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
    2015-07-22T16:02:57+00:00

    Can I first thank you sincerely for such a detailed and thorough reply.

    I will bore anyone reading with the details in case it is useful for someone else some day; System Interrupt on my machine is using on average 40% CPU. Very high!

    Since my post this morning I had time to start all over again with Andre's original method for pin-pointing what was responsible for the 'System Interrupt'. I can't say what it is I did differently this time, but clearly I got something wrong as this time it worked perfectly and I was able to see the following with high latency;

    ataport.SYS (Count 15,781,685)

    HDAudBus.SYS (Count 7,884,627)

    hal.dll (Count: 303,937)

    dxgkrnl.sys (Count: 22,275)

    USBPORT.SYS (Count 56,137)

    ACPI.sys (Count 43)

    Clearly the ataport.SYS module is having the greatest affect, sorry but as yet I haven't identified what it means or what the remedy is but I will be back to report when I do.

    Also for reference for other people, my mobo is an Asus P8P67-M.

    Radeon R7 Series Graphics Card

    (was at one point also running a GeForce card too with three monitors hooked up but have since removed to see if it was causing the issue).

    16GB RAM across 3 sticks.

    Win 7 Enterprise.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-07-22T17:52:44+00:00

    setup:

    I had this problem,too. It occured after changing the CPU cooler and the PSU in my desktop computer. In the process I had to completely remove the Mobo and subsequently all cables. The system had been running perfectly fine before. After the hardware update the system interrupts took up 7-10 % of my 8-core AMD CPU.

    trials:

    After reading this had to do with failing hardware, especially HDD-controllers, I tried all of my 7 drives (including 2 optical drives), starting the system with only one drive enabled, then two and so on. It came down to two SATA HDDs causing the issue. If any of those two was plugged in, I got the system interrupts' CPU usage. 

    solution:

    Taking a wild guess, I re-arranged all SATA cables on the Mobo. Sounds stupid, because it is. But it worked.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-07-22T21:00:13+00:00

    Thanks for your reply.

    At this point I am open and willing to try anything.

    So tonight I have;

    Uninstalled the drivers for my SSD.

    Tried my SSD in 2 other sata ports including one which is 3gig instead of 6 gig.

    Tried setting the HD to IDE instead of AHCI.

    No success yet.

    I'm considering a repair install of windows next. After that probably a complete reinstall from scratch. So incredibly frustrating!

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-07-23T01:22:34+00:00

    Dan,

    There is another possibility, that it is failing hardware. 

    Also, ATA issues are drive related, whether optical, platter drives, or SSHD's., or anything that emulates a drive.  A drive controller could be going bad on the drive, or the motherboard (heaven forbid).  However, barring a motherboard issue, I don't think you'll have to do a fresh re-install.  Sounds like you're getting closer.

    Radiocowboy10

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