Windows ME at 100% CPU utilization ALL THE TIME

[chansen]

i was just the victim of a worm virus (Life Stages virus), but downloaded and ran a fix from Symantec's website, so the virus should be gone. Even now, there is considerable lag between each keystroke and what appears onscreen. Everything else works fine. The 100% CPU utilization is as reported from System Monitor, and from the way the computer is bahaving, I have to agree.

Any ideas as to what would cause this. The machine has been fine for a month before today, and Norton has no information on the malicious intent of the virus other than to say that it replicates itself in numerous places and sends itself to everyone in your Outlook folder.

Thanks,
Craig

 

[Kappo]

heh...I would take the time to backup and format c: /u
and reload windows from the getgo...as long as you can get into your OS and fuction (even slowly) then you should be able to save everything before the thing dies.

 

[chansen]

Well, I did just that. FORMAT C: /U and it happened all over again. CPU utilization through the roof, especially while idling. For kicks, I decreased the update interval of System Monitor to 1 second, and noticed that the CPU utilization took a nose dive whenever I moved the mouse. It's a MS Optical, attached to the PS/2 port. Before I had to format, it was on USB.

Now, I was only using the typical mouse drivers from WinME, and I'm getting the drivers from MS now, so I'll report if these help.

Craig

 

[chansen]

Nope. CPU utilization still high.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Craig

 

[L3WK]

I had a similar problem that was solved by re-flashing (with a different version) the bios of my mainboard. Check your manufacturer's website and see if anything like that has been reported.

 

[chansen]

Tyan Trinity S400 VIA Apollo Pro 133A board. It has the current v1.07 BIOS. Thanks for the idea, though.

Craig

 

[Ark]

Look for dos program or driver - usually they take 100% of CPU

 

[chansen]

Hmm. New ME installation, so I don't think there are any DOS apps running in the background. Also, CPU utilization is now a steady 28% while idling, less when the mouse is moving! If I monitor the thing from the moment it boots up, it does take 30 seconds or so for the CPU utilization to creep up to 28%.

Frustratingly strange, n'est pas?

Craig