I have a Dell Dimesnion 4300 desktop, P4, 256mb ram, running Win XP Home. I am having a CPU usage = 100% problem.
Whether I choose to log into my account or as an administrator (in regular mode), I get to a blank desktop wth no icons or start menu. The only thing I am able to do is bring up the Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del). If I attempt to run a new task here, I an type the new task in (like 'msconfig'), but when I click OK, the window only partially disappears and I can't do anything else. I have to force the computer to power off.
If I login to either account in safe mode I can actually see the icons and start button, but I am only able to do the same stuff I can do in regular mode (basically, just task manager).
In both cases, the CPU usage begins at 100% and remains there. The applications tab lists no applications running. There are 14 processes running... the two hogs are svchost.exe and explorer.exe. It switches between the 2, but svchost seems to be the bigger hog.
Any ideas? I'd love to be able to run something (like HiJack This, any AV program, Ad-Aware... anything). But I can't. Nothing will run. It seems like my only option is to stop things from running, and I can't do that from msconfig (since I can't run it), and I wasn't allowed to end svchost through Task Manager.
Whether I choose to log into my account or as an administrator (in regular mode), I get to a blank desktop wth no icons or start menu. The only thing I am able to do is bring up the Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del). If I attempt to run a new task here, I an type the new task in (like 'msconfig'), but when I click OK, the window only partially disappears and I can't do anything else. I have to force the computer to power off.
If I login to either account in safe mode I can actually see the icons and start button, but I am only able to do the same stuff I can do in regular mode (basically, just task manager).
In both cases, the CPU usage begins at 100% and remains there. The applications tab lists no applications running. There are 14 processes running... the two hogs are svchost.exe and explorer.exe. It switches between the 2, but svchost seems to be the bigger hog.
Any ideas? I'd love to be able to run something (like HiJack This, any AV program, Ad-Aware... anything). But I can't. Nothing will run. It seems like my only option is to stop things from running, and I can't do that from msconfig (since I can't run it), and I wasn't allowed to end svchost through Task Manager.