High CPU usage without applications running on Windows 10

Makis Kipreos 10

Hello,

My Windows 10 laptop shows high CPU usage coming from processes 'System' (around 25%) and 'System interrupts' (around 11%). This happens while no application is running.

Can you help on this please?

Best regards,

Makis

5 answers

S.Sengupta 18,291 Reputation points MVP

2023-08-01T02:10:18.69+00:00

It can often be caused by a hardware driver issue.

To check what could be making the 'system' process high CPU usage download Process Explorer

Run Process Explorer ,when open click on File and enable 'Show details for all processes'
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S.Sengupta 18,291 Reputation points MVP

2023-08-01T02:12:29.7566667+00:00

Run 'Process Explorer'

When open click on File and enable 'Show details for all processes'
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S.Sengupta 18,291 Reputation points MVP

2023-08-01T02:13:30.52+00:00

Please delete the double posting.
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Hania Lian 13,281 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-08-01T06:36:50.7466667+00:00
Hi @Makis Kipreos

High CPU usage from 'System' and 'System interrupts' processes can be caused by various reasons such as outdated drivers, malware, or hardware issues. You can try the following steps to troubleshoot the issue:

Update your drivers: Go to Device Manager, right-click on each device, and select "Update driver". You can also download the latest drivers from the manufacturer's website.

Scan for malware: Use Windows Defender or any other antivirus software to scan your system for malware.

Check for hardware issues: Run a hardware diagnostic test to check for any hardware issues.

Disable unnecessary startup programs: Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, go to the Startup tab, and disable any unnecessary programs.

Check for Windows updates: Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and check for any available updates.

Hope the information is helpful.

Best Regards,

Hania Lian

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Daniel Schacherl 0 Reputation points

2024-02-28T08:47:28.41+00:00

High CPU usage from the system process can be caused by Microsoft itself, not able to roll out clean and bug free windows updates. I have the same problem. There were no issues at all, before Microsoft forced me to an windows update, which also did an bios update. After the update was done, since days now, the fan on my laptop is always running and the system process takes all the time 12,5% of my CPU - which means on an 8 core CPU, that 1 core is all the time at 100% by microsofts system process. Congrats. You really know how to roll out updates properly.
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Makis Kipreos 10 Reputation points

2023-08-06T08:00:14.39+00:00
Hi all,

Suggestions so far, unfortunately did not help solving this issue.

In detail:

Process Explorer did provide the following:

How we can proceed?

@Hania Lian (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.)

All drivers are updated.

Scan for malware executed using Symantec Endpoint Protection with no findings.

hardware diagnostic test did not find any hardware issues.

All unnecessary startup programs disabled.

All Windows updates are applied.

Is there anything more we can do?

Thanks a lot,

Makis
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Gary Nebbett 5,976 Reputation points

2023-08-06T09:15:37.1466667+00:00

Hello Makis,

My suggestion would be to use Windows Performance Recorder (WPR) to trace (and hopefully understand) what is happening.

The behaviour of WPR is controlled by "profiles" (XML configuration files); there are a few built-in profiles and one can create new profiles.

You could try issuing the command wpr -start Power -filemode to start a trace and wpr -stop why.etl -skipPdbGen to stop a trace. If the background load is always present, a trace of a second or two should be enough.

You could try analysing the trace yourself (with a tool like Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA)) but it might be easier to post a link to the trace file (e.g. "why.etl") here and I will take a look at it.

The "Power" profile traces more event sources than we need for an initial look at the problem but it includes (almost) all of the useful sources that I can quickly think of. A 9 second trace on my system (I was slow typing in the stop command :-) ) created a 100 megabyte trace file (a large part of that is a fixed overhead for this type of trace, so a shorter time interval won't reduce the size much). If size is an issue, we could use a custom profile to eliminate the unneeded event sources.

Gary

Makis Kipreos 10 Reputation points

2023-08-07T07:47:54.13+00:00

Hello Gary,

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Executing the wpr -start Power -filemode command returns the error:

Failed to enable the policy to profile system performance. Profile Id: Power.Verbose.File Error code: 0xc5585011 Failed to enable the policy to profile system performance.

What I am doing wrong? Or can I use the WPR GUI to execute the recording?

Best regards,

Makis

Gary Nebbett 5,976 Reputation points

2023-08-07T08:01:21.79+00:00

Hello Makis,

I think that that error code means that the "System Profile" privilege cannot be enabled - try running the command as an administrator.

You can also use the WPR GUI - that is just a GUI front-end to the same functionality.

Gary

Makis Kipreos 10 Reputation points

2023-08-07T09:30:12.4866667+00:00

Hi Gary,

You are right, command line accessed as administrator did work fine.

How can I send you the file?

Thanks a lot!

Best regards,

Makis

Gary Nebbett 5,976 Reputation points

2023-08-07T09:34:11.0833333+00:00

Hello Makis,

One way is just to post a link to the file on OneDrive, Google Drive, etc. here. Alternatively, if the trace data is small enough (probably less than 20 MB) then you could try sending it to me: gary.nebbett at outlook.com

Gary

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Gary Nebbett 5,976 Reputation points

2023-08-07T10:12:09.0666667+00:00

Hello Makis,

Can you try the following and let me know the results?

Make sure that the performance (e.g. Task Manager) is visible - this might have an immediate (beneficial) impact.

Start the "Device Manager" (e.g. issue the command "devmgmt.msc" as administrator).

Right button mouse click over the top node ("GARY" in the image below).

Select the operation "Scan for hardware changes".

Let me/us know what (if anything) happens.

Gary

Makis Kipreos 10 Reputation points

2023-08-07T10:18:54.26+00:00

Hello Gary,

No change following your suggestion. Just a very quick and small increase of CPU usage and then returns to the previous value.

Makis

Gary Nebbett 5,976 Reputation points

2023-08-07T10:36:00.0833333+00:00

Hello Makis,

You seem to have a problem with the ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface). This is responsible for the high interrupt rate and CPU usage.

I had a similar problem 5 years ago (I wrote about it (as "Gary-CH") here: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-Notebooks/ProBook-450-with-high-CPU-usage/td-p/6520063/page/14

In my case, a Scan for hardware changes provided temporary relief and disabling the PCI Root Port for "Realtek PCIE CardReader memory technology device" (which I do not use) has been a long-term solution.

In my case, _GPE._L61 was responsible for the high interrupt rate; in your case it is _GPE._L16. (GPE means "General Purpose Event" and L16 is "Level-triggered event 0x16).

I think that this is all the help that the trace data can give.

Gary

Makis Kipreos 10 Reputation points

2023-08-07T10:55:05.68+00:00

Duplicate reply, deleted.

Makis Kipreos 10 Reputation points

2023-08-07T10:57:31.1666667+00:00

Hello Gary,

Thanks a lot for all your effort so far, appreciated.

What you would recommend me as the next steps in order to solve this problem and avoid reinstalling windows?

Best regards

Makis

Gary Nebbett 5,976 Reputation points

2023-08-07T11:17:14.2+00:00

Hello Makis,

I don't think that reinstalling Windows will help. Some piece of hardware is holding a level-triggered interrupt signal in the trigger state and reinstalling Windows might not have any impact on that.

Have you recently changed anything hardware related on your PC?

Is your PC a Thinkpad? "Thinkpad" seems to occur quite often in the results when searching for ACPI GPE Level-triggered 0x16.

Gary

Makis Kipreos 10 Reputation points

2023-08-07T11:34:14.4733333+00:00

Hello Gary,

My laptop under question is HP 15-AY104NV.

To be honest I cannot say when this problem started.

Some time ago I did change the internal HDD to SSD (Patriot P200) and ADATA S650 as a second SSD (replacing the internal DVD player). These are the only changes to this laptop.

Can any of these be related with this problem?

Makis

Makis Kipreos 10 Reputation points

2023-08-07T11:42:58.03+00:00

Update: I did remove the ADATA SU650 from my laptop and the CPU usage is now 3% only! Problem solved!

Thanks a lot for your comment that did help for the solution!

Your support is highly appreciated!

Best regards,

Makis

Gary Nebbett 5,976 Reputation points

2023-08-07T12:21:43.2133333+00:00

Hello Makis,

I am happy that you found a "solution" (or at least identified the cause). Getting everything to work (including the ADATA SU650) might be tricky, since detailed knowledge at the low-level ACPI to operating system interface level is rare.

Gary

Makis Kipreos 10 Reputation points

2023-08-07T14:29:50.1666667+00:00

Hello Gary,

I did not find a solution really but your comments gave me the idea to try removing the extra drive in the DVD position caddy. This did work.

Investigating further it is not the ADATA SSD drive creating the issue but the caddy for installation in the DVD slot. Removing the SSD disk and installing the caddy itself (LogiLink AD0017) in the slot, made the problem re-appear.

For me it is not a big issue to remove the second drive permanently but maybe I will try other caddies to check their behavior.

Anyway, this 'solution' would impossible without your valuable support.

Thanks again for this.

Best regards

Makis

Ram Starkk 0 Reputation points

2024-05-10T07:22:06.8033333+00:00

Hi @Makis Kipreos i am facing the same issue with "system" using 100 percentage of cpu usage. I tried everything! Yet, it still same. Did you find any resolution to this? If yes, please revert back. Thanks!

Svyatoslav Boykiv 0 Reputation points

2024-06-09T11:06:36.92+00:00

The problem is microsoft is mining with your cpu
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High CPU usage without applications running on Windows 10

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