Vista - high cpu usage due to "hardware interrupts"

Running vista on 2.8 Ghz Pentium D with 2G of RAM. CPU usage is always >40%.
I've instaled "process explorer" to try to figure this out and it shows
'hardware interrupts" as consuming the bulk of the cpu usage. I don't know
how to proceed from this point and am looking for ideas. Thanks
--
jdfdoc

Look for updated drivers, especially video, modem, network card, hard disk
and so on.

"jdfdoc" <jdfdoc@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:050E8921-E4BF-4527-82CC-6CDAF5DA80B3@xxxxxx

Are you using a flash card in readyboost mode? I've seen that take up about
50% CPU shortly after starting up a computer.

"jdfdoc" <jdfdoc@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:050E8921-E4BF-4527-82CC-6CDAF5DA80B3@xxxxxx

no flashcard. cpu usage 40 - 50 % - checked and updated all drivers. Still
states "hardware interrupt " as the bulk of the usage. Any other ideas? JDF
--
jdfdoc


"Rogue" wrote:

OK, a few questions:
Are you on a desktop or a laptop?
Do you have a wireless connection?
Is it an Intel wireless connection?
If you disable the wireless connection (If you have one) does the problem
stop?
Does the CPU use 40% at startup or does it kick in after a set time?

"jdfdoc" <jdfdoc@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6BDE83A2-BC5A-4A0B-92B6-B60567F875B3@xxxxxx

Sounds like you have a rogue piece of hardware and/or a bad driver.
I would suspect network card, modem, video adapter or some add-in
such as a hardware card for RAID or other hard disks if applicable.

"jdfdoc" <jdfdoc@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:050E8921-E4BF-4527-82CC-6CDAF5DA80B3@xxxxxx

THanks for your interest. I"ve been out of town and just now got to look at
the posts. Answers: desktop, apple-wireless - disconnected wireless,
keyboard, mouse, printer and camera connection - all without effect on
interrupt status which runs at 30 - 40% of cpu at all times, from startup.
What is a flashcard? THanks again, JDF
--
jdfdoc


"Rogue" wrote:

Hey, I'm running the 32bit home basic and have the exact same problem. I have no idea how to fix it. Did you ever resolve the problem?
Damn I'm hating MS right now. First the Zune 2.0 upgrade debacle and now this. Why MS? Why? All I want is a computer that works.

Do you have the clock Sidebar item running with the seconds showing? I
remember reading an article about how that was generating bajillions of
interrupts. Unfortunately, I can't find the article. Anyway, try turning
off the seconds on the Sidebar's clock display and see if that changes the
number of interrupts generated. I don't know if that will affect the CPU
usage, though.

Dave




"toddhilehoffer" <toddhilehoffer.316985@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:toddhilehoffer.316985@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net...

Dave, I wish it was so simple. I updated every driver I could find, including the bios. I'm still having this problem. Even in safe mode with only two services (DCOM and RPC) the hardware interrupts was eating up 20 - 40% of my processor. The only reason I don't think it is hardware related is because when I don't open a program the cpu usage gadet sits around 10% as soon as I open any application it jumps up to 50% and never goes below that. The weirdest thing is that in the task manager you can't even see the cpu usage. You have to use sysinternals process explorer. That tells you that it is a hardware interrupt.

It seems I need to reinstall the OS. Well, it won't be Vista, if I have to go down that route. It will either be XP SP2 or Unbuntu. The thing is that I like Vista other than it is broken. On my dual core desktop Vista Home Basic is faster then XP. It is great. But on this laptop (which came with Vista, ironically) it doesn't work. Granted I did reinstall Vista once already but the problem was a bad stick of ram. So I really didn't need to. I don't want to make that mistake again but I don't know what to do.