CPU stuck at 25%, 50% or 75% load... not sure what the hell is happening

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ragamuffon

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Sep 17, 2013
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My CPU is continually getting stuck at high load, as listed above. The fact that it is getting stuck at very specific numbers makes me think I have a virus, but honestly I have no clue. I don't understand it. I use Norton anti virus and regularly check my registry for errors. Please help!

sigh... i check my cpu before posting this and what do you know... stuck at 25%!!

The only recent changes I have made to my pc are installing windows defender(so maybe that clashed with Norton?) and installing a new CPU cooler, and i don't see how this could have an affect.
 
Solution
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The column titles in task Manager are sortable by clicking on the title. Click it a second time and it will reverse from ascending to descending or vice verse. Then you can see which process is using up the CPU time.

MS Process Explorer will provide information about the processes but not much unless you are developing an app. and trying to solve problems.


Also, since you mentioned that you are running XP I would think that seeing these percentages of CPU usage more common than Vista or Windows 7 as that most applications under XP including the OS were not written for multi-core, multi-threaded CPUs.
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dmitche3

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May 25, 2008
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Have you been looking at task manager? If not do so.

It doesn't sound odd though. I would guess that you have a quad core AMD or a dual-core Intel. As each of these numbers would represent a single core being in use. An application that is single-threaded and cannot use multi-cores will peak at 25% when running full speed on a 4 core system. I hope that you see what I'm trying to say. So, if you had two applications that were single-threaded apps running at 100% cpu that would show up as 50% of your CPU.

If you had a 6-core AMD, and if you had one application running full out you would be seeing the numbers 16%,33%, 49, 66%, etc.

This is nothing to do with your hardware. If you look at task manager you can get an idea of what is running. For more information you can download from Microsoft their "Process Explorer" application.
 
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ragamuffon

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Sep 17, 2013
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i have a quad core i5 intel 2300 @ 2.80Ghz... and yes i have been using task manager to check CPU load.

it seems all the cores are at some level of load, especially the 2nd and 4th.

 
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ragamuffon

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Sep 17, 2013
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i'm using windows xp. i can't find any option to sort the list by CPU usage or CPU time. i think i need to upgrade from windows xp already.
 
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dmitche3

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May 25, 2008
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The column titles in task Manager are sortable by clicking on the title. Click it a second time and it will reverse from ascending to descending or vice verse. Then you can see which process is using up the CPU time.

MS Process Explorer will provide information about the processes but not much unless you are developing an app. and trying to solve problems.


Also, since you mentioned that you are running XP I would think that seeing these percentages of CPU usage more common than Vista or Windows 7 as that most applications under XP including the OS were not written for multi-core, multi-threaded CPUs.
 
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