100% CPU when downloading

[NicoleSharp100]

I have been experiencing an issue whereby "System" and/or "System Interrupts" occupies up to 100% of CPU usage whenever I am downloading content from the internet (including loading images during general web browsing).  It seems to be worse with larger files or baudrates such as when downloading new games from Steam or downloading images.  The CPU usage is severe enough that the mouse can lock up and audio can sound distorted whenever downloading is taking place.  I have tried everything I can think of to troubleshoot this: upgrading all software and drivers, running HP PC Hardware Diagnostics, full antimalware system scans, etc.  The only thing I have not been able to do is try to manually install the Realtek gigabit ethernet driver from Realtek.com, but I can't seem to find what model of Realtek card that HP is using on the HP 690-0010.  Additionally, there seems to be an error on the HP 690-0010 ethernet driver from HP.com, so my theory is that maybe this is being caused by a driver conflict.  I have all wireless networking disabled and only use CAT6 ethernet on the home network (cable modem limits internet access to 60 MBd though).

[NicoleSharp100]

Does not appear to be isolated to gigabit ethernet networking either.  I was able to duplicate the problem when attempting to download over 802.11ac as well.  Any suggestions on what might be causing the problem and/or how to solve it would be appreciated.

[Grzwacz]

Greetings,

Welcome back to the forum.

I am not a HP employee.

This is a tough problem to troubleshoot. Hardware (HDD, RAM, peripheral device), BIOS issue, check for a BIOS update, hardware drivers, or malware can cause this.

Have you run a system file check (Link)?

Check out this article for things to look at (Link).

If you can't resolve the problem using the guidelines at the above link  I would get a second HDD or SSD. Install Windows clean to see if the problem is resolved.

Or back up data and do a clean install on the existing storage device.

Regards

[NicoleSharp100]

Just finished chatting with HP Support, and they recommended a factory reset 😞 .

As far as I can tell, all drivers are up-to-date, including networking drivers.  AMD is on the most recent non-optional version.  I plan to upgrade to the optional version as my next step but had problems in the past with the optional version creating conflicts with the Realtek drivers.

Apparently the reason I don't see an ethernet networking controller driver listed in HP Support Assistant is because ethernet and wireless networking are using the same driver software.  So that doesn't seem to be the issue, though I could still try reinstalling the networking driver from Realtek.com instead of HP.com.  The networking drivers currently installed are from HP Support Assistant.  Graphics drivers were manually installed from AMD.com.

There shouldn't be any problem with the HDD, since I do not experience the issue when copying large files from an external HDD to the internal HDD.  Additionally, disk checks and fragmentation checks are both good.  BIOS is up-to-date, via HP Support Assistant.  No malware, thanks to Bitdefender and Netgear Armor (I did several overly aggressive full system scans, in addition to active protection and safe browsing habits).

[Grzwacz]

Hi,

Symptoms don't always neatly correlate to the cause. I also suggested a clean windows 10 installation.

I have seen many cases with PCs where the cause of the problem would never have been deduced by the symptoms.

You may be surprised by the cause, if or when you find it.

Regards

[NicoleSharp100]

I just uninstalled the AMD Radeon Software, and am still having the problem (running right now on the Microsoft drivers instead).  So I don't think it is caused by AMD.  What I am seeing now though is the 100% CPU usage caused by "Windows Defender SmartScreen" instead of "System Interrupts" or "System."  That would make sense if there was a problem with antimalware software overworking when downloading is occurring, if there is nothing wrong with the networking drivers.  I have Bitdefender Total Security 2019 plus the default security provided by Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise (plus Acronis Active Protection, with antiransomware protection deactivated in Bitdefender and Microsoft Windows to avoid conflicts).  However, I tried turning off Windows Defender SmartScreen with no results (Windows Security -->  App & Browser Control).  I could try turning off the Exploit Protection Settings, but I don't think that's related to SmartScreen.  If the problem is caused by Windows Security, then I am not sure if a factory reset would solve it.

[Grzwacz]

Hi,

Try running just one anti-malware application.

From your last response it sounds like you have bit and pieces of three different anti-malware apps running concurrently.

I am only using one anti-malware product on my W10 installation.

Regards

[krzemien]

First of all, scratch the reinstall dubious advice - that's what great unwashed and equally uninterested staff would suggest.

Secondly, Grzwacz's advice is sound: do not run more than one AV product at a time, otherwise they will both start chasing themselves.

(I'm only having Windows Defender deployed on my PC - don't feel the need to have anything else running in background. Weekly check with free version of MBMA should do the trick if there's something unsavoury left on a PC

https://www.malwarebytes.com/ )

Alas! Where do you see this CPU utilisation exactly, in Task Manager? Resource Monitor?

Did you try Process Explorer already?

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Give it a go, and once run in admin mode, it can give you a clue down to the thread and/or EXE or DLL that's abusing your previous CPU resources.

[NicoleSharp100]

Still haven't isolated the problem yet.  I get different processes in the Windows 10 Task Manager gobbling up the CPU usage, but usually either "System Interrupts" or "Windows Defender SmartScreen," and sometimes I see very high RAM usage as well (like 9 GB to 11 GB for just web browsing).  It does look like malware, but the Bitdefender systemwide scans keep coming up as clean.

I did find a workaround though.  Simply rebooting the PC seems to solve the problem for up to a day or two, and then the issue begins to recur until the system is rebooted again.  Not sure what could be running though to cause the problem.  Definitely trying to avoid a factory reset for as long as I can.  If I only need to reboot the desktop PC once every couple of days to avoid the problem, that is a lot more manageable.  Kind of hoping though that if it is a Windows or driver problem that if I just always keep applying the latest updates that maybe the problem will solve itself.  I have Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise, which allows me the choice to only apply Windows updates that are "ready for widespread use in organizations" and not the Windows updates that are "ready for most people."  I could try allowing the normal updates, but by only allowing enterprise-level updates, that is supposed to help keep the system more stable.

For antimalware, I have Microsoft Windows 10 Security, Netgear Armor Bitdefender Total Security 2019, and Acronis True Image 2019 Standard.  The only antivirus or firewall application running is Bitdefender.  Windows Defender SmartScreen and Bitdefender supposedly have no conflicts since they do different things in different areas of the system.  I did try turning Windows Defender Smartscreen off but that did not solve the problem.  Windows Security Exploit Protection Settings are all activated.  Windows Security Core Isolation is deactivated.  Windows 10 Secure Boot is activated.  Antiransomware protection is provided by Acronis True Image 2019 Active Protection.  Antiransomware is different from regular antimalware in that it prevents unauthorized application access to protected directories.  This is offered by Microsoft Windows, Bitdefender, and Acronis, but I like the Acronis version best.  I have antiransomware protection deactivated from Microsoft and Bitdefender to avoid conflicts with Acronis.

[NicoleSharp100]

I've only been looking in the Windows 10 Task Manager to analyze the problem.  But the information there is very limited, and the RAM usage is usually much higher than what is assigned to processes in the Task Manager.  I can check out the Process Explorer if or when the issue occurs again.  Thank you for that link.  It sounds like it could hopefully be able to give me more information to try to pinpoint what might be causing the problem.