50% CPU usage at idle...help (please)

baldy

New Member
Firstly, I'd like to say hi. After reading many posts (and finding many solutions to my vista questions) I now have a question/possible problem.

At idle, I have 50% cpu usage at times. It seems to be msiexec.exe. I have absolutely no idea why. Is this a normal Vista behaviour?

Second, at startup I have 67 processes running, then it jumps to 72, then back down to 67. I had this amount on my XP pro machine, but had probably over 60 different programs installed, as it was a shared machine with CAD programs, graphic design software, etc. Now I only have vista, adobe cs3, blackberry, and office...

And for my final question, Why does eSata not able to "hot-swap"? Is this normal as well (sorry, I've always used firewire for my external drives, but now I'm trying to use eSata)

My machine specs are as follows:

Gigabyte GA-x38-DQ6
BFG 8800GT OC2 512mb
4gb Kingston HyperX 1066
Intel E8400
LG SuperMulti-Blue DVD/BD/CD/HD
Antec Sonata III case
Antec 80plus 550Watt PSU
Seagate 7200.11 HDD (three 750gb)
Vista64 Ultimate
Kaspersky A/V
CS3
Blackberry client desktop
Inventor
iTunes


Any help is greatly appreciated...

I have run 3 full-system A/V scans (and since this is a clean install with no internet downloads on this system including no mp3 downloads, etc) it has come up clean as expected...
 

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Why would the Microsoft Installer Component be constantly active on your system? That should only be active when you're trying to install a new program, so obviously something is trying to install on your computer that you don't have any idea about.

If not, then vista also defrags constantly when idle so you don't have to run the defrag program. You might want to see if disabling the auto defragmentation helps any.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Velocity Micro, HP Pavillion
    CPU
    Intel 2 Quad Core Q9400, AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+
    Memory
    8 GBs DDR3, 4 GB DDR2 PC5300 (667 MHZ)
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GTS 250 (over clocked), nVIDIA 6150SE n430
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w1907
    PSU
    440 Watts
    Case
    Velocity Micro
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Mouse
    Trackman Marble ++
    Internet Speed
    2 mbps
I have disk defrag set to run once a month only, so I can't see that running Windows Installer... I have tried disabling it as well, and still the same result...

Thanks for the reply though...It was worth a shot...
 

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I have disk defrag set to run once a month only, so I can't see that running Windows Installer... I have tried disabling it as well, and still the same result...

Thanks for the reply though...It was worth a shot...

I looked at Symantec and there ARE several viruses that affect that file. You may want to look at it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Velocity Micro, HP Pavillion
    CPU
    Intel 2 Quad Core Q9400, AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+
    Memory
    8 GBs DDR3, 4 GB DDR2 PC5300 (667 MHZ)
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GTS 250 (over clocked), nVIDIA 6150SE n430
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w1907
    PSU
    440 Watts
    Case
    Velocity Micro
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Mouse
    Trackman Marble ++
    Internet Speed
    2 mbps
I see you use Kaspersky. It is kinda unstable. Runs alot in the background. It once even flagged explorer.exe as a virus. I would uninstall it and replace it with NOD32 and I would not be surprised if you CPU calms down.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    My Ever Changing Whim!
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad 9650
    Motherboard
    Intel DQ35JO
    Memory
    6GB Corsair DDR2 800
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS 9800GT Ultimate
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19 inch Sceptre 19 inch Acer
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    1 320GB Seagate SATA
    1 250GB Western Digital SATA
    1 200GB Maxtor SATA
    2x160GB Western Digitals SATA
    1 320GB Seagate External
    1 120GB Western Digital External
    1 80GB Westen Digital External
    1 4GB Crucial Flash Drive for Ready Boost
    PSU
    600watt Fortron Source
    Case
    Antec
    Cooling
    Fresh Air
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonamic 4000
    Mouse
    Razer Diamondback
    Other Info
    My main rig runs Vista Ultimate or Server 2008. Depending on which Acronis image I decide to load.
I see you use Kaspersky. It is kinda unstable. Runs alot in the background. It once even flagged explorer.exe as a virus. I would uninstall it and replace it with NOD32 and I would not be surprised if you CPU calms down.


Here's the thing about what you said above... My cpu was doing this before I installed Kaspersky... I installed Kaspersky last after installing all of my software from the CD/DVD they came on... All updates for the software were done with Kaspersky installed...
 

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So I'm still on the phone with Microsoft tech support after almost 2 hours....lol...I'm being transfered as we speak to the third tech support technician.... We shall see what the verdict is...
 

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So the verdict is as follows...

SP1 for Vista 64 HAS issues... If you have it, you should uninstall it if you notice strange behaviour regardless of the performance gains.

SP1 Final will be avaialble for download on March 18th...

Before installing the final, uninstall whatever SP1 version you have, even if it showed up on Windows update since that version was still technically the Beta...



Time spent on phone: 2+ hours

Problems with Vista: Continuous

Still having no answer on what the problem is after paying for tech support for a product you just bought from Microsoft less than a month ago: PRICELESS!
 

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Nope....

The reason I won't uninstall it, is my computer runs soooooo much faster all around, even with this little glitch....
 

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Hey as far as I know Vista uses resources constantly I am not sure why or hobut it is one of Vista's feutures to use as much resources as it can, where xp would use its minimum required
 

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OK,

So I have found out what the issue was. Roxio Media Manager that ships as part of the Blackberry Client Desktop software package is the culprit. Apparently SP1 triggers the roxio installer. Not sure why, but after removal of my blackberry software, the problem disappeared. Likewise, if you uninstall SP1 and keep the blackberry software the problem disappears as well.

Now all i need to do is find out how to get rid of the sound clipping/stuttering issue with my Creative X-fi Xtremegamer card...

Any suggestions?
I've uninstalled with a "cleansweep", removed card, rebooted, powered down, re-installed card, rebooted, re-installed drivers, and it still stutters on any 5.1 audio track whether it is a PCM, TrueHD, DTS-HD, DD, DTS, it doesn't matter...

Help
 

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