50% CPU Usage after DH Mobility Modder

hacku · Dec 15, 2007, 07:01 PM

I have a Gateway M6755PRR Replacement Desktop. It's a powerful laptop with a Inter P4 3.4Ghz processor w/ hyperthreading, 1GB RAM, 2 hard drives for a total of 140GB's of storage, ATI Radeon Mobility 9700 (128mb) and it's got a 17" widescreen display.

I bought this when I was going to school almost 3 years ago. Even now it still outperforms a lot of laptops out there in the market.

The only problem I have had with it was the video driver suppoer from Gateway which is ZERO. The last update on the ATI Video Driver was in 2005. When I was attending school, I used some patched drivers to be able to play some games that I had installed on it (Raven Shield/Ghost Recon).

After a while I got tired of the games and un-installed them, and decided to reformat and re-install all the original drivers for smooth operation. Today I decided to install Raven Shield again to give it another try, but the original drivers wouldn't allow me to play the game.

I did some snooping around and found DH Mobility Modder. I followed all the instructions and was able to install the new drivers without a flaw, and the game plays fine now. The only problem I noticed that even when I'm not doing ANYTHING (no programs running, etc.), my CPU is running at 50% ALL THE TIME.

I pulled up the task manager and looked in the Processes tab to see what is causing my CPU to run that high (normally idles below 5%). There are 2 processes using CPU at idle but they are the "System" process and the "System Idle Process". Both of those hovering around 50% but their memory usage is just 84k and 16k. Every other process is at 0% CPU usage.

Anyone have an idea as to why it would be running so high? I don't want to have to un-install ATI Catalyst and roll back my video drivers as I want to be able to play Raven Shield.

HELP?

mike2h · Dec 15, 2007, 07:12 PM

you are positive it is running all the time? system idle will do stuff some of the time(tho 50% is kinda high). does this process turn of when you start another app/game?
also is your comp hooked u pto the internet when this is going on? if it is, try shutting of your connection & see what happens.
bty, WELCOME to the forum

hacku · Dec 15, 2007, 07:17 PM

Thanks for the welcome....

Yes, my CPU now hovers at 50% no matter what (never did that before). The System Idle Process does NOT turn off when I start another app/game. And yes, my laptop is hooked to a wireless connection but that has nothing to do with the CPU usage. I have disabled the connection and everything remains the same.

hacku · Dec 15, 2007, 08:09 PM

I un-installed the patched drivers and everything seems to be back to normal.

My system now idles at 2%. So something with the patched drivers is causing my system to idle at 50%.

Do I have any other options as far as patching the drivers?

EDIT:

I'm currently downloading the OMEGA drivers to see if those will do the trick. I'll post back if they work out...

hacku · Dec 15, 2007, 08:56 PM

Downloaded and installed the OMEGA drivers and that did the trick. I can now play Raven Shield and my CPU stays where it should be at idle...

mike2h · Dec 15, 2007, 11:45 PM

awsome! glad you worked it out. still curious as to what the problem was though.
hopefully someone that matters will see this & check t osee if there is a problem with those drivers or if it was one of those weird problems that only show up ocassionaly/next to never. somebody always has to be the lucky one