I just bought this pc about a year ago and it has a 2.8GHz cpu and I had never had a problem with it really untill the other day. I have a file server setup on this pc I use it for personal file access mostly but I do allow family and friends to download off of it. But anyway the other day I had someone downloading one of my big movie files about 700mb and I forgot to tell you the files are stored on my 80gig external hard drive for the server but anyway after they downloaded the file by the way it was about the first person to download a big file from me but anyway after the download was done I opened task manager and you know how it has a graph showing your ram and cpu usage well the graph was stopped and not updating ok well so I set it to update on high and it started working so then I notice after the computer has been on for about 10minutes the cpu usage never goes below 50% when I am not doing anything so I thought maybe software problem so I formated my hard drive and reinstalled windows and I had it working and botted up and then I noticed it was still doing it so I thought well maybe taskmanager is messed up so I went online and downloaded a program that monitors you cpu usage and ram and all that and it said the same thing and not only that not the cpu usage wont go below about 65% help do I need a new cpu my step father said it is not the cpu because if I was screwed it wouldn't work so could it be the harddrive because I do notice on the graph it shows the tranfer rate of the hardrive and every so often it will spike to like red or extreme usage and I am not using anything help please!!!!!!!!

Ok I will try that I don't know how it will help but I will try I think I need to unhook my main hardrive it is the on giving off the spikes on my graph but right now all I have is the external 80gig and my internal 40gig but for christmas I might get  a 200 gig internal hell yeah thanks for the help!!!!

yes I know that but I have had it hooked up for about a year or more and the cpu problem just started the other day.But I will try but I think it has something to do with my main drive because on the program that monitors transfer rate it show it bursting alot to red or very high transfer wheni am doing nothing and it happens alot!!!

Many times when folks add external HDDs (which either use USB or "FireWire") ...it, by nature most certainly "calls" for multiples of CPU cycles.  This can cause your CPU 'pins' (some of them) to build up with corrosion (from the heat buildup).  Whether you have a CPU with a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket (with a 'lever' to release the contact pressure on the pins, or a "pullable" CPU ...please try GENTLY pulling it partway out then reinserting it two or three times (to clean off the crud that may have built up).  That might help.  Make sure you eliminate all possibility of static before touching those internal components though.... (egads)!

USB and "FireWire" External Drives rarely will mess up the USB/FireWire end of things, but check in your Devices (for XP) ....or wherever your computer shows you (with your O/S) the info on how all the HDDs, CPU, CD-ROM and such are displaying info and ensure you don't have any "YELLOW FLAGS" ...you may need to reload the device drivers for your board (for the USB or FireWire) from the Motherboard CD (if ya got it).  If not, www.driverguide.com will be your best bet.  

I doubt your CPU is fried ...it sounds like another 'contact' problem.  The hotter they run, the more often "strange" things like this will happen to ya.  Let's hope the "pin cleaning" trick works!  If it doesn't, your MAIN HDD circuitry may be "Puffing" (bursting) ...but that doesn't match your symptoms.  90% of computer failures are electrical contact problems or static discharge damage...give or take.  Got a spare HDD you could toss in it just to see in case the first idea goes down da tubes?

Cheers!

The Reverend

I found the problem I went into my task manager under process and at the top of the list was something like lucoum~~~ 1 and it was using like half of my cpu i ended it and it fixed it yea thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!                                                                      

*cough* http://housecall.trendmicro.com *cough*

im runnign nav as well and i dont ahe v that at all... you should deffinatly scan man.

I don't get how LUCOM (which IS the Live Update for Symantec/Norton) would NOT get uninstalled ....especially from the Task Manager?  If that sucker was still in there, then you still have a small mess of related Live Update references in yur Registry.  (And maybe more in your "Common Files" section of your Program Files.  Those can be scanned out as has already been said...  I'm unsure what I'd use to clean up the "reg" tho....I use an old standby no longer available for d/l ...but it works like no other.  (I hope).

When I dumped Norton I spent a whole day 'hand editing' the incredible amount of references they place in the "reg" ....geesh!

Good show!  Good show!

Cheers,

"The Rev"

Norton blows i would try something else. Panda is decent so is AV guard. But norton causes more problems than its worth IMO. Glad ya got it figured out