Author: redwolfe_98
Subject: Hardware interrupts spiking
Posted: 27 January 2014 at 6:10am
namrehto's post here:
http://forum.sysinternals.com/hardware-interrupts-spiking_topic7775_post32596.html#32596
which linked to another one of his posts, here:
http://forum.sysinternals.com/interrupts-spikes-to-80-of-cpu_topic965_post2618.html#2618
which linked to a MSKB article, here:
http://https://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472
-helped me..
Situation:
i was messing around with my computer, today, running various programs, to check to see if there were any malware-issues.. when i ran "FRST" (farber recovery scan tool), i got an error.. the second time that i ran it, it ran successfully..
later, i ran a scan with "GMER", but got an error(!), which was unusual.. so i tried running it again.. that time i got a BSOD(!).. i tried running it again and got another error.. i ran it again and got the same error, again..
then i went back to using an older version of GMER and it ran without problems..
(incidentally, i have been using GMER for several years and it is not the first time that i have seen GMER generate errors, so i have some experience with it)..
after that, i opened windows "task manager" and noticed that something was using some CPU, which was unusual..
"task manager" was telling me two different things.. on one hand, "system idle" was showing "CPU" as being 99% free, which was usual.. meanwhile, at the bottom of "task manager", it was showing that something was using 7% CPU.. so it was telling me two different things.. 99% free and 7% used.. get it? none of the processes, in "task manager", were shown as using any CPU, yet, still, something was using 7% CPU! something was amiss..
i also noticed that one of my programs was running slower than usual, when i ran it..
so, i opened "process explorer" to see if it showed me anything.. the only thing that was shown as using any CPU was "interrupts".. (note that windows "task manager" does not display "interrupts", so it was not showing "interrupts" as using any CPU, though it was).. so, i did a google-search for "process explorer interrupts" and found this thread, which led to the MSKB article, which helped me to resolve the problem..
something caused the controller for my harddrive to switch from "UDMA5 mode" to "PIO mode", causing "interrupts" to use more CPU than usual..
when i say that something caused the controller for my harddrive to switch to "PIO mode", i know that it was one of the programs that i ran, today, that caused the problem, but i am not sure which one it was.. i noticed the "errors" in windows "events", which was what caused the controller to switch to "PIO mode", though i couldn't be sure which program generated the errors..
thanks to everyone, for contributing to the thread.. otherwise, "google" wouldn't have pulled it up..
Edited by redwolfe_98 - 15 hours 26 minutes ago at 7:34am
Subject: Hardware interrupts spiking
Posted: 27 January 2014 at 6:10am
namrehto's post here:
http://forum.sysinternals.com/hardware-interrupts-spiking_topic7775_post32596.html#32596
which linked to another one of his posts, here:
http://forum.sysinternals.com/interrupts-spikes-to-80-of-cpu_topic965_post2618.html#2618
which linked to a MSKB article, here:
http://https://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472
-helped me..
Situation:
i was messing around with my computer, today, running various programs, to check to see if there were any malware-issues.. when i ran "FRST" (farber recovery scan tool), i got an error.. the second time that i ran it, it ran successfully..
later, i ran a scan with "GMER", but got an error(!), which was unusual.. so i tried running it again.. that time i got a BSOD(!).. i tried running it again and got another error.. i ran it again and got the same error, again..
then i went back to using an older version of GMER and it ran without problems..
(incidentally, i have been using GMER for several years and it is not the first time that i have seen GMER generate errors, so i have some experience with it)..
after that, i opened windows "task manager" and noticed that something was using some CPU, which was unusual..
"task manager" was telling me two different things.. on one hand, "system idle" was showing "CPU" as being 99% free, which was usual.. meanwhile, at the bottom of "task manager", it was showing that something was using 7% CPU.. so it was telling me two different things.. 99% free and 7% used.. get it? none of the processes, in "task manager", were shown as using any CPU, yet, still, something was using 7% CPU! something was amiss..
i also noticed that one of my programs was running slower than usual, when i ran it..
so, i opened "process explorer" to see if it showed me anything.. the only thing that was shown as using any CPU was "interrupts".. (note that windows "task manager" does not display "interrupts", so it was not showing "interrupts" as using any CPU, though it was).. so, i did a google-search for "process explorer interrupts" and found this thread, which led to the MSKB article, which helped me to resolve the problem..
something caused the controller for my harddrive to switch from "UDMA5 mode" to "PIO mode", causing "interrupts" to use more CPU than usual..
when i say that something caused the controller for my harddrive to switch to "PIO mode", i know that it was one of the programs that i ran, today, that caused the problem, but i am not sure which one it was.. i noticed the "errors" in windows "events", which was what caused the controller to switch to "PIO mode", though i couldn't be sure which program generated the errors..
thanks to everyone, for contributing to the thread.. otherwise, "google" wouldn't have pulled it up..
Edited by redwolfe_98 - 15 hours 26 minutes ago at 7:34am