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CPU reaches 100% with nothing running in clean win7 install

Discussion in 'Windows - General discussion' started by jam320, Dec 9, 2012.

  1. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    do a system restore to before symantec was attemped to be installed.
     
  2. Ripper

    Ripper Active member

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    If your CPU was actually sitting idle at 100% load, then surely it would be overheating and causing the machine to shut off - this is obviously not the case if you can run Prime95 overnight with no issues.

    Try another monitoring program like Dela suggested, perhaps your CPU and/or Windows is reporting the load incorrectly.
     
  3. Dela

    Dela Administrator Staff Member

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    When you say crash you mean the comp restarts? If the system is blue screening then you might be able to get your answer from a crash dump analysis. Windows 7 will create a Kernel Memory Dump by default as %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

    When the system BSOD's, that means something has called KeBugCheckEx in Windows after encountering a problem in Kernel mode memory. The system is immediately halted, and a crash dump is written to the page file (pagefile.sys). By default, once the dump is written the system reboots (unless you manually set it to keep the BSOD displayed), and on boot a small tool will launch in the background that searches the pagefile for a memory dump and then extracts it as a crash dump. This will be MEMORY.DMP in your system root drive. I could be wrong, but in Windows 7 I think it might still be default that a minidump is also written to the directory "%systemroot%\windows\minidump\" which, if it is, you can upload the latest dump somewhere and I can analyse it for you if you want.

    But ye, given that you already attempted a re-install (full re-install, or repair?) your problem might not be caused by a bad A/V installation. Instead, to me it seems like it could be your memory. I think that because your problem is getting progressively worse, and that is typically what you will see with a failing memory module.

    To test memory, you just need Memtest86 (or Windows has a diagnostic utility you can boot into too, but Memtest86 is very good).

    Memtest86 Auto Installer for USB Key: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/system_tools/misc_system_tools/memtest86plus_exe.cfm

    Memtest86 bootable ISO: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/system_tools/misc_system_tools/memtest86plus_iso.cfm

    I assume you already know how to boot from USB or CD so I don't need to go into that? It will run a test immediately on your memory. ANY errors is a bad sign. If you find yourself picking up errors, then end the program, turn off the PC and open it. Remove a memory module and then turn it on again, boot into Memtest86 and check for errors. If you still get errors, then remove another one (if there's only one more left, then re-insert the previously removed memory) and repeat the process. By process of elimination you should be able to find the memory stick giving you trouble.

    If you find there's nothing wrong with your system's memory, it doesnt change the fact that something is going wrong in kernel mode memory, if you are getting system halts. A possibility for a system halt is a problem with a hard disk drive, particularly if there is problems during a swapping operation. Go to Control Panel (view as large icon) -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer. In Event Viewer, go to Windows logs, and then System (it might take a short while to pull up the logs). Any Disk errors?

    If no memory or disk problems, then it must be either some kind of bad driver or bad hardware attached to the system that is causing the problem. If its a driver, then we might be able to get the system to spit up a more accurate BSOD and crash dump using a tool called Driver Verifier, but we can cross that bridge if we come to it :)

    I'll leave it at that for now.
     
  4. Ripper

    Ripper Active member

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    Dela,

    It would be worth checking your modules individually though, if you did not before.
     
  5. Dela

    Dela Administrator Staff Member

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    Somehow I completely missed that part of his original post :) Oh well, though if the system is actually BSOD'ing then its still down to kernel memory, which points the finger at device drivers or perhaps something more malicious, or a malfunctioning piece of hardware is also possible but hard to tell from here. If a driver than the answer could lie in a crash dump on the disk.
     
  6. jam320

    jam320 Member

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    The cpu is not running at 100% load any more after the win7 reinstall. That was the problem before but there is a definitive slowness to the computer that is not being detected by task manager via cpu or ram percentages. I wish I had more to offer by way of evidence.
     
  7. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    did you load the motherboard drivers?
     
  8. jam320

    jam320 Member

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    Ripper what do you mean by modules and how do I test them? Thanks.
     
  9. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    each stick of ram using memtest.
     
  10. Ripper

    Ripper Active member

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    Must have missed that it no longer idles at 100% somewhere along the way, but that's good. Is that a re-install on one partition or a complete format of the drive and fresh install?

    As ddp said; leave one stick of ram in and test them individually using memtest. It's difficult to say really, could be worth trying a different PSU too if you have access to one but we're shooting in the dark a little bit.
     
  11. jam320

    jam320 Member

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    Dela I will run Driver Verifier and report back and also look at the event log.
     
  12. jam320

    jam320 Member

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    This is a different drive unused and formatted with no partitions. Basically a control test.
     
  13. Chetan67

    Chetan67 Member

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    Hi,

    I am Chetan Savade from Symantec Technical Support team.

    SEP 12.1 RU2 is released on 15th Nov'12.If possible try to install SEP 12.1 RU2. Could you please pass on SEP_Inst.log to find out why SEP is failing to install. SEP_Inst.log would be present under %temp% directory.

    Also if possible pass on crash dump files as well. We would like to review them as well.
     
  14. jam320

    jam320 Member

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    Sorry for the delayed response. Here is what I gleaned from the event viewer:

    I did not see any Disk Errors.

    Within the last 7 days:
    -2 Critical: 2x Event ID 41

    -49 Error: 4x Event ID 10, 3x Event ID 14, Event ID 1001, Event ID 1002, Event ID 1013, 2x Event ID 1101, 2x Event ID 6008, 18x Event ID 7001, 4x Event ID 7011, Event ID 7022, 4x Event ID 7026, Event ID 10005, Event ID 11601, Event ID 11704

    -19 Warning: 8x Event ID 27, Event ID 36, 7x Event ID 1014, 3x Event ID 6000

    Within the last 24 hours:
    -4 Warning: 2x Event ID 27, Event ID 36, Event ID 1014

    Within the last hour:
    -1 Warning: Event ID 27

    NO CRITICAL OR ERROR EVENT TYPES IN 24 AND 1 HOURS.

    Thanks.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2012
  15. jam320

    jam320 Member

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    Bump.
     
  16. jam320

    jam320 Member

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  17. aldan

    aldan Active member

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    this is out of my area,but have you tried googling the error messages or better yet go to the microsoft support site and search the messages there?
     
  18. jam320

    jam320 Member

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    I did browse the BSOD error code which only stated why it occurred (which suggested either a power failure or windows run-time failure I think) but this was still ambiguous to me.

    I have gone ahead and purchased a new MOBO to run my CPU: Intel DX48BT2. I will update this thread with the results once it is installed. Thanks.
     
  19. aldan

    aldan Active member

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    im the curious type so ill be watching.
     

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