High CPU Usage in idle mode for Vista Business

[gameson]

That shot was on AHCI mode.  When I change it back to IDE, it has enable DMA and both boxes are checked

It says that the DVD drive is running on Ultra DMA Mode 2 and HD is running on Ultra DMA Mode 5

I also tested my RAM last night and the RAM were working fine.  Took off the DVD drive and system was still running high.  So there are only two things left to check out, either the faulty motherboard or the faulty HD.  I am planning to install a Vista on IDE HD that I have and see if that will solve the issue.

[gameson]

Update:

I have swap the RAM to different slot of the MB, and same result.  Since the only components in the systems are HD, MB, RAM, DVD, so it came down to HD or MB as I already took out the DVD and boot without DVD, same result.

So I have a PATA drive at home.  Hooked it up to the PC and installed the Vista Business without the SATA HD installed.  Result: Same, HW interrupts at ~40%.  

AND to be fun, I also reformat and reinstalled the SATA drive with Vista Business to compare apple to apple with the PATA drive.  As soon as the Vista boots up the first time, HW interrupts is at 40%.  So for both PATA and SATA drive, with fresh Vista OS without Windows Update, same result.

So now since I already swap everything with the only thing that stays the same in the entire testing is the OS and MB, can it be the OS itself, Vista?

I am now planning to install an XP on the system to see if it makes the difference.

[VorLonUK]

I seriously wouldn't be surprised if the problem goes away on XP. I got so fed up with Vista taking up so many resources and the hard drive constantly thrashing around that I disabled as much of this bloatware (which is Vista) that I could. I went from 75 running processes to 45, by disabling a bit of Dell ware and a load of the MS crap. Result is an OS more like XP, ie one that works for the consumer, rather than one that works solely for MS.

At first I wondered if your problem was akin to this:-

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/wd-raptor-nvidia-g80-dont-play-nice-with-vista,review-2336.html

But i don't think it is.

[gameson]

I have an onboard video (Intel HDMI) and Hitachi harddrive.  I am going to install XP, and if the problem exists in XP, definitely it's MB issue

UPDATE: I got another SG33G5, fresh installed the Vista, and guess what?? the HW interrupt is GONE, GONE, GONE!!!!!!!!

I am still using the shipped BIOS, not ready to upgrade yet.  maybe it's how I upgrade the BIOS?  Dunno... but it works!!!

UPDATE 2: Just updated BIOS and machine still works.  It looks like the first SG33G5 that I got was a bad one.

Yippie!!!!

[Intuit]

Most people would've kept using the old one and just blamed the slow performance on Vista.
The next repair tech to look at it will probably send it out "refurbished" with a NPF sticker.

.
Good work.

http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/forums/viewpost/867410/

By the way, you can also right-click the SYSTEM process, select properties and sort the Threads column by Context-Switches.  If it's a software driver that's causing the issue like a block of wood in water it'll rise to the top.  

That's one thing I notice when I replaced my motherboard's capacitors was a reduced number of IRQs & DPCs generated.  From a consistent 8% down to barely 1.72% every couple of seconds.  Your motherboard if at fault, likely had a different issue though.

[Reflex]

Well, at least I don't feel like my information was completely worthless.  Bad board there.  Good work tracking it down and sticking with it, Gameson.

[VorLonUK]

Well, at least I don't feel like my information was completely worthless.  Bad board there.  Good work tracking it down and sticking with it, Gameson.

It was good info Reflex. I think that when SP1 gets launched many of Vista's annoying bits will disappear.