Nerds: Malware, Overheating or P.S.

So there's this ongoing issue with a PC I has.

There are two main issues:
- CPU Spikes to 100% every couple of minutes
- then random reboots even when the CPU doesnt spike. Then it'll get stuck in a reboot cycle where it just cant properly boot. And by that I mean, it'll show the XP screen, crash and reboot, it'll get to the login screen and I login where it either crashes relatively immediately or lets me be privy to the CPU spikes.

Currently running Kaspersky Pure and downloaded the Anti-Malware Bytes (AMB). Here's why I'm confused as to whats going. Both AV's cant actually finish a full/complete scan of the system without being interrupted. I've also unplugged the internet to see if its a remote thing but no different. When using the AMB Chameleons, it can finish some of the 12 options but eventually one of them will not finish and the system hangs/reboots itself. The quick scans of both dont report anything other than AMB reporting TurboTax dll's, which when removed, didnt help the Turbo Tax program.

The system itself is older but not archaic… yet. BIOS is updated and mobo is an asus m2n-x (bios 1101), amd athlon x64. 3 gig ram. 3 hdd's but ones is unplugged atm. The unplugged one has been wiped and will also have the XP reinstalled soon. And yes, it'll be XP for now.

In the BIOS itself, the CPU temp has been as high as 77 or 78. That was with the casing on so I took the sides off, "dusted" it and left them off. It now hovers around the 70C mark. These are by memory so I could be well off.

It's most prevalent when streaming youtube and porn's. I'm also inclined to think its the Vid Card (ati radeon 5450). Latest drivers are installed. (Can I flash a vid card BIOS?)

Safemode yeilds the same issues, which is why I'm inclined to go more hardware based than malware even though it reeks of malware.

Help a Shogun out please.

Just found and dl'd a Dual Core Optimizer from AMD.comizzle. Will post up if it makes any difference.

If your running at 70 in bios you are likely overheating. I would pull the cooler off and reapply thermal goop. Get someone who knows what they are doing if you don't feel up to it. the key is to use only a small amount of the stuff, some people like to gob it on. Thats my quick thoughts on it but hard to say without seeing the system in person.

Get process explorer and watch what is spiking your CPU.

From there you can see what files it's accessing and a whole lotta other shit.

I'd start there.

If you cannot complete a scan, get a scanner that will run off of some other bootable media. Boot that media and run the scan. If it fails, your problem isn't the existing installation.

Or boot into the BIOS and let it sit there. If your BIOS has a screen that displays be current CPU temp, let it sit there and see if the temp rises.

Get process explorer and watch what is spiking your CPU.

From there you can see what files it's accessing and a whole lotta other shit.

I'd start there.

Thats very similar to Neubers Security Task Mgr. I had a license for that at one point and miss it.

Suffice to say, thank you for the link.

*After installation, everything seems to be normal w/ whats running in the background.

If your running at 70 in bios you are likely overheating. I would pull the cooler off and reapply thermal goop. Get someone who knows what they are doing if you don't feel up to it. the key is to use only a small amount of the stuff, some people like to gob it on. Thats my quick thoughts on it but hard to say without seeing the system in person.

I read about the too much is a bad thing of the goo when trying to figure this out.. which led to posting this.

I'm comfortable pulling chips and cards but where do I find this goo? Aaaand what if the CPU has a cooler that isnt goo'd on?

I read about the too much is a bad thing of the goo when trying to figure this out.. which led to posting this.

I'm comfortable pulling chips and cards but where do I find this goo? Aaaand what if the CPU has a cooler that isnt goo'd on?

Hahahah you just solved your own problem. You can buy tubes of thermal paste at futureshop for cheap, each tube is just enough for one application. Youtube has videos on how to properly apply it.

If your BIOS has a screen that displays be current CPU temp, let it sit there and see if the temp rises.

Hahahah you just solved your own problem. You can buy tubes of thermal paste at futureshop for cheap, each tube is just enough for one application. Youtube has videos on how to properly apply it.

I sure did!.. I think.

Or boot into the BIOS and let it sit there. If your BIOS has a screen that displays be current CPU temp, let it sit there and see if the temp rises.

If your BIOS has a screen that displays be current CPU temp, let it sit there and see if the temp rises.

Switch.. is that you?

I put the casing back on. Saw the temp in the bios rise from a 2 min cool down from 44C to 69C in less than 2.5 minutes. Promptly removed one side panel and watched it drop and fluctuate in the low to mid 60s.

If all else fails, boot into Safe Mode (hit the Function Key 8 (F'8') a few times towards the end of the BIOS screen), and select "Safe Mode" from the list. If you don't see CPU spiking in Safe Mode, its probably a software issue.

boot it from an xubuntu 12.04 liveCD and do something that maxes out the CPU for a long period of time, at least that way (without the risk of harming anything) you can determine whether you have a fundamental hardware problem or there's something screwed up in your windows install.

I had similar symptoms recently, safe mode worked OK, turned out my sound card had fried and was crashing the system.

Cheers Ben

Problem seems to have ceased.

I'm going to go with over heating caused by the lack of a dual core optimizer. Whole system runs quite a lot smoother without any spikes passing the 40% range. Couldn't be a soundcard as its either onboard sound or hdmi out from the vid card.

Thanks again for the help nsmb.