Member Avatar for Roebuc

When ever I open the task manager on my machine, it shows the CPU usage at least 46%. However, when I look at the processes, the idle process is at 96, meaning the other processes are only taking 4%. I have a dual 2.4GHZ running XP SP 3 with 2GB of RAM. I re-imaged this machine from Vista to XP. I installed all the drivers from dell (all though my device manager still shows a ? for a PCI Device.) I am curious if it does not recognize the second process? What could be eating up the CPU but not show in the process list?

The reason this is a problem is because I am trying to play a game that is going slow. When ever I look at the cpu usage at that point it is pushing 99%. My thinking is, if I find what is eating up the cpu and stop it, it would help. I have a second laptop that is almost the identical setup, but 3GB of ram. My CPU on this machine sits around 4% when idle.

Any advice?

  • 4 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 184 Views
  • 2 Weeks Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack
Member Avatar for CimmerianX

When you look at the processes in the task manager, by default, you only look at your own session. Near the bottom should be a check box for "Show Processes from all users" (or something to that effect). That will list everything running on the machine, not just your own.

Member Avatar for edgaaa

When ever I open the task manager on my machine, it shows the CPU usage at least 46%. However, when I look at the processes, the idle process is at 96, meaning the other processes are only taking 4%. I have a dual 2.4GHZ running XP SP 3 with 2GB of RAM. I re-imaged this machine from Vista to XP. I installed all the drivers from dell (all though my device manager still shows a ? for a PCI Device.) I am curious if it does not recognize the second process? What could be eating up the CPU but not show in the process list?

The reason this is a problem is because I am trying to play a game that is going slow. When ever I look at the cpu usage at that point it is pushing 99%. My thinking is, if I find what is eating up the cpu and stop it, it would help. I have a second laptop that is almost the identical setup, but 3GB of ram. My CPU on this machine sits around 4% when idle.

Any advice?

Hello! I think you don't have compatible drivers for windows xp, so it might be the most serious problem for both things. You know, windows vista is compatible with more hardware, and windows xp is having compabillity issues with the same devices.. Firstly, make sure that your windows is set up to work with two cores processor. If it is, you're facing drivers incompatibility problem, it was on my laptop too, now I'm using windows 7. And there's one more oportunity if you still fell like you wanna keep on running windows xp, you might solve this problem partly, by running msconfig and turning off some unnecessary services or startup programs.. And if you need CPU drivers look at AMD or Intel sites, they should be there

Member Avatar for caperjack

When ever I open the task manager on my machine, it shows the CPU usage at least 46%. However, when I look at the processes, the idle process is at 96, meaning the other processes are only taking 4%. I have a dual 2.4GHZ running XP SP 3 with 2GB of RAM. I re-imaged this machine from Vista to XP. I installed all the drivers from dell (all though my device manager still shows a ? for a PCI Device.) I am curious if it does not recognize the second process? What could be eating up the CPU but not show in the process list?

The reason this is a problem is because I am trying to play a game that is going slow. When ever I look at the cpu usage at that point it is pushing 99%. My thinking is, if I find what is eating up the cpu and stop it, it would help. I have a second laptop that is almost the identical setup, but 3GB of ram. My CPU on this machine sits around 4% when idle.

Any advice?

this program will help identify the pci device .
http://www.zhangduo.com/udi.html

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.