High CPU usage by process called "System"

Question

I have a brand-new DELL XPS 9500 and about half of the time the process called "System" uses between 10 and 15% CPU (which is enough to make the computer very hot and that the fans turn at 70% capacity) until I reboot the laptop. 

Dell support said that the use of the processor is normal but like the other question, I do not believe in that since the other half of the time the computer runs using less than 1% of the "System" process.

I have pretty much the same issue than this thread. Why was it locked? There is no solution to the issue in the comments and the accepted answer is only a temporary fix which doesn't even work on my computer. 

I'm fine with the computer being hot when I do tasks that use a lot of resources. When I watch a film in my bed or when I'm working with light programs however the loud blowing is pretty annoying and not understandable.

I recorded the system activity with "Windows Performance Recorder". Below are the details of the analysis for the System Process. 

Solution

Edit 26.11.2020: I quote @Vladislav Kosev: "It seems like a problem with Nvidia cards on dual-card systems (since if you have only Nvidia you ALWAYS have something running on that card)." Workaround is in his answer below but basically solution is: 

1. Open NVIDIA Control Panel 
2. Navigate to Manage 3D Settings- then Program Settings
3. Configure one program that it usually always open on your computer to use High-performance NVIDIA processor as preferred graphic processor.

Old steps:

Thanks to @Dr.Richard.V.Finney we figured that it's an Nvidia process and what worked for me is uninstalling PhysiX engine as well as the Nvidia driver (in windows settings). 

After a few days I was curious if it would still be that bad if I reinstalled it so I did. It was good the first few hours but then the process "System" started to use constant 10% again. So I uninstalled it again and... it didn't go better :(.

With ProcessExplorer I saw that the process is now dxgmms2.sys and not like before nvlddmkm.sys. Searching on the internet I found that it was also Nvidia and that opening the Intel Graphics Command Center could help and it did! ..the first few times.

Then System was again using so much cpu because of dxgmms2.sys. I was done with Nvidia stuff (even if I know it's not their fault directly) and uninstalled the driver in Device Managerunder Display Adapters (I did try the "scan for hardware changes" trick first but it never worked on my machine). And that worked! ..until I rebooted the computer or the computer woke up from hibernation because it reinstalled the driver automatically and it was producing the exact same issue. Uninstalled it 3 more times and then finally d isabled the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti driver.

Now I'm in the process of trying to accept that my brand new 2020 laptop will not benefit of better graphics from nvidia and only have the integrated intel graphics. I liked to play games with shaders occasionally with the laptop but I guess that is past now. 

Edit 18.11.2020:

Few weeks now with Nvidia drivers disabled and the laptop has still an annoying issue: it doesn't go to sleep when plugged in. Actually when using the computer the fans are silent but when I close the lid, after 10 sec the computer starts to heat up, and they start to go wild. Somehow it uses more resources when it should sleep.

With powercfg -energy and energy-report.html (link) it showed an error which was something like "Missing driver for component may cause higher resource usage" with the Nvidia Graphics card as Device name. Sooo it seems that because I disabled it, the computer uses more energy?

Anyway I re-enabled it and tada it seems to work VERY well since a few hours. Laptop dead silent in use and doesn't start to heat up when it should sleep. 

I don't know why this all happens but now we are in the initial state minus Nvidia PhysX. Perhaps I may use the graphics afterall :D

Answer 1

Hi guys,

This is what I've found, maybe it will help us either solve it or find a suitable workaround.

First of all, @SamuelGfeller, I was the guy who posted the "Open the Intel Command Center" solution. :) I am glad I posted it and you found it. Now it is not working anymore however. Not sure why.

I played around this morning and I think I found out why:

1. First I tried disabling and then enabling the Intel card in an attempt to emulate what I thought the Command Center did. That worked but caused problems later - programs would hang for 10 seconds frequently. I had no explanation why this worked.
2. Then I found your thread and tried uninstalling PhysX, but that did not help. I don't want to uninstall the driver as I want my games to run fast :-)
3. Then I found out that by just starting GeForce Experience the problem went away again and I then it came to me - if no processes use the Nvidia card, then I the problem occurred. The moment one process used it, it went away. So I did a test - set up the Calculator app to use the Nvidia card. Calculator running - process gone. Calculator not running

• problem comes back.

So now the question is, is there any other way of making this fix permanent. I set up Spotify to use the Nvidia card and now the problem is gone since I have Spotify running all the time. I tried Start Menu Experience Host, but it does release the card from time to time (not surprisingly since the start menu is not visible) and the problem comes back.

From the Nvidia Control Panel you can use Desktop -> Display GPU Activity Icon in the Notification Area. It's a handy app that shows what processes run on the Nvidia Card.

I will do a restart and see if the solution holds.

Answer 2

Damn you are the real champ! 

I appreciate that you take time for me, Rick.

Now I'm hopeful that we can solve this issue! We will find the impostor (among us reference).

The inbuilt SSD is M.2-PCIe-NVMe, 1 TB and I bought the 32gb RAM variant. 

Reassure me, you watched the video in silent right? 

Here is the image:

Oh interesting. You really decorate your points I like that!

If you see it as distraction then I'm super glad! I'm a programmer desperately want to finally work on a functional computer and stop troubleshooting issues (High CPU usage is one of many issues I had with this notebook) and searching the issue is really draining my energy. I wrote this question here as a last resort because I was so done with it. Now I have a bit of hope again.

1. Yes

3.1 Rambox is basically a Browser built on electron. I use it quite frequently for all social things. Yes it is darn resource heavy but its also useful. Those are the things I use it for: 

I don't have an antivirus other than windows defender.

I bought this 32gb ram variant exactly because I need such resource heavy programs like Rambox which my old computer couldn't handle. But ram is not the issue here. I'm annoyed that always when the process "System" is on top of the list, the notebook starts to heat up and fans are blowing. Maybe it is related to Rambox but I really don't think so because when I kill all Rambox processes "System" is using exactly the same amount of CPU than it usually does. 

If you know an alternative software that runs those communication web apps and loading all of them automatically on startup using less resources I'm very interested. I tried "Franz" but it was even worse. 

I mean in the worst case I can also run all of those things in a Chrome or Edge browser and load each page manually. Thats very well possible.

3.2 and 3.3 Yes possibly 

3.4 I thought so too so I ran this complete scan with windows defender but it found nothing

4.1 I agree, I want to remove it but kinda need a replacement for it. I could just use a normal browser. Probably I'll do this if you don't have better alternative. 

4.2 I didnt uninstall rambox yet but already executed this command and got the following:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan.  This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.

Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Now I will remove Rambox, reboot execute the command again and observe task manager after that and do a recording. 

But I dont quite get it I think (I'm no system engineer (I don't know the exact English term but in Switzerland we call it like this) so my knowledge is very limited). Why cant we just observe the threads of the "System" process (we know its nvlddmkm.sys that is using those resources) and then find from where this nvlddmkm.sys gets called and executed and retrace the responsible program? Now you see probably that I dont understand the system process and that I talk like a programmer xD. We call this Stack trace in programming. When an error happens, there is a list of functions to retrace what was called before this error happened and find what caused it originally. If no error happened, but we want to inspect what the code does (debug) we can set breakpoints and observe the code line for line, call after call. 

Now you really don't need to explain to me how it works because A. I'm not really interested in understanding it in depth and B. I dont want you to spend time explaining me this. An "It doesn't work like this" or shortly explained in one sentence is more than enough.

Little observation I just made: Suddenly the fans got quiet and my fingers are no longer getting burnt while typing (I exaggerate) so I quickly opened the task manager and see the "System" process sitting there with 0.x % usage but after like 5sec of observation it jumps up to the first spot of CPU usage and is at like 8% and the computer gets hot again. Then I close the task manager and fans are getting quiet again. So maybe the task manager itself would be a big part of that? But I dont think that is the case actually because really most of the time my computer gets hot without task manager open, I open it and on the first frame I see "System" using 10% of CPU. It's not slowly rising like now. And there is a task "Task Manager" Its very unusual that the computer is silent like now.

I would love to talk with the HP community! 

Again thank you for your help. It's not self-evident and I'm aware of that.

Answer 3

Dear Samuel (You can't see me, because I'm in or between meetings - don't tell my PA),

 Believe it or not - this is fun.

 Folk's spend big bucks on cable or movie tickets to watch detective or spy thrillers - where the focus hero or heroine track clues, leads, false trails, etc., etc; to try to find/catch the villain or villains ... when in fact all you need do is be good enough to track the same through assorted computers.

 Things that seem unrelated - are often the 'big break throughs' - that help crack cases.

 The very long shut-down is just that.

 Tells us a lot, and helps narrow-in.

 I would like to know the type/size of your Hard Drive (SSD), as well as the amount of RAM that came with your DELL XPS 9500 laptop. There are several configurations. Just want to know a bit more of what we are dealing-with (not critical, but it helps).

 The video was great. No one complained about the music, and mostly we were more interested in watching 'the show'.

Firstly. The Very High usage on the core MS system functions are potentially misleading, because those mostly run as (master) hosts (for other functions).

 I've known from your first image/post the 'very high' was process 'hosting' - simply because it was not drawing significantly on other resources (memory/disk) - thus we need work-out who/what and how many programs are chewing your resources/taxing the CPU ... via the System, File Manager, Desktop Manager, Comm's Manager ... etc.

iCore7? No problems or lack there; however - if you do not already know - click the 'performance' tab - in task manager - then the cpu chart. let it settle (15 seconds), then take a screen shot - to post here.

 Just want to see the cores, threads and CPU speed/draw numbers (MHz) ...

Why? Don't have Dells laptops handy (i7's); so we've looked at some HP Pavillion, Toshiba Satellites and Levono Legions (hi-spec); to test the sleep/shut down characteristics of i7 laptops running Windows 10.

 Norm/mean is 30~45 seconds.

 Next we decided to torture them a bit (make shut-down slower/harder) - to get out to the 30+ minute mark.

 We also have an assortment of i7 workstations (hi spec desk tops), which - as a rule - start/stop faster than Laptops; which in turn can/do talk to some of the larger servers here (HP Dual Xeon's); which in turn do stuff for the BRASS development system ("Clover Array") - that is 'biggish', most simply described as four (4) large dual xeon systems on a lower layer, with a larger dual xeon = upper layer; which acts much the same as Windows "service" {it splits and feeds data to the bottom four, then feeds out processed data to the firewall system, which then goes to the Comms/server - that gives access (portals)} to the folks/their desk/lap systems talking to and working on the project (BRASS).

 BRASS is a new kind of all weather radar, originally designed to address airborne volcanic ash and 'black ice' events - following a couple of airliner crashes. It has evolved a bit (still has the original core purpose/function), because its range and accuracy mean it will be the navigation system/control-tracking system of assorted space agencies, over the next three or four decades. Assorted governments/agencies already know this; however the rest is 'secret'.

 Reason I/we cannot send pictures (probably have to take myself outside and execute myself ... if I did, laugh).

 Point being, there is a range of seriously good computing stuff around here, that allows a broad range of testing/checking; plus - when it happens - unlike most folks/people, you just go down the stores and sign-out a new computer, after stuffing-up/blowing-up the one you were using.

 So - the fast high specification i5, i7 and i9 systems, do not hold a candle to the bigger (hard core) systems, however they are doing different things. More often than note the small systems - doing their thing - can go faster than the bigger systems. Has to do with RISC (processing and language-set architecture).

 None of the systems here - small, medium or big - take more that 3~5 minutes to shut-down (of those running Win 10x, as the interface OS).

 Consensus (my thoughts, and the others asked about this = distraction is as good as a holiday {break from work}) is:

1. Your CPU is working overtime and 2~3 times more than it should be;
2. Cause is back ground activity;
3. #2 is either:

3.1. Third party software - main offender being 'Rambox', in parallel to anti-virus/anti-malware, and other items;

3.2 System and Third party functions - like shadow drive, back-up, disk compression, disk de-fragmentation, archiving, etc.;

3.3 Damaged or compromised system files - Windows repair trying to restore/fix;

3.4 Hijacker code, or similar function within a game or media-share software - that is using your system/resources as a 'bot' (remote server).

3.5 Combination of element (some/all) @ 3.1 through 3.4.

 Important thing is approaching this slowly - one step at a time.

4. "Rambox", and potential that Windows recovery is trying to repair damaged files.

4.1 We all think you are better off to completely remove "Rambox" from your system. It is not good software, ultra resource-heavy, and likely doing far more 'bad', than any good.

 Unless you absolutely need it, uninstall it completely - then reboot for the next stage.

 If you feel it has some function/job you need ... tell us what that function/job is, then we will find software that does the same, without all the 'Rambox' potential negatives.

4.2 Following (after removing Rambox) reboot; go into the Windows start menu, find "Command Prompt", _Right Click_ on it and select "run as administrator".

 When the Command prompt window comes up type:

sfc /scannow

{note. That is 'sfc' - space - '/scannow'}

 Then hit 'enter' or 'return' ... and let it run (internet connected).

 Once finished it will say what it has fixed (where/if needed), and give you a log address ... for review.

 Reboot, go into Task manager and watch. Take note of any improvements. After 3~5 minutes, take note of what is chewing resources now (= next/second step ... following one at a time protocol).

 Must run, because people are at the door waiting and I'm running slightly late {laugh}.

 I was thinking of moving us/this thread up to HP Community (Paul Tikkanen - best in USA/North America) on this sort of think, because we do not have Dell's. I think - not sure - Dells are, or a branch of, HP. However we'll try to fix what we know we can fix, and is Windows 10/OS related (potentially).

Cheers,

Rick.

Answer 4

Hello Rick 

I am genuinely so grateful that you take the time to help me. 

I did as you said. Rebooting the computer and instantly open Task manager. There are some Apps that autostart like you will see. In order for you to relate better, I made a screen recording with the inbuilt xbox game recorder. 

****Here is the video (apologies for the loud background music. The video  was too high res so I saved it in full HD in the windows video editor and they put this music automatically on and I noticed only after the upload): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UMPwNhkYcYNbvdpH0s5U40ylG7EHq0Hm/view?usp=sharing

Rambox and Jetbrain Toolbox use a lot of CPU in the first minutes which is understandable. Bcastdvruserservice is the video recorder so that can be ignored. Feedback Hub pops up I don't really know why but it goes away pretty quickly. And the rest of the processes dont seem unusual to me. Corsair iCue, Autohotkey, Everything Search, Greenshot, Ditto clipboard, Deepl and Rambox and the Toolbox are the programs that start automatically. 

Maybe good to mention: yesterday I did a full (long) scan with Windows Defender and it detected 0 threats. 

The computer is always elevated for an optimal airflow. It still gets hot when System is taking 10% of CPU and overall not more than 20%. I don't exactly understand why. I know it's an i7 but still.

This is sort of related to another issue I have https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-power/how-can-i-go-into-sleep-s3-manually/abe8ea81-442f-4164-832e-d8517d82e2bd?messageId=40983174-ccf2-46de-87d8-918354118066. When I close the laptop or press the power button shortly for it to go into standby, the computer stays hot (continues to work) and the fans blow during a very long time (at least 30min bcs when it happens I usually open the computer after 30min to shut it down.) When I open the computer to see which task is heating up the computer so much when it should sleep it is always this "System" process. So the System process is not shut down by this modern standby technology in Windows 10. I have the feeling that if I manage to fix this issue, the other one could be resolved too.

Answer 5

Dear Samuel,

 My apologies for the response delay. Very busy with work/away a lot.

 Pix are great, because they convey what we need to see/consider clearly enough to understand. More is just over-doing it really.

 First impression (nominal guess) is it appears PhysX is trying to load-read icon files which are either missing or redundant; however although that is showing 'high power' - the resource draw (reality) is actually low.

 I would suggest you do a clean boot-up (just restart - we're being curious/snooping), then straight into task manager and watch ... maybe eight to ten minutes - doing nothing else.

 Although some things can run really high (power); those are usually background apps (TSR's) doing their establishment scans, before dropping into background/dormant mode. AV and AM programs for example - really push the system for a short time in this manner.

 Why - Boot-up time. Users freak if their computers are 'slow-to-start' (TSR's busy scanning stuff); so the software programmers set them up to use as much/many resources as possible, to do the job faster/get to dormant/background mode faster.

 You may well freak watching some of the figures/load - in the first couple of minutes; however generally speaking they've all settled down (quasi-dormat/background), after five to eight minutes.

 What we are interested in - is who is doing what (while the system is at idle) after those initial surge events. Watch for a while longer and you'll see assorted functions pop-up and chew resources. You watch them/take notes, as those are what contribute to loading (behind the scenes) when you are doing other stuff/normal work.

 Example: Resource wise - look at the memory load the Desktop Window Manager is using (huge - almost the data size of an old CD-Rom disk). Does not matter how much RAM you have (capacity) as much as it does - how much (big) stuff is just sitting there (loaded and being continually read by the CPU's/system). Bit like you doing laps of a field/track, then adding one or two sweatshirts each lap. You warm-up real quick, then progressively get hotter.

 The issue has been around since the first 286 computer chips (CPU's). Similarly there have been dedicated programs/apps to fix it (memory managers).

 Before installing one of those, we need determine what is chewing-up resources (idle), and if the process responsible is really necessary (ie. What can we disable with the Start-up managers like Glary Utilities (free) or whatever.); plus what we can physically do to help - like waiting until the place is empty/you're alone, then sneaking in other's bedrooms and (shock surprise) 'discovering' two bed slats - which you have a good use for (after repositioning the remaining slats, hoping they don't notice, then painting/disguising the two, so they look like totem poles or grave markers - so if challenged you can claim they fell of the gardeners truck down the grave yard). Putting those under the computer - clear of the cooling vents - will improve the air through flow considerably and make the computer run a lot cooler. Two strips of three ply 2 inch/50mm x 18"/600mm will do the same. Trick there is to "find" it on the back of other folks dressers - because they notice if you saw the bottoms out of their drawers.

 Let me know what/which TSR's are chewing resources at Idle. We'll go on from there. I'll look around for a freeware memory/resource manager.

Cheers,

Rick.