CPU Usage jumps to 100%

vaio-fx

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I have this old laptop (Pentium 4 2.4GHz, 1GB RAM, 64MB Radeon) and its is disgustingly slow. Its lagging as I type this!!! I have formatted it time and time again, tried XP, Vista & 7 and they are all just as slow as each other. All I can think is that its either a hardware problem or some really clever virus which is surviving formats. I have opened it up and got rid of all the dust so thats not the cause. I looked at task manager, it sits at at a very low cpu usage and then, all of a sudden if I do so much as move the window, or scroll up and down a page, it zooms up to 100% cpu usage and hot air blasts out the fans. I'm so confused. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks

cpu.jpg


EDIT: If I click "show processes fromall users, "system idle process" appears and its using 95% of my CPU but I cant end it
 
Haha, system Idle Process isnt really a process. It just shows the % CPU that you ARNT utilizing.

Tried linux? If it's a problem there, then it will be hardware. If it's not, my guess is that it's something to do with windows not liking your hardware!
 
Thanks for the replies. Yeah I have formatted it so many times I've lost count! I looked into system idle process in google and yeah I realise why I sounded stupid about that! Anyway looking into it more if I do so much as move a few windows around, it is explorer that takes up the entire cpu usage, if I end explorer it starts to happen with networking processes etc. Either way I cant get my cpu usage to stay down. I don't mind too much as I'm trying to get a new laptop, but I will have to use this one for the next few weeks so it'd be nice to have it working a bit better.
 
Download and run MemTest.

You can either download a distro of linux and burn that to CD or memtest itself.
 
Does that check the RAM? becuase over a year ago when it was running XP and 256MB RAM I though that it was slow becuase it didn't have enough RAM, so I replaced it with 2x 512MB, so I don't think the RAM is broken.
 
Yes, It tests the RAM. Seeing as how it's slow after multiple reformats and different OS's I'd start there.

If you can, get your hard drive manufactuter's diagnostic utility and test your hard drive as well. If RAM passes, then there is a good chance your hard drive is starting to go (this can sometimes be seen in event viewer as disk errors/warnings).

Also, do a physical look-over of your motherboard. if any of the capacitors are bulging at the top and/or leaking/blown your mothboard is dying which could cause this as well.
 
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