OT: Computer question....

[Ragnarok]

I have searched the internet but I cannot find anything on this subject.
I have a computer here that is being a pain. I know, I know, most computers are a pain, but still, this one is a really, really big one.

The situation is I turn the computer on and immediately the processor is at 100%. It takes forever to load windows, even longer to open task manager, and then when TM is open; it does not show any items that are using more than 1% of CPU power.

I can hardly do anything at all because it takes literally 5 minutes to perform any type of action; including opening the start menu. I keep trying to boot from CD so that I can just wipe and reinstall everything, but when it boots up and says to "hit any key to boot from CD" it will not accept any key from the keyboard. It is as if the keyboard is not even there. The keyboard is USB and I have tried it both with USB and using a converter to change it from USB to standard plug-in (forgot name of connector).

Have any of you guys ever seen this type of behavior before? If so, what is the recommended course of action?

Thanks for your help!

Edit: Strange...I just powered it up to mess with it and now the CPU is jumping around anywhere from 25% to 99%. This is the first time it hasn't ran at 100% constantly.
However, if I so much as shake the mouse really fast it jumps up to 100%.

Here is a list of the active processes:
taskmgr.exe - run by user - 38 CPU
rundll32.exe - run be user - 00 CPU
explorer.exe - run by user - 08 CPU (ranges from 06 to 09)
spoolsv.exe - system - 00 CPU
svchost.exe - local service - 00 CPU
svchost.exe - network server - 00 CPU
svchost.exe - system - 02 CPU (ranges from 00 to 03)
svchost.exe - system - 00 CPU
lsass.exe - system - 03 CPU
services.exe - system - 00
winlogin.exe - system - 00
csrss.exe - system - 00
smss.exe - system - 00
system - system - 00 (ranges from 00 to 03)
system idle process - system - 50 (ranges from 48-52)

[wilhil]

from what you have shown there, it does not actually seem bad, I am pretty sure usually taskmgr never takes up that much usually, (infact im lucky and have about 97-99% idle whilst typing this thread)

and of course when you shut down task manager, that usage would go.

from what you said and what you have typed up, if that is really all what is there, I can not tell you what is wrong, Is there any application that is taking a abnormal ammount of memory? (this is a big problem I hear)

again, when you have finished task manager, and closed it, does the system run faster...

if you cant figure this out later, I can take control of your pc if you want (either msn -> through remote desktop sharing, or special software I wrote..) I run a computer company in the UK and I do technical support all the time, this is actually a common problem, it usually occurs after something new is installed or new device.

The other problem that no one likes to hear is that it could be a virus... do you have up to date scanners?

[Fyron]

You seem to have some form of sneaky malware. After making sure anti-spyware programs such as Spybot are up to date and fail to clean up the trouble, I suggest posting a Hijack This log on DSL Reports to get some expert advice.

Task Manager is never sufficient to spot malware because 99% of malware apps hide from task manager.

[Ragnarok]

from what you have shown there, it does not actually seem bad, I am pretty sure usually taskmgr never takes up that much usually, (in fact im lucky and have about 97-99% idle whilst typing this thread)

and of course when you shut down task manager, that usage would go.

I thought the same thing, but when I close TM it is just as slow as ever. No noticeable improvements.
I also run quite a few programs at once and only hit 5% cpu used at any given moment.

Is there any application that is taking a abnormal amount of memory? (this is a big problem I hear)

Not really. The largest memory usages are explorer.exe which is taking up 10,000K and svchost.exe (3rd one) at 13,000K. Everything else is under 5,000K.

again, when you have finished task manager, and closed it, does the system run faster...

Nope.

if you cant figure this out later, I can take control of your pc if you want (either msn -> through remote desktop sharing, or special software I wrote..) I run a computer company in the UK and I do technical support all the time, this is actually a common problem, it usually occurs after something new is installed or new device.

I appreciate the offer but no can do. This is the home PC of my boss' daughter and I don't have any convenient stations where I can plug it into our network for net access.

The other problem that no one likes to hear is that it could be a virus... do you have up to date scanners?

It has scanners but the definitions are a few months old (primarily because it hasn't been hooked to the net for a few months and is unable to download latest).

I will keep messing with it here and hopefully something will come to mind.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will keep this thread updated.

[Ragnarok]

Imperator Fyron said:
You seem to have some form of sneaky malware.
Task Manager is never sufficient to spot malware because 99% of malware apps hide from task manager.

Which is why I was just going to wipe and reinstall the OS. That would ensure that everything got cleaned off.
Now that I have roughly 50% CPU available I will try running HJT and SB. I avoided doing this before because waiting 5 minutes for an action was just painful. It may be a little better now at 2.5 minutes...

[Fyron]

If you do reinstall, I'd recommend making 2 partitions, one for Windows (6 GB or so is more than enough for WinXP and page file) and one for data. This way, you can just reformat Windows partition when it inevitably blaws up and not lose any data or programs. A surprising number of programs do not actually need to be "installed" (aka bloating registry) to function properly. You can even use TweakUI (tool provided by MS) to move folders such as documents, start menu, and desknop to the data partition, thus making rebuilding even easier.

Edit:
Also, boot into safe mode. This will stop almost all malware from being able to start.

[Thermodyne]

Um...Taskmanager looks fine, but may not show everything that is running.

What OS is it running? How fragmented is the drive?
Assuming that the system is free of infections, malware, and rootkits, it could be a hard drive starting to fail. I would run a detailed test of the drive, they take a while, but will find problems that tests like scandisk miss.

Also, make sure that the AV can update itself. Sasser and some others have the ability to masquerade as normal services and can prevent AV update sites from being reachable.

And, by any chance, does it have Norton ver 10.anything running?

[AgentZero]

Had a similar problem about six months back as well. Everything looked ok, but the system ran horribly slow. I did every virus/spyware scan I could think of, looked through the BIOS, and there was absolutely nothing that indicated the machine should be running abnormally. In the end, I backed up my important stuff, formatted the HD and reinstalled Windows.

Which was fun.

I highly recommend Fyron's suggestion of making a separate Windows partition, since then you don't have to worry so much about backups, especially with big stuff like video & music files.

[Atrocities]

Imperator Fyron said:
You seem to have some form of sneaky malware. After making sure anti-spyware programs such as Spybot are up to date and fail to clean up the trouble, I suggest posting a Hijack This log on DSL Reports to get some expert advice.

Task Manager is never sufficient to spot malware because 99% of malware apps hide from task manager.

This is exactly what I was going to post.

Also check out Security Forums They have a forum where experienced members help review your Hajack This Logs.

[Ragnarok]

I typically post at Bleeping Computer for my HJT logs. They have always been really good and quick to respond.

I am firing the machine up now to begin working on it once more. Thanks for all of the suggestions thus far.