My CPU tops at 100% most of the time

Hello,
I have a DEll GX240 (1.8 GHz), and it is really getting slow. The CPU tops at 100% most of the time. I don't know why - it's not dusty, or over heated. I have updated to latest BIOS. The bus-speed is showing 100MHz although I know it should be 400MHZ (FSB) but there is no way of adjusting. Problem occurs both in Win and in Linux.

The Problem is is an old pentium 4 processor and probably a junky mother board. FSB speeds can range from 66 MHz to over 800 MHz with 800 being the minimum speed most gamers will settle for when buying a new mobo. At 1.8 Ghz and 100 Mhz FSB your computer is really slow and out dated compared to most gaming computers people are using today.

Have you run a scan for viruses/malware recently? If you're getting 100% CPU usage doing nothing more than typing or even just watching Windows Task Manager, note what program(s) are hogging up all of the CPU.

Malwarebytes for finding malware

Avast for virus'

Ctrl+Alt+Delete and processes to see whats running in the background for Windows.

Any REAL EXPERT out there ???

Thank's but no thank's for your (we1shcakekekeke) "expert" advise...

What you're seeing is the real clock of the FSB on that chip. The effective clock on the FSB for that generation of Intel chips is multiplied by 4, giving you that other value of 400MHz that you saw. There is nothing wrong with the chip itself. Have you tried setting up a fresh install of Windows on that machine to see if that helps? How old is the Linux install you have as well? You also didn't say how much RAM you have installed in that machine. That would also be helpful in finding out what's going on.

To everyone else calling the OP's computer an old piece of crap, while I do agree with you based on the specs he/she provided above, please find a better way of telling the person next time. You can avoid turning the thread into one big argument, and save myself and the rest of the moderation team a lot of headaches as well (and believe me, we really do appreciate it when we are spared those headaches).

Use this guide
http://www.overclock.net/networkin [...] guide.html

What version of Linux and Windows have you been testing your machine on. Are you running modern software? Do you have a modern dedicated GPU on your machine? All of this can effect your system. Your 100% usage most of the time indicates that the CPU is unable to keep up with the workload that it is being given. Most issues people would see would show the CPU being idle most of the time (lack of memory). So I am almost certain your storage and memory amounts are ok for your systems workload.

Now for a question is your computer getting slow under the same workload or have you been increasing its workload over time? (Newer software = greater workload so if you are doing the same work on newer software that is also a increasing your systems workload, newer software is designed to provide performance for newer hardware, but this also means older hardware will not benefit from this and will actually run slower as a result)

Hell there's something really wrong when a pc can't run linux.
Have you tried reseting the bios?

defragmenting the hard drive might still help as your install might have ended up in multiple places

Hello there,long time ago i had same problem with an old sempron processor that had same problem...i reinstalled watever software was necessary...rebuild the pc again nothing ever helped.Till 1 day i noticed that if i had task manager on and move the mouse around was 100% usage on the processor know what was the problem ? outdated hardware painfull but true .

In XP specifically is it the SYSTEM process that is at 100% most of the time? (I'm assuming it is not the System Idle Process). At least in XP/Vista/7 the System Process tells you that the system is hung up in the Kernel area (Where driver level code resides).

Now just a wonder what types of tasks are getting slow on your computer?

Loading of applications? Dealing with applications that are in memory? (Any task where the Hard Drive is not involved)

Oh and could you try and keep the Task Manager (XP and Linux) open when you are using the computer and tell us what causes it to shoot up like that and if it stays like that or spikes up when the system is supposed to be completely idle.

the system idle process is always like 95-99 on my laptop but that doesnt affect the % usage on the bottom of the task manager. actually that number is the amount usage not in use. so your right that is normal.

System idle time being high is generally good (generally because, programs not responding are otherwise idling, adding to this). If system idle time is low, like below 60%, then there's something using up the CPU. If you have several cores with hyperthreading, Windows Task Manager isn't very reliable. You could have one core maxed out and still only have 8% CPU usage with 92% idle time. I get something like this. If you bring out the "CPU time" field, you can see what program is consuming most of the CPU's processing time. In XP, go to view then "columns" to bring this info out (check the appropriate box first). System idle time, with a lot of cores and hyperthreading, will be counting extremely fast. This is not a bug, but rather by design. Just refer to the other programs.

Your way out, my PC is in perfect shape - no dust!
I have 1GB DDR, usage normally 50%
Although CPU use is 100%, in task manager I'm only using 40% processes.
Sorry - still nowhere near a solution...

I can't believe any of you are helping this guy. The guy comes on with 10 year old hardware complaining it's slow and then rips everyone that tries to help him. Screw this guy.

Bottom line, Grumpy Gramps, since you seem to be such a matter of fact guy, is that your hardware sucks. You can come on here and insult people, cry all day long, tell us how great and clean your 10 year old hardware is, and at the end of the day your computer is still going to take 3 days to open internet explorer. Suck it up and go get something made in this century or deal with it.

+100

50%? Last time I remember XP telling me I was using 50% of my memory it meant I was using 50% of my Combined PageFile/VirualMemory + Physical meaning I was using a lot of memory it is very possible that you are using all of your physical memory and Windows is pushing a lot of data onto the Pagefile.

It just doesn't seem likely that you are using only 500MB on average even in on my VMWare image of XP I am usually using about ~300MB just sitting idle with no fluff and only the VMware app in the tray as an extra. If you consider the average user has some extra apps like an AntiVirus/Firewall, Sound and Video tray tools, and more I would average most users use about 400-500MB Idle when on the desktop in XP add Firefox or IE and 600-700MB+ is quite likely what is being used and this is where a 1GB machine will start slowing down and act like it is stalling because the processor is waiting for the data is requested that is being retrieved from the PageFile or Disk while other memory is being pushed into the PageFile.

on a side note you need to relax and properly answer our questions for us to help you. If you are unsure how to answer ask. I can't see your computer so it is going to take patience and detailed explanations for us to know what is going on with your system.

Ya..Ya...

just running an os is enough to kill that system, stump up $300 and buy an athlon x2 a mobo more ram and a gpu