. 6 SP1 and ALL Windows Updates
 
 
I will try pulling cards today, as I was pretty sick yesterday (sniffle)

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!!!!!SOLUTION!!!!!
 
I pulled the Sound Blaster and rebooted, 0% CPU Usage! Yay! So after downloading the lastest Creative Drivers and reinserting the card still 0% Yippy yippy So this whole time it was the good ole sound blaster. Well thanks to all for your help and tips, now I can play!!!