thomas@nordichardware.com 0 Posted January 22, 2001 Is there any way to disable the idle process in Win2k? I have a AMD Duron, and everyone knows that programs like CPUIdle and so on doesn't work on Durons, so i guess the process in win2k doesn't either, as my idle temp lies around 44C, and my full-load temp is 46C. Can i disable it? And one more thing, is it possible to KILL processes? "setup.exe" is running right now, and i can't shut it down. Help would be highly appreciated. ------------------ //Thomas [This message has been edited by thomas@nordichardware.com (edited 22 January 2001).] Share this post Link to post
jaywallen 0 Posted January 22, 2001 Hi, Thomas. The "System Idle Process" in W2K isn't the same as a third party utility, and I doubt that it's a source of any trouble on your system. I also believe that it would be a "bad thing" to shut it down. I think it keeps track of available CPU cycles for the other processes. There should be one system idle process for each CPU in the system. I looks like you have another problem though. If you have a "setup.exe" running all the time that might mean that an installation process has failed to complete. That is something that needs to be taken care of right away because it a) may be contributing to your idle temp issue (What does the CPU column show beside setup.exe and beside System Idle Process?), and it will probably interfere with or prevent future software installations. It is probably not enough to kill it now because it will probably be restarted the next time you boot the system. Did you just install something? If you crank up REGEDT32.EXE and look in these keys HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Runonce do you see any entries. There should be none, unless you have the remainder of an installation pending. Have you seen any error messages about a failed or incomplete install? Regards, Jim Share this post Link to post
thomas@nordichardware.com 0 Posted January 22, 2001 No, no, no. I'm not some kind of amateur. I fixed the setup.exe problem, with "Process viewer" that I got with Visual Studio 6. And no, it doesn't start every time i restart. I still think the idle process is baad. It might be needed, but I'm sure that it is making the processor warmer instead of colder. If you run a program like rain/CPUIdle on a AMD Athlon/duron processor, it'll make the processor work even harder, because the processor don't know "what to do" when it recieve the instructions. My idle temp is ~44C, that with a super orb, a ystech 60mm fan on top of it (the 2nd Orb-fan's removed) and a 38cm fan blowing into the computer. Another guy had 29C as idle temp, that with a Thunderbird 1.1 GHz. But, I'm afraid that it's the silicon paste that's "destroying". If I have a layer not small enough, it make things worse instead of better... Share this post Link to post
clutch 1 Posted January 22, 2001 Well, I don't believe that the idle process is a function that "controls" idle time, but rather monitors it. The other programs you are referring to control the idle time. Like jay stated, it would be a "bad thing" to remove that function (assuming you could, which I don't think would yield any benefit anyway). What is the case temp? How about the ambient (room) temp? Do you have decent circulation? I can see that you have air blowing in, but what about evacuation of that air? Most power supplies blow in from the outside, you may want to check on how yours in configured. ------------------ Regards, clutch Share this post Link to post
clutch 1 Posted January 22, 2001 Here is a clearer explanation taken from this link: http://www.microsoft.com/TechNet/winnt/perform.asp Processor : % Processor Time. This counter provides a measure of how much time the processor actually spends working on productive threads and how often it was busy servicing requests. This counter actually provides a measurement of how often the system is doing nothing subtracted from 100%. This is a simpler calculation for the processor to make. The processor can never be sitting idle waiting to the next task, unlike our cashier. The CPU must always have something to do. It's like when you turn on the computer, the CPU is a piece of wire that electric current is always running through, thus it must always be doing something. NT give the CPU something to do when there is nothing else waiting in the queue. This is called the idle thread. The system can easily measure how often the idle thread is running as opposed to having to tally the run time of each of the other process threads. Then , the counter simply subtracts the percentage from 100%. ------------------ Regards, clutch Share this post Link to post
thomas@nordichardware.com 0 Posted January 22, 2001 I don't know about the cooling, but my P/S fan blow out of the case. I thought that the idle process was "cooling" the processor, I've heard many ppl say that. Damn, I want to know why the temp is so high. Anyway, win2k is the most stable OS I've ever had, I didn't like linux, of course because of the app support. None of the programs that I like to use "is there". If you're talking swedish, visit our newstarted site at www.nordichardware.com ! ------------------ //Thomas AMD Duron 750@1000 Asus A7V BIOS 1005A CL Geforce 256 @155,195 IBM 34GXP 20.5 GB 7200 rpm + 8.4 GB HDs Share this post Link to post
thomas@nordichardware.com 0 Posted January 22, 2001 Waaait a minute...The page you got that from says nothing about the idle process. That information explains what the "Processor Time" is in the performance-thing. Share this post Link to post
CUViper 0 Posted January 22, 2001 yes it does.... did you read it? here's the pertinent part separated more clearly... Quote: <font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">The CPU must always have something to do. It's like when you turn on the computer, the CPU is a piece of wire that electric current is always running through, thus it must always be doing something. NT give the CPU something to do when there is nothing else waiting in the queue. This is called the idle thread.</font> Share this post Link to post
clutch 1 Posted January 23, 2001 Must have missed that, eh? ------------------ Regards, clutch Share this post Link to post
thomas@nordichardware.com 0 Posted January 23, 2001 What about 98 then? If that info is correct, doesn't that mean that the CPU should be cooler using 98? Share this post Link to post
CUViper 0 Posted January 23, 2001 no, 98 has to have an idle process as well.... Share this post Link to post
clutch 1 Posted January 23, 2001 The idle process is simple math to tie up the processor while it's bored. That's all. Nothing more. The problem you are having isn't related to the OS. I have had Win98SE, WinNT4, and Win2K on the same PC running MBM. All reported the same temp within a degree or two (around 25C at idle and 40C at full load) on a Socket P3 800. Dig in to the article, and try to look at the forest for the trees... ------------------ Regards, clutch Share this post Link to post
