Solved! Recently Having Issues w/ CPU Running High.

hyphn

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Jun 23, 2011
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Ok so I've had my laptop for about 2 months and up until now I have had no problems with it.
Laptop is....
HP EliteBook 8440w
Intel i5 2.4ghz (vPro)
4gb RAM (3gb usable)
On-board nVidia Graphics
Windows 7 Professional 32bit

It's a good laptop and like I said, didn't have an issue with it. But recently, actually as of 2 days ago, I've been having issues with the CPU running up to 100% and the computer slowing down. This seems to happen randomly, I'm not running anything that would've caused it to slow down before. So my initial thought is it's possibly a virus causing the problem. As of now I've probably run every scan I have twice (Norton, Advanced System care 4, Malwarebytes, Malware Fighter) I've defragged the HD, un-installed programs, really have done everything I could possibly think of to try and solve the issue. Scans didn't come up with any viruses and I haven't seen an improvement. I also thought my CPU could be overheating, I sprayed some compressed air into the vents, but the comp may slow down within 20 minutes of me turning it on, too soon for it to be directly an overheating issue.

I do open Task Manager when it runs high to see if there's anything specific causing the issue, but I can't find anything. Basically whatever's running at the moment is what is running the highest, even Task manager shows up as the one running the highest under CPU. It seems like something 2 days ago caused my computer to not be able to handle what it used to. I've noticed the things that tend to slow it down will be Youtube videos (not right away, but it will eventually slow it up), Music, or just simple multi-tasking ex. having Skype open and a few Google Chrome tabs open. None of this stuff ever used to slow it down, I game on this laptop and it would work pretty well. Usually play Cod4, Rift or CS:S and even those wouldn't slow it down unless something crazy was happening.

Really just looking to see if anyone has any idea of a possible solution to my problem, suggestions of what could be some possible causes. At this point I'm pretty stumped. I'm down to a couple of ideas of what my issue could be. I could have a Virus that isn't being detected by my scans, my friend got the idea into my head that I could possibly be hacked (something about hackers will hack into others computers and use them to host servers or something to that nature), or another suggestion I got was that if it happens with Youtube videos that i may be a Java issue.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 
Have you gone over any recent programs you've installed. Or anything that's been upgraded or updated?
If you're reached this point and not found any over-heating or any AV/Malware issues I'd start to think about some OS or software issues. In that case a System Restore to an earlier date might work.
 

hyphn

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Jun 23, 2011
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Finally believe I found my issue. Malwarebytes picked up a couple HiJacker applications so those got taken care of and so far the problems seem to be gone. Thanks for the replies!
 

hyphn

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Jun 23, 2011
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False alarm, still having issues.

Anti-Virus programs still won't pick anything up.

I downloaded Speedfan to check if I am having an overheating issue, here are the results im getting.

GPU: 59C (hot)
HD0: 35C (down)
Temp1: 32C (down)
Temp2: 49C (good)
Temp3: 59C (hot)
Temp4: 42C (good)
Temp5: 53C (hot)
Temp6: 60C (hot)
Temp7: 48C (good)
Temp8: 53C
Temp9: 59C
Core 0: 50C
Core 1: 51C

These temperatures are while my CPU is idle too.

So there are a few in there that are shown as being too hot, but could this be the source of my problems? And if so what are recommended solutions? I'm thinking about opening my laptop and blowing the inside with compressed air.
 

I think you've found the problem. GPU 59C / CPU 50C at idle.
And I don't think a can of air is going to fix that. What speed is the cooling fan running at when at idle? It's almost as if the fan is not working at all.


 

hyphn

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Jun 23, 2011
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Speedfan won't give me any readings on my fan speeds (ironic).

But here's one thing, I usually run a RGB cable to my 22 inch monitor and dual screen that with my Laptop screen. Right now i decided to try it without having my monitor hooked up and my temperatures are much lower

GPU: 45-51C
Temp1-8 are all 36-50C
Temp9: still at 59C
Core 0: 41C
Core 1: 43C

I'll keep an eye on the temps to see if they rise back up to what they were before, but what I'm thinking right now is that running my 22in monitor is overheating everything. Still strange because this never used to happen, or at least it never slowed down my computer, but it's a possibility.

EDIT:
I tried plugging my monitor in to see what would happen with the temps and they did all jump up to what they were.
GPU is around 60C
The same "Temp"s that were around 55-60C before are there again
and both Core 0 and Core 1 are pushing 50C

definitely looks like running my monitor is causing a problem.