CPU continualy running

Hi,
I am new here, my problem is that my CPU is running between 60-80% even when the computer is sitting doing nothing, when I try to do something the CPU goes up to 100% busy and then the computer restarts itself. I think it is the mobo not bringing the cpu to idle speed when nothing is happening, has anyone else seen this problem and am I on the right track or is it the CPU. Hardware specs are mobo - gigabyte K8NSC-939, Athlon 64 3000+, 1 gig ram, 80gig SATA drive, GeForce MX 4000gpu.
Can someone let me know if what I am thinking is correct, and will a new mobo fix the problem or is their a more serious problem
Thanks in advance for any help

Hi sirray14 and welcome to Dev Shed.

What process is eating the CPU power ? If you go into your task manager and look in the processes tab, you should be able to see what one is using the most.

This could be the sign of an infected system though and not a hardware issue. When did you last run a thorough anti-virus scan ?

Thanks for the reply, the hdd has just been formatted and there is absolutely nothing else on except win xp, hasn't been hooked up to the net, no programs or anything installed, just os

well what process? and if you say its never been connected to the net then that may be your problem, connect it and run windows update and get everything updated including the drivers

I appreciate your reply's but this problem was happening before I cleared the hdd, the system was hooked up to the net and was fully updated,because of this problem I formatted the hdd thinking perhaps it was a viral infection which wasn't getting picked up or perhaps a spyware or malware program, but formatting the hdd has made no difference, I am not sure what my next step is, with just the os installed the cpu should not be processing at between 60 and 80% when it is doing nothing

ok, so then what process is using up your CPU?

Thanks, I will send a screenshot of my task manager later, you may be able to work out what is going on when you see it

Couldn't get a screen shot, processes that are running are
Exp.exe - cpu 0
Spoolsv.exe - cpu 0
svchost.exe - local service - cpu 0
svchost.exe - network service - cpu 0
svchost.exe - system - cpu l 0
svchost.exe - network service - cpu 0
svchost.exe - system - cpu 0
lsass.exe - cpu - 0
winlogon.exe - cpu - 0
smss.exe - cpu 0
wpabacn.exe - cpu - 0
svchost.exe - cpu 0
System - cpu load - 0
taskmanager.exe - cpu load - 09
system idle process - cpu 93-99
this is all that is running in task manager, I don,t think there is anything out of the ordinary, I can't slow the cpu at all, any suggestions anybody, had a look at msconfig, nothing out of the ordinary there.

There is nothing there that is eating the CPU. The system idle process should always be high if there isn't a process using the CPU. It basically gives the CPU something to do when it does not have any other processes scheduled. It runs at the lowest priority, and so will get cycles when nothing else is requesting CPU attention. So if you are not doing anything, then it is perfectly normal for it to have high CPU usage.

This could be something related to devices or device drivers. As edman007 suggested previously, try updating all your drivers to the latest versions.

Thanks for the reply, I will install all device drivers and see what happens. let you know if it makes a difference

Just curious if you were able to find out why your CPU is running at 100%? I have the exact same problem and have been able to find very little other than a bunch of technical geeks that don"t seem to get it. I've wiped my HDD numerous times, ran mlutiple virus/malware programs and still nothing. My only guess right now is that it may be a faulty CPU. Either a manufacturing defect or possibly overheating.

If you were able to fix the error please let me know the steps you took to correct the error.

What process is eating the CPU ?

It seems that the program that is active takes up a majority of the CPU. Here are some screenshots of the task manager.

URL

URL

Below is a shot of the system at "idle" the total CPU usage still at 32%
URL

Keep in mind that it was doing this before I wiped the hard drive and and immediatly after I re-installed Windows. I have since re-installed XP SP2 and the problem seems to be getting worse. System has moved to a crawl's pace and periodically hangs up. It should also be noted that the same thing occures in Safe Mode.