NT Kernel & System using 100% of CPU

Anonymous

Hi,

I just bought a new laptop with Window Vista Basic. The laptop has 3 Gb ram. I was just reading an article on line and then I start to hear the laptop fan running like crazy. then I went to the Resource Monitor and there was an image/program that was using 95% of my cpu and it was my system with description of "NT Kernel & System". It has been going on for over 30mins. Other than restarting the computer, what can I do about this "NT Kernel & System" eating up 95% of my CPU?

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Anonymous

I've been having the same problem on my HP desktop running Vista home for a couple weeks. I read that someone fixed the same problem by updating some hardware firmware, so I opened Resource Monitor and started unplugging all my hardware one at a time. The instant I unplugged my Belkin USB network adapter, NT Kernel & System dropped down to 0% and my computer unfroze entirely. The same adapter has been causing me a lot of grief for months- it wouldn't respond every time my computer came out of standby. I'll be updating the driver and firmware to see if that helps - otherwise that garbage is going in the trash. I recommend disabling/unplugging hardware (especially if you have any with odd behavior) until the problem stops, then replacing or updating that hardware.

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Anonymous

Hello Dtsai,

Thank you for posting. What you just described seems to be some form of mal-ware trying to mascuerade as a legitimate windows service. Windows does have NT Kernel and also System, but they never show up together as one service, program, or file.

I highly recommend that you use your favorite anti-virus and anti-spyware program and do a full scan of your PC.

Please try the scan and let me know if this helps you

Zack

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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59 additional answers

Anonymous

2012-01-04T19:11:09+00:00

Hi. It's January 2012, and I also have this problem. I fairly computer literate (I repair PCs as a second job, and I can program in VB).

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. I have a quad-core Intel Q8300. My "System" process (further described as "NT Kernel & System) is using only 76 KB of memory, but is using 31% of my total CPU usage. This occurs even when I have no applications running. Sometimes my PC boots up with CPU usage near zero (and thus System not hogging resources), but most of the time it boots up using 31% of my 4 cores. I'm not happy about this. I have done a Google search and I see that there are MANY people who have this problem. I am bit dismayed that Microsoft has not addressed this or come out with a fix.

And, yes, I have MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, and also AVG 2012's scan. Nothing (although I did not expect to find anything).

I am really not pleased with this.

How do I get my PC to tell me what is causing System to be using 30% of my CPU usage??? There must be a way.

Thanks in advance to anybody who knows.
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Anonymous

2012-01-05T18:11:49+00:00

Okay, I have just figured something out. At least in my case, if I disconnect my internet connection, CPU usage goes to zero after a few minutes. And if boot my PC with the internet disconnected, it boots with CPU usage at zero. It stayed that way for most of the day. It must be malware of some type. The only thing I was doing when it went up again was I was using Skype. I will keep you informed.

Still, it would be nice if there was some Windows app, or 3rd party app, that could tell me what forcing the System process to thrash/go into a loop, i.e. what file is using it.
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Anonymous

2012-01-06T10:15:54+00:00

so problem occurs when on internet .....NETBOT perhaps?
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