Confusing W7 issue. (Internet, System Idle, WTF?)

[Pigbearman]

Hello all,

I am having a very strange problem which I can't quite figure out. I recently installed some new hardware into my computer.

Specs:
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD4
i5 2500k @ 4.5GHz
HyperX DDR3 1600
2x HD5870s
PC P&C 750W PSU
Crucial M4 64GB SSD (for my OS)

Everything went fine, computer performs top notch. But I'm having several issues (note, these issues happened BEFORE the CPU overclock also, so that isn't the problem).

1. Randomly (doesn't happen often), my computer will seem to lose internet connection. I'm hard wired right to my Linksys E3000, and it SAYS that I'm connected, but no internet sites will load. Also, I cannot open the "network and sharing center". It just won't let me click on the icon in the task bar. AND, my CPU usage hovers around 25-30% when this happens. I downloaded and installed Process Explorer to see what the culprit was, and I noticed that of the 30% CPU usage, "System Idle Process" was taking up 75% of said CPU usage. I am completely befuddled by this, I don't even know where to look. It doesn't happen often at all, and restarting clears the problem up. But even though this SSD is lightning fast, I'd love to not have to deal with this problem.

2. Smaller problem, but sometimes when i want to shutdown or restart, my computer just wont. It will sit at the "shutting down" screen forever and will basically do nothing, like there is a process in the background preventing it from doing its thing.

Any help with these would be greatly appreciated.

 

[arunphilip]

"System Idle Process" is not an actual process, its to indicate the level of *inactivity*. If it is 75%, you need to look where the other 25% is being actively used.

 

[arunphilip]

1. Are you confident your network issues are not down to your router? Can you borrow a friend's and try?
2. Can you click the network link on the taskbar when you don't have Internet disconnects?
3. Open Windows 7's Resource Monitor, and see if there's any disk activity that's occurring when you're unable to click.
4. Your shutdown issues are symptomatic of driver issues. Is your Device Manager free from any icons with exclamation marks? All drivers updated via Windows Update? Are you running the most recent drivers from your component manufacturers?
5. Are you running any anti-virus? Does it report all OK?

 

[das_stig]

Linksys E Series known to flaky even with latest firmware, I had the E4200, what a POS.

A stalled shutdown is normally a driver.

 

[slhpss]

Linksys E Series known to flaky even with latest firmware, I had the E4200, what a POS.

A stalled shutdown is normally a driver.

I had some linksys E3000s and I can confirm they are utter crap... I recommend Netgear WNDR3700... especially if you have wireless systems capable of utilizing the 5ghz band if not the 3500 is very good too but only does the 2.4ghz band

 

[nikorr]

Linksys E Series known to flaky even with latest firmware, I had the E4200, what a POS.

A stalled shutdown is normally a driver.

Couldn't agree more! Had the E3000, gone back to old trusted Linksys WRT400N.

 

[Pigbearman]

1. Are you confident your network issues are not down to your router? Can you borrow a friend's and try?
2. Can you click the network link on the taskbar when you don't have Internet disconnects?
3. Open Windows 7's Resource Monitor, and see if there's any disk activity that's occurring when you're unable to click.
4. Your shutdown issues are symptomatic of driver issues. Is your Device Manager free from any icons with exclamation marks? All drivers updated via Windows Update? Are you running the most recent drivers from your component manufacturers?
5. Are you running any anti-virus? Does it report all OK?

1. I would say yes, since everything else can connect and use the internet without issues. I even hard-wired my laptop into the router and never had an issue, I don't think it's the router.

2. Yes, I can click on the network icon when it is working.

3. Checked that before, no notable activity on any of the harddrives.

4. Yes no ! marks in the DM, all drivers are current.

5. Running Avast, everything checks out there.

 

[arunphilip]

Do you have wi-fi on your PC, or a wi-fi USB adapter? If so, can you disable Ethernet and try connecting via wi-fi? It could be Ethernet driver/hardware related, based on your responses to #1 and #2.

You might also want to share the name of your Ethernet network adapter, some of these have problems with the default settings - a Google search might turn up clues.