Core Duo ALWAYS registering 50%+ CPU usage?

Question

My girlfriend's laptop (Sony Vaio Core Duo 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM) has had several weird problems with it that I've been trying to get to the bottom of - in the process of trying to figure them out, I've stumbled upon one odd observation.

Her CPU meter ALWAYS registers over 50% usage - not once has it dropped below it in the past hour. What's weird though is that sometimes it'll sit for a long time at exactly 50% - and this is when the computer isn't being used.

I could understand if there was a program using a lot of CPU running in the background, but it wouldn't just sit at 50% - it'd go higher and lower. It's making me wonder if one of the two processors has blown out.

Anyone with any experience on this?

Answer 1

what kind of processor is it? Core 2 Duo T???.  if it is below T5000's it is not very fast + you have insufficient amount of RAM, i would recommend at least 4GB of RAM when running vista.  You might have too much applications open or have too much applications starting with windows.

  

Answer 2

If CPU idles at 50%, it's probably some virus sucking up the CPU. Or a very annoying OS service.

Explore the processes running. If all say 0 on CPU, while you still see 50%, it is a virus or that type of problem. Although it still could be one messed up system process.

Answer 3

Do a Systems Explorer (part of Vista and available in third party) to see which appls and services are chewing up your CPU. also check (via Windows Defender) what pgms you're automatically launching on startup. You probably don't need half of them.

If you have 32bit Vista don't go beyond 3GB that. Vista won't recognize RAM beyond something like 3 GB. You'd be wasting your money. Also in laptops you CANNOT change the CPU. You're stuck with it. I used to work in the telecom world and with non-upgradeable telecom hardware we used to call it forklift upgrade.

Answer 4

You have Processes and programs running that you cannot see

Download " The Ultimate Trouble Shooter :and run this will show all Running processes and allow you to stop or delete them

Also it warns you about system files you must not stop

Follow instructions and recover  your CPU power

Answer 5

No solution from me.

But I have Vista and Core 2 Duo and my CPU barely registers when idle and rarely gets over 205 while using it.

Answer 6

If your running Vista, that about right, also check the Memory usage its always almost 50% used, unless you have any reason to think the machine is infected by something there is nothing wrong with it, however if its infected you can  Follow the instruction on the link below to clean your computer

10 easy step virus and spyware removal using free software

http://www.review-ninja.com/2008/08/10-e...