Cpu running high Windows XP

[leejay]

Hello,
Over the past several months, my Dell Inspiron B130 will show that cpu is running at 100% and slow/stop programs from running. I review the 'Processes' when this occurs but can't identify which ones are causing the problem.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Click the CPU column to sort it and see what's eating it up. System idle process can be ignored.

 

[leejay]

After posting, I did this and it is the svchost.exe SYSTEM that is running so high..

 

[Hawkeye22]

In the task manager, click view/select colums and check off PID. Now find the svchost's PID number.

Open a command prompt and type
tasklist /svc /fi "imagename eq svchost.exe"

This will list the svchost processes. The svchosts will show what is actually running inside them. Find the svchost with the same PID as in the task manager. This should narrow down which service is eating up your cpu time.

 

[leejay]

It didn't recognize 'tasklist' as an internal or external command.

 

[Hawkeye22]

That's weird. It should be in c:\windows\system32.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/tasklist.mspx?mfr=true

 

[leejay]

I don't know what it's not finding it...I'm on verge of purchasing new laptop but wanted to try and troubleshoot this problem first.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Mine currently looks like this:

 

[leejay]

Your suggestion s/h worked but it only confirms my need to replace my Dell - not looking forward to it, either!

 

[Hawkeye22]

Yep, sorry I couldn't be of more assistance.