Help! CPU Usage 100% with no apps running!

[funcrew]

I just built my first computer in 7 years:

K7VTA3 Motherboard (KT333 Socket A)
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ CPU
512MB PC2700 DDR333 RAM
MAXTOR 40GB HD
Gforce4 64MB Video Card
Cheap Generic Sound Card
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition

After running about a week, the computer has become very slow and unstable. All applications launch and run very slowly, and there are frequent system lockups, unresponsive to any key commands, including cntl-alt-del.

I looked at the task manager, and it always shows CPU usage at 100% even when no apps are running. The two big users are:
Image Name: svchost.exe, User Name: SYSTEM (avg 67% CPU) and
Image Name: System, User Name: SYSTEM (avg 23% CPU).
System HD is about 50% full, and has been defragmented.

I'm not a PC guru, but did research this system to try to select compatible components.

Any ideas what could be bogging down this system? Thanks!

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

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[jAGGEr]

i had that virus earlier this year.
If you hit ctr-alt-del and go to processes, you'll see one that is labeled svchost.exe, just like maybe 3 or 4 other ones, but is taking up an ungodly amount of memory. A temporary fix that i used before i got sick of doing it was just to end that one process, and it seemed to work just fine, until i restarted my comp, then i had to do it again. I forget what the name of the virus was, or where it was located, but that's the temp fix until you totally get rid of it.

I think Ad-aware 6.0 worked.

By the way, correct me if i'm wrong, but your mobo will support an AMD with FSB333. So, just out of curiosity, why didn't you go with the Barton 2500+ instead? It's a much more stable processor, which amazing overclocking abilities. You can overclock it to a stable 3.0ghz, or so I've heard. I've never actually done it, but i had a friend that did. You can get one for $83 or so.

By the way, it's wierd that you're that you should describe your comp, because mine is almost identical to yours, except i'm using a KM2M series mobo. So i'm guessing your vid card is a GF4 MX 440.

[Xtreeme]

3gig, on air nah.... 3000+ or 3200+ yes. thats like 2gig and 2.10 gig. I myself have the 2500+ AQXDA unlcoked version.

[funcrew]

Your were correct. I had a worm called "agobot", also some versions called "gaobot" that puts a bogus file "svchos1.exe" in the system folder, a registry entry, etc. Getting rid of it was complicated (for me, anyway) - I followed the instructions on the symantec website, and it took a while. All is now OK.

Thanks to everyone that replied!

[jAGGEr]

oops, i goofed.

The kid was using water, and i talked to him earler today, and he said that it was up to a 3000+. you were right. i tend to get the AMD's confused with the pentium naming. (an AMD 3000+ doesnt run at 3.0, does it, lol) Then he switched to dual 2200+s

funcrew, glad you got rid of it. I wish i had noticed that one of them was svchos1.exe lol. I lived with that one for almost a month.


Anybody know anything about the "ronoper" virus?
i seem to have aquired that within the last coupla days.

[John Prophet]

hey funcrew, good to see you posting some, glad ya got it working.

Make sure you do all the windows updates etc.

The best thing to do is download the blaster patch and stuff like that...or else have the updates downloaded on another machine etc....and when you do a fresh build do the updates BEFORE you go online at all.

In other words, what I do is finish the fresh build, leave it totally offline, do the blaster worm patch..THEN I put it online and go straight to the windows update site and do the updates.....otherwise its just a matter of time before you get zapped.

(I myself need to figure out how to have all the updates downloaded to use BEFORE I even go online with a new build)

JP