System Interrupts Huge CPU Usage

Anonymous
2009-11-18T12:06:50+00:00

Hi,

I have just recently installed Windows 7 Professional on my machine and I am having a problem with a process called System Interrupts using alot (25% approximately) of CPU.

I have tried several supposed fixes i have found here and on other forums but have not solved the issue.

I am at wits end.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll203/SK-illfull/systeminterrupts.jpg

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3

Video Card: Nvidea 8800 GTX

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2012-02-23T09:40:40+00:00

My computer got so slow that the mouse was slow and jerky and I had to reboot. System interrupts was at about 30% CPU time. My PC is now with 5 days uptime and the bug seems to have disappeared. The following solution seems to solve the issue :

  1. Right-click on the speaker icon
  2. Select playback devices
  3. Click on the speaker properties
  4. Go to the enhancements Tab
  5. Click Disable All Sound Effects
  6. Click OK. You're done!

The sound enhancements seem for some reason to cause the problem even when not used. So disable them following the procedure above. Good luck!

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-05-30T08:18:53+00:00

    I am having the same problem. I have isolated it to the ATA HDD driver switching back to PIO mode from DMA. this means the processor has to manage all the I/O and results in a huge increase in processor utilisation due to interrupts.

    Go to your device manager select the IDA ATA / ATAPI controllers group

    select the ATA channel for your HDD or DVD, select advanced setting tab and check the "Enable DMA" check box then click ok.

    This re-enables the DMA for the HDD channel and frees up the CPU.

    My problem is that the mode gets reset to PIO mode each time I reboot my windows 7.

    After research I see that windows 7 will do this if it detects over 6 CRC errors from the drive (also if a badly scratched DVD is read)  Google "ATA PIO problem".

    I don't use my DVD and HD Tune Pro tells me I have not CRC errors or bad sectors on my HDD. 

    I have also checked the system events (administration tool) using the event viewer and I did have 4 disk controller errors which I am assuming is causing windows to switch back to PIO mode. 

    If this is not the problem there is a very good post about using the Microsoft Windows performance tool kit to find out which drivers are using up CPU instead of using a trial and error approach.

    http://blogs.msdn.com/b/peterwie/archive/2008/10/06/measuring-dpc-time.aspx

    Hope this helps

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-08-15T20:56:57+00:00

    When I select playback devices in there there's no "speaker properties, rather my sound cards buses, and in there there's no, "enhancement" tab....

    So where do I disable those mysterious sound effects?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-03-02T23:14:49+00:00

    FIXED IT AT LAST!!!!!!

    This problem has driven me nuts, I tried everything suggested in many forums and nothing worked!

    The problem is with my slot loading DVD drive, with no disk inserted I get high interrupt usage, put a disk in and the interrupts return to normal.

    Tried the same thing with a tray loading drive and experienced no issues with or without a disk inserted.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-03-23T08:36:31+00:00

    i got same problem you just install anti malware program and make full scan the program will resolve this issue

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