kstater7

Hello, this is my first post here and hopefully I won't have to make many more even though this site is great.

I usually can fix my own problems with computers, but right now I'm stumped, so I hope you guys can help.

Whenever I open a media program (WMP, etc.) it runs fine at a normal CPU, but when I close the media program the CPU spikes up to 50 and hovers there until I end the process with the task manager even though the actual window of the program has closed. Also, if I open two of the programs then close them both, they will both use up nearly 50 CPU a piece, leaving nothing extra.

The media programs that I have experienced trouble with so far are WMP, Zune and Winamp. The process WLXQuickTimeControlHost.exe also seems to jump to that 50 CPU mark whenever I even touch a folder containing a .mov or .3gp file.

I am currently running XP w/ SP 2, all of the softwares mentioned are their latest versions.

I recently added 1 GB of RAM to the 1 GB I already had, this was before the problem started to occur, but I found it odd that the programs only spiked to 50 CPU.

EDIT: The only real thing I've tried to do is run a reg scan, but it didn't help.

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks

justpassingby

Hi kstater7 and welcome to TSF !

Try to uninstall quicktime and any codec pack you could have installed and install the K-lite codec pack (standard version shoud suffice, make sure you install ffdshow) and quicktime alternative instead. See if it helps.

See if using media player classic (included in K-lite) or vlc to play your media files shows the same behaviour.

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Posting system specs

b1nary gh0st

Have you by chance recently installed Windows Live Photo Gallery? I too was having the exact same issue and have found that program to be the culprit. Not exactly sure why, but after removing, my system was back to normal cpu usage when selecting media files as you described.

kstater7

Sorry I never updated, but I've been living with the problem ever since I first posted and I have no idea whats wrong with it.

binary gh0st's solution did work for the file browsing problem, but zune.exe, wmp.exe, and winamp.exe all still spike and hover around 50% CPU usage right when I close them. (The Zune software seems to wait to spike until my Zune recognizes the program as closed.)

I've uninstalled codecs and installed the ones above but that didn't work. (I could be doing it wrong if anyone wants to guide me through) Hopefully there's an answer out there somewhere as it has been 5 months since my original post. TIA for any help.

justpassingby

Hi again kstater7 !

What are your system specs ? Please follow the posting system specs link in my sig, install everest and attach a .txt hardware report to your next post (use the report wizard from everest).

Go to start => run and type eventvwr.msc. Search the different sections there for errors happening when you try to close those programs.

Go to start => run and type chkdsk c: /R. You'll be prompted to restart the computer and the scan will run at startup. Tell us if there were errors on the drive. Once you know the hard drive is clean defrag it (all programs => accessories => system tools).

Download and run process explorer to monitor the running processes. See if you can notice another process taking up some cpu usage when you close those programs.

Does the problem also happen in safe mode (repeatedly press F8 when the computer starts and choose safe mode in the menu that will appear) ?

Don't forget to report back with what worked and what didn't work

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Posting system specs

kstater7

Well I'm back but not without more problems. :/ I'm currently using a different computer because the one that I was using is currently unable to boot.

I was going through your steps, first getting my system specs, which are still on the other computer, then I did not find any errors relating to the programs when I typed in 'eventvwr.msc'.

Next I entered 'chkdsk c: /R' and rebooted my computer. When it was finished with the check, it said the drive was clean and then tried to reboot, but when it rebooted it just went to a black with a cursor and sat there. So after quite some time I manually shut down my computer (didn't have any other choice) and when it booted back up it wanted to do another disk check, so I pressed a key to skip it, but it went to a black screen with a cursor again. I've tried letting it check again numerous times and skipping and nothing is working. Not even booting into safe mode is working (it seems to freeze everytime when loading drivers or something).

Thanks for any help.

justpassingby

If this computer is some brand computer (HP, Compaq, Dell, ...) then give us the brand and model.

What drive does chkdsk check ? Is it the c: volume ?

If you have the XP CD then insert the CD, enter the BIOS to change the boot order priority to CD-rom first, boot on the CD and press 'R' to access the recovery console. Run chkdsk c: /R there. Wait for the scan to complete and retry to start normally. When the screen gets black wait for 5-10 minutes before turning the computer off.

Repeatedly press F8 when the computer starts and try the last known good configuration or safe mode with command prompt. If one of these options works then stop and report here.

If you can't boot into windows at all then let's rule out some hardware problem first : can you enter the BIOS at startup (press del or look for some "press xx to enter setup" message) ? Search for the hardware monitor or pc health & status screen. Report your temps, fan speeds and voltages from there.

Open the computer case and check that there's no dust. If it's dusty clean the heatsinks and fans with a can of compressed air. Restart the computer and check that all the fans are spinning (cpu fan, video card fan and rear power supply fan).

Check that all the cables are hooked properly. Look on the sticker that's on the hard drive to find it's brand and model, create the related HDD diagnostic utility CD (DOS bootable version), boot the computer on it and run the long/extended test. Report if it finds any error on the drive.

Have you updated that computer to SP3 ? After installing SP3 did you restart the computer and did it boot properly ?

If all is fine then a repair installation of windows may be in order. If this is a retail installation then you'll have to create a slipstreamed SP3 XP CD and uninstall internet explorer 7 before doing the repair installation. If this is an OEM installation and you only have recovery disks then tell us about it.

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Posting system specs

kstater7

The computer is a Dell Dimension 4700 the only thing I've added to it is RAM (I've added 1.5 GB to the 512 MB it came with). It's got a Pentium 4 at 3.0 GHz.

Yes, it checks the C: drive.

I don't have the XP CD and I've left the screen black for hours without shutting it off but no luck.

Safe Mode (it starts listing or loading the drivers on the screen then freezes once it gets to 'multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\agpCPQ.sys') and Last Known Good Configuration don't work I've tried numerous times.

I've looked through all the setup and can't find anything of the likes your talking about.

I cleaned out the inside and all fans are working.

I did upgrade to SP3 and the boot was fine.

It is an OEM installation and no disks came with the system even pertaining to the OS (XP) the only thing was a sheet of paper that said if the OS messed up to use the Dell Restore something or another or to use system restore which I currently don't have access to either of.

Is there not some way to make it forget it needs to do the disk check and we can ee if that works?

justpassingby

Dell Dimension 4700
service manual

Edit : before you try anything else, try to update the BIOS to the latest revision. I just read that it could help with agpCPQ.sys issues :
http://support.dell.com/support/down...&fileid=151799

Clear the CMOS settings :
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc....htm#wp1052769

If that didn't help then boot on a retail XP CD (borrow a friend's), press 'R' to access the recovery console then from the c:\windows\ command prompt type listsvc and make sure agpCPQ is listed with its startup set to boot. If it's there press Esc and type disable agpcpq. Retry to boot the computer and see how it goes. Source : Problems when Windows XP tries to load the Agp440.sys service (not exactly the same file but that fix worked for users who had problems with the agpCPQ.sys driver). If this worked then update your chipset and video drivers.

Is the hard drive formated in NTFS or in FAT32 ? Chkdsk should say what file system the drive uses when it starts, else you can type map from the recovery console. If it's FAT32 you'll need to convert the drive to NTFS (hook it to another computer, backup your files before converting the drive).

If those solutions failed and the hard drive is already in NTFS then proceed :

----------------------

There's no hardware monitor in the BIOS so there's no way to know the temps and voltages (except if you have an infrared thermometer or a multimeter that is).

The chkdsk scan occurs because the hard drive is marked as dirty, probably because you have to turn the computer off by pressing the power button, and you can only change the dirty bit of the drive from within Windows. But the chkdsk scan is not the real issue since the computer can't boot afterwards. If there's no hardware problem you may need to reinstall from scratch since you can't do a repair installation on an OEM version.

Grab a retail XP CD (you can borrow one for this purpose), boot the computer on it, press 'R' to access the recovery console and from the c:\windows\ prompt type chkdsk c: /R. This will run a complete surface scan on the hard drive. See if it reports errors then retry to start the computer.

Look on the sticker that's on the hard drive to see what brand and model it is then create the related HDD diagnostic utility CD (dos bootable version). Boot your computer with it and run the long/extended test on the hard drive.

Unplug all your USB devices, leave only one memory stick (preferably the one that came on the computer) and if the computer has onboard video then take the PCI-e card out and revert to the onboard video (plug the monitor to the other vga port). See how it goes.

Download, unzip and burn memtest86+'s bootable .iso image file using a burning software that can handle .iso files. Enter the BIOS at startup and set the boot priority to CD-rom first. Leave memtest run overnight or at least do 3 full passes on your memory. Report if it finds any error.

Try another power supply (borrow a friend's).

If the hardware is fine then you'll have to reinstall. Backup your personal files (hook your hard drive in another computer) and use the Dell recovery partition to restore the computer to the factory defaults (press CTRL+F11 at startup). If the dell recovery partition is damaged you can order backup disks from Dell for a small fee.

__________________

HJT - 5 steps against malware. Post your HijackThis log there and not here !
Posting system specs