Is my CPU on its last leg?

[Captain Satellite]

Out of nowhere it can sound like a jet taking off with no apps. running and when I check the task manager it is at 100% performance - with nothing running! I have to re-start my computer to get it to stop. Is it ready for the boneyard, guys?

[mats.hogberg]

Not your CPU.
You have something running, that's for sure.

/Mats

[Captain Satellite]

I'm not kidding, I don't have anything open.

[Bodyslide]

Restart the PC in safe mode....Does the sound occur on boot up as well?

[Captain Satellite]

It always clears up after a regular re-start and isn't happening often but is happening maybe once or twice a week. I check the task manager and nothing is running. Weird stuff.

[redwudz]

I'm thinking virus or trojan if you find no problems with the hardware. Maybe do a free Trendmicro online scan? http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

[Captain Satellite]

Thanks, I run them every couple of days but I'll give it a whirl.

[Bodyslide]

Could it be a bad power supply or a bad fan?

[Captain Satellite]

It sounds like the fan for sure. Would the fan cause the performance graph to shoot up to 100%? The computer also runs slow as **** when it does this. Not often mind you, but it does happen. I guess it's nothing serious, just wanted to bounce it off of you guys.

[Bjs]

More than a poke at it ...

Avg antivirus free and add-aware se ... install and update both , run avg first to snap virus's and trojan's , then add-aware se to locate crapware ... quaranteen all it find's ... reboot pc .

Next , take a close look at any program's installed on pc ... especially any non-essential freeware program's ... some of these cause registry issue's and corruption which send's the pc nutt's from the start ... get rid of them one by one ... restart pc .

Also ms's wga utitlity can also cause this issue .

If it is listed in add/remove ... xp update's , uninstall it and reboot .
Pc will now report update ready ... read it , it's wga .. choose no to install ... and never ask to user again to ever install it ... and it will never ask ...

Reboot pc .

Finally ... do you have scanner's , printer's , ectra ... yes .
Did you install the software that came with them ... yes .

Press ctrl + alt + del

If you see any named running process with wow in it's name ... you know what to do ... yes / no

Uninstall all software product's that came with scanner (not the driver) , and reboot .
Check if wow is running ... no ... you are done .

If not , it may be called by printer's software ... get rid of them .

Use xnview , or any other freeware utitlity to use to connect and import from scanner from now on .
There are a couple of free photo editor's around ... nonags.com , downloads.com and other's worth a search ... gimp is good .

Check fan's are clean in pc ... many user's ignore the fact and I have seen fan's on cpu's that you could grow tomatoes on ... that much dust is not good .

Scandisk , reboot to perform task .
Enter safemode , run defrag here (because defrag may not finish in normal mode if you have not done it for some time)
It also , only allow's the pc to load the basic service's required , thus less crap running .

Alway's be aware of ms update's ... they are not fully tested ... and have been know to cause issue's on user's pc's .

Back in normal os ... see how you go now ...

=====================

Rule :

Connect online .
Update virus definition's first .
Now do what you like ...

If "alway's on service"

If you are going to be away from pc for some time .

Turn modem off (if external)
Turn pc off .
Turn the pc off at power point ..

==================

The most common point of house fire's :

Any electrical device left connected to power point with switch left on ...

Dust build's up in these device's over a long period , and even if it is off , power still flow's into device ...

[Captain Satellite]

Wow, I hope you copied and pasted that, man - much appreciated!

[neomaine]

I was also thinking it could be a cpu fan. If the cooling fan is going bad and the heat is not disapated, the cpu maybe throttling down to save itself - even to the point where mundane activities require 100%.

I still think the virus/trojan/worm/spyware avenue is the best. Just though I'd add a little something. Never really had this happen before but it is possible with some cpus.

[JerryB]

Out of nowhere it can sound like a jet taking off with no apps. running and when I check the task manager it is at 100% performance - with nothing running! I have to re-start my computer to get it to stop. Is it ready for the boneyard, guys?

Hi,
actually my answer is similar to one you already have...... however a different view...
1. as far as the noise issue.... either you have abad fan or HD or!!!! some program is tasking your hard drive to work over time...!!!!
2. the cpu working at 100% DEFINITELY some program is tasking another program to run that much... normally your cpu should be at 1-3%!! .....
now it could be maleware so important to virusscan and antispyware scanyour system!!!...
also it could be a ligitmate program that running......... firewalls and scanners and other programs been commonly known to do that quite often generally there trying to reach there home page for some reason..... but what i would do is turn off all program either all at one time or one at a time and find out which program is the cause...
note your task manager, look under processes it may or may not give clue on the culprit... sometime it misdirects...
note: although you mentioned you don't have any program running... HOEVER YOU DO!!!!... just to give you an idea go to your msconfig.exe>startup tab.... you'll probably find about 20-40 programs running...!! and we haven't even looked at services type programs.. smile..