At a loss: System Idle 99% CPU usage still at 25% [system idle process] [cpu usage]
Q: Im trying to solve this problem. I have one workstation that currently show signs of overuse, but if nothing is done with it. The machine sits idle, and tasks such as moving the mouse pointer signs of relatively heavy CPU usage.
Upon research, using Task Manager, we have the following results: 97,750,349 Processes (different mix), all of which are minimal if any CPU time.
System Idle Process with ~ 99% CPU (which means that Windows does nothing)
Overall CPU usage is relatively constant at approximately 25%
When look at the use, it varies from time to time, with the occasional spike, typically is a kind of background processing and IO. But it is not out of the ordinary. What the ordinary is that the system baselines around 25% CPU usage when no processes show activity in general. At 25% CPU, I would see one or more processes constantly grabbing at least one or two percent minimum rates where process slices, but this is not the case.
Has anyone seen this behavior before? I have all non-essential startup processes and HKLM startup . RunOnce.
The run and all I can think of right now disclosed, a sort of hidden PID (virus?) That is not displayed, even if we look at processes for all users.
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Re:I prefer F-Secure BlackLight (http://www.f-secure.com/blacklight/).
A rootkit by definition hooks into system calls and the most common thing they do is hide themselves from the process list, hide registry keys, or hide files. They can hide themselves from the rootkit detectors as well if they're "perfect". I've ran it on my machine which is filled with development crap and nothing has triggered it. It only checks if the registry hive data matches with the registry calls, and other things that should always be consistent for any remotely normal file/key. The only other things that may trigger it are Internet cache or timestamps that change between calls by the detector. See if it still happens in safe mode. When asked, do not load any additional drivers.
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Re:Originally posted by: guy
Originally posted by: guy
Have you scanned for rootkits?
Not yet, but that is definitely something (full system scan for virii, spyware and roots) that I will be doing. I didn't have the opportunity to at the time. Still, it puzzles me that a rootkit would be able to mask itself from the process list.
Isn't the entire point of a rootkit to hide itself at the kernel level? Sysinternals.com has a rootkit detector, I believe.
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Re:A little further troubleshooting seems to indicate it's a hardware issue with either the laptop itself or the docking station it's connected to. After removing from the dock and restarting, the system was working fine. Replacing on the dock, again, seems to be working well. I researched this system's usage patterns, and the user virtually never shuts the machine down, instead letting it hibernate. There's problem #1. Especially when docking and undocking while in hibernation, I'm sure the Windows Profile Manager (which sucks to begin with) is having issues with that concept.
It still doesn't explain why the CPU usage did not add up – which should be mathematically impossible. But hey, it's Windows after all.
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Re:OT but I have a hilarious story about the system idle process. At my former employer one of the corporate level system admin\managers sent out a mass email urgently trying to figure out what the system idle process is and why it is is eating 90% of the CPU cycles.
She through it was a run away process or a virus.
We all about shat ourselves in laughter at how stupid of a question that was and how a high level sys admin had zero clue.
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Re:I missed where you said you used 25% cpu. Sorry.
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Re:Originally posted by: thebigdude
Found it. Nothing is wrong. Linky (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/maintain/monitor/03wntpca.mspx?mfr=true) Check about halfway down the page, "Note: If you examine processes running in Task Manager, you'll note a process called System Idle Process. You can't set the priority of this process. Unlike other processes that track resource usage, System Idle Process tracks the amount of system resources that aren't used. Thus, a 99 in the CPU column for the process means 99% of the system resources currently aren't being used."
Thanks – I know what the System Idle Process is.
The problem is that when a system is functioning "normally", the System Idle Process + All other processes in the process list should = 100% (or more often than not 99%). If you look at the bottom of the process page, this holds true, as there is a CPU Usage entry in the status bar.
I stress again, in another way of "counting", the System Idle Process + CPU Usage should never be greater than 100. In my case, this system is running at 99 (System Idle) + 25% CPU usage.
We've started a rootkit scan at this point, but unfortunately this is a development machine and I'm fairly certain a lot of the debug libraries are going to throw up red flags. It'll take a while to iron out.
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Re:Found it. Nothing is wrong. Linky (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/maintain/monitor/03wntpca.mspx?mfr=true) Check about halfway down the page, "Note: If you examine processes running in Task Manager, you'll note a process called System Idle Process. You can't set the priority of this process. Unlike other processes that track resource usage, System Idle Process tracks the amount of system resources that aren't used. Thus, a 99 in the CPU column for the process means 99% of the system resources currently aren't being used."
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Re:You know that made me check mine and it is doing the same thing. Total CPU usage 2-15% based on what I am doing but my system idle stays above 97%.
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Re:Originally posted by: guy
Have you scanned for rootkits?
Not yet, but that is definitely something (full system scan for virii, spyware and roots) that I will be doing. I didn't have the opportunity to at the time. Still, it puzzles me that a rootkit would be able to mask itself from the process list.
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Re:Have you scanned for rootkits?
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Tags: cpu usage, system idle process