Q180 High CPU Usage Problem

[TKR]

My new Q180 is showing CPU usage of at least 40% all the time in the Windows 7 Task Manager. Sysinternals Process Explorer show that this is due to over 25% of Hardware Interrupts happening all the time.

Is anyone else seeing this kind of problem / symptoms?

[TKR]

I was able to locate and fix the problem yesterday. The problem was in the Realtek ethernet drivers. I disabled the device from the control panel and interrupts went a way. After that I removed the existing driver and re-installed with the one available on Lenovo support site and now interrupts are gone and CPU utilization is 0% when the computer is not doing anything.

[JoshSommers]

Just got mine setup last night and didn't check the CPU usage, but I am having terrible internet download speeds, so maybe my problem is related to yours, will definitely check it out tonight, thanks for posting your solution.

[TKR]

Unfortunately my solution was temporary, the problem started again after a day. I did do the driver reinstall again and it fixed the problem, but only for couple of hours.

Now I'm doing complete system reinstall using one key recovery, I want to make sure that I did not install something that is causing this. I'm just loading up all windows updates and will post the results.

I'm only seeing this problem when I'm using wired Ethernet connection. If I use wireless then I don't see this problem.

[RichardBrum]

Any luck with the re-install? I'm having this issue too.

[1994mgoblue]

Exact same issue here!

I fired up Process Explorer and see 24-26% Interrupts. I'm not sure what you did from there to narrow in on the Realtek ethernet driver, but I am also on a wired (gigabit) connection, not wireless.

I may try swapping to wireless as well, but that's highly undesirable. I'm using the q180 as a Windows Media Center with 2 XBox360's attached as Extenders and everything pulling HDTV from a Ceton 4-tuner USB InfiniTV with Cablecard. The whole setup is cool in theory, but right now it's just not stable enough.

[1994mgoblue]

I enabled my wireless adapter, swapped to that and disabled my wired NIC. Process Explorer changed from ~25% interrupts to ~14%, so it's better, but still nowhere near "right".

After rebooting with the wired NIC disabled and wi-fi active, I do see a significant drop in Interrupts now... under 0.5%

Hardware issue or bad drivers?  I'm convinced the NIC and Video drivers need some improvements.

[caveman31]

do an idle test

click start type msconfig -> startup -> disable all reboot

you will have disabled all programs that startup with your pc open task manager and see if the cpu speed has dropped

if it has open msconfig again and turn on your firewall and av then reboot check turn on a few more check ect ect

be warned that after the first disable all and reboot you will have disabled your firewall and av so dont download or goto unlnown web pages but it should be ok for a 2 min test

[MrZarniwoop]

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1994mgoblue wrote:

Hardware issue or bad drivers?  I'm convinced the NIC and Video drivers need some improvements.

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I systematically replaced almost every driver to the latest versions from the OEM websites and that seems to have solved the high CPU.  It idles at 0%-1% now, but I'm not sure which driver(s) made the difference.

Also, I was having "stuttering" HD problems with the McAfee anti-virus programs loaded.  I also switched to Microsoft Security Essentials and that seemed to solve it.

My only complaint left with the Q180 is that the wireless seems persnickity.  It seems to care a lot about which way the box faces and how it is oriented, even just 6' away from my AP (Linksys WRT600N).  It's a massive difference in speed sometimes, it seems to not like being laid down or facing in certain directions, makes me want to open it and see if the antenna perhaps has come detached?

[MrZarniwoop]

For those interested, I thought I'd list out all the drivers I found and installed in trying to get lower CPU utilization and smoother HD playback. These drivers will probably be out-of-date almost as quickly as I list them below, but all except the Card Reader driver are currently newer than what's on the Lenovo IdeaCentre Q180 driver page. Everything is for Windows 7 (64-bit).

Intel Chipset Device Software (INF Update Utility), version: 9.3.0.1019

Realtek High Definition Audio Codecs, version: R2.67

AMD Radeon Catalyst Software Suite, version: 12.1

Realtek 10/100/1000M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express, version: 7.050

Realtek IEEE 802.11b/g/n Single-Chip RTL8188CE, version: 1005.31.1222.2011 (IMPORTANT: scroll down to RTL8188CE)

Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader Driver, version: 6.1.7601.39014 (from Lenovo, their version is newer than what's on Realtek's site)

Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Driver, version: 2.1.28.0 (from Intel, couldn't find this on the Renesas site)

Microsoft Windows Security Essentials (HD video worked much smoother after uninstalling McAfee and installing this instead for anti-virus)