[solved] sz1xp - 'system' (*not* idle) process uses all my cpu?

[neenee]

*note*

this issue has been solved by downgrading my bios to R0062N0.

hi there.

i've tried both a clean install and a recovery with my vaio sz1xp,
but for some reason the 'system' process (no extension, so at
least it's not a trojan/spyware) uses almost all cpu.

other processes do not seem to cause problems and safe mode
does not seem to have this problem either.

i'm not sure what to enable, install or disable anymore; i've
been messing with this for three days now. i ran memtest86 to
verify that my memory wasn't addle.. i mean broken, but that
was not the case.

i'll keep messing with this, but suggestions would be very much
appreciated. perhaps i've missed something.

[iunder]

Do you mean the system _idle_ process. If so, that's normal.

[pneves]

Windows XP creates a process that basically means that nothing is happening in the system, it is called the system idle process.

[neenee]

i am aware that there's a separate idle process.

however, i am referring to the 'System' process,
which should not be using that much cpu all the
time.

thanks for the prompt replies though

ps. i edited my previous post to prevent others
from assuming i meant the idle process.

[kee-lo_]

Have you done a full spyware and virus check?

[neenee]

yup - no problems of that sort.

i narrowed down the problem a bit - i used process explorer
from sysinternals - 'Deferred Procedure Calls' are/were using
most of my cpu.

i am doing a clean install now and checking cpu usage after
each succesful driver / application installation. i disabled all
unneeded services as well.

i installed wifi and integrated gfx-card without problems so
far. i'll try the rest of the devices and report back.

*update*

installed the sigmatel driver, tried a movie and ker-*blammo*;
cpu usage shot up, making my system near unusable. i disa-
bled the soundcard, rebooted and tried the same video. ofcourse
i had no sound, but no high cpu usage either; around 15-20%,
which is very acceptable when watching a movie.

i will now look for alternate / updated soundcard drivers; i was
using the ones from a newly downloaded package on sony.nl.

*update*

no alternate driver works yet, i've tried a dell sigmatel driver too,
but i did notice something interesting - after about 1 minute (give
or take a second) the high-cpu-usage drops back to normal; pro-
cess explorer has a timer for cpu usage.

[kee-lo_]

Is it a Realtek card?

[neenee]

er, no - it's a sigmatel as i mentioned above.

the driver installs properly, and sometimes i can hear a second
of sound before cpu skyrockets and the system becomes near
unusable (sound stops when it does this).

at least, i am assuming it's a sigmatel, as that's the driver that's
included in the laptop-specific package downloadable from the
sony site - that and because it does not produce an error when
installing.

[rich912]

This is a shot in the dark and may be of little help but try turning off the Indexing Service on all drives and see whether this solves the problem.

Right click the drive > select properties and on the general tab uncheck “Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching”.

[neenee]

that service is amongst the ones i have disabled, i removed
the index from all my partitions as well after i installed.

thanks for the suggestion though - keep them coming please