System Interrupts Huge CPU Usage

Dan,

Glad you found it.  I hope you didn't take my suggestions as being a wild goose chase.  Everyone's experience with this particular issue is slightly different.  When you think about it, the BIOS is sort of a kind of driver that controls the HDD controllers and other input, output devices.  So it was a driver, just not the obvious one!  Sorry for all the anguish, and I won't laugh at you, I too, have suffered at the hand of the mighty bit bucket we call computers.  I take away from your experience that it may not always be the obvious that causes these problems, as is so often the case.  Too often we stand back and look at all we did, only to see it as the "obvious" solution, but only because it was the "ultimate" solution, not the obvious one!  Hope that made sense!  BIOS updates are inherently dangerous, because one can toast a whole mobo without even trying, but if the computer is unusable as is, sometimes it's worth a shot!

Thanks for getting back to the thread to let us know your "ultimate solution"!

radiocowboy10

Ok, I am extremely pleased to report that I have resolved the issue! My CPU is now running at 1% at idle!

Here is what I would try for anyone experiencing this problem;

Step 1. Read through all of my posts carefully and note down the lengths I have gone to to find the solution.

Step 2. Laugh hysterically at my anguish and suffering.

Step 3. Install the latest BIOS release for your motherboard from the manufacturer.

...How embarrasing is that!? After reading all of the stuff on the internet and getting totally blinkered, I was focused so hard on "drivers, drivers, drivers" it didn't occur to me to update the mobo BIOS until about 20 minutes ago (this is after completely reinstalling windows, twice, on different hard drives and removing RAM in different combinations).

So there you go! An issue that could have been resolved in about 10 minutes including time to make a brew, actually took me about 12 hours because I didn't think to try the most obvious thing first!

DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID! Update your BIOS!

Radiocowboy10,

Having read your reply actually a fresh reinstall is starting to seem like the next most sensible thing to do.

If I reinstall and immediately have the same problem without installing any additional software or drivers, then that might suggest is it the hard drive itself which is the problem. In which case I am at a point where without too much inconvenience I can install windows to a different drive (perhaps non-SSD) and see if the problem still exists on the same machine. If it does, perhaps it is unfortunately the mobo at fault.

If I reinstall and there isn't immediately an issue, I have the opportunity to reinstall my software and drivers one by one and watch to see if any of it triggers the problem.

I am preparing my computer today for a reinstall (it is only a CAD workstation so not much data stored on it and not much software). I will report back what happens.

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