This might not be the best place to be asking for help, but some of you know a lot more about computers than I do.

A few days back my internet died on me for no reason. It said it was connected, but refused to show any pages. I didn't even show the screen saying that there was no signal that my wireless usually does. So I assumed something was wrong with the internet connection and went to bed.

Ever since, my computer's been acting funny. It loads really slowly. But the frekiest thing of all is this:

http://www.kieranmillar.com/highcpu.png

Worst of all, it stays like this when the computer isn't even doing anything. I thought I might have a virus. A scan showed nothing. I hadn't installed anything new.

Then I manually turned off my wireless, and the problem went. So I turned it back on, and the cpu climbed back up and stayed high.

Does anybody have even the slightest clue just what the hell is happening here? Why would my wireless card be eating my CPU all the time?

No need to worry about System Idle Process, it's is alwase at high procentage like that. I think it shows how much of the CPU that is not beeing used.. So if your programs are using 5% of your CPU then System Idle Process will be at 95%. I don't know why they show it like that though, it scared me at first too.

Yeah I know that.

The problem is my System Idle Process is at about 90%. This SHOULD mean I'm only using 10% of my CPU. So why am I constantly using about 80%? The big problem is that my computer knows it's using the cpu, but as far as the processes screen goes, it's not doing anything.

When my computer is sitting there with no programs running, the CPU usage shouldn't be hovering around the 80% mark. As soon as I turn the wireless off, it drops back to 0%, as it should be.

Tried reinstalling the drivers and/or tools of your WLAN device?

I've seen wireless programs eat all the CPU before. Reinstalling does sound like the best option.

I completely uninstalled my wireless and then installed it again. That's fixed it.

Thanks. Seems odd as to why it happened in the first place though.

I hate internet connection software, it always seems to cause trouble.

Also, it doesn't appear to be properly fixed, as long as I turn it off before I turn off my computer so it's not on when my computer starts up, it's OK. It still attacks the cpu occasionally, but only in short intervals. It's really wierd.

I hate internet connection software, it always seems to cause trouble.

Same.

Melon, is it just drivers or drivers and their software? I've found that generally XP's built in wireless stuff is much more reliable than some of the strange software various companies come up with.

At the moment it's just the default windows.

Re-installing the drivers helped a great deal, but it still occasionally eats up some CPU. If I sit there with the computer doing nothing, it occasionally raises back up to 80% for a while and then settles down again a bit later.
It's really strange, and it seems that turning on the computer with it disabled helps immensly.

I just have no idea why it's started doing this.

Also, the drivers of the chip manufacturer are often better than the ones of the producer of the product.

It appears I've managed to solve this problem completely now by...

...turning the laptop.

Yes really. It now faces in a slightly different direction.
I've got a corner desk, and it was facing the corner, now it faces the wall a bit. I can see my CPU use plummet when I turn my laptop, and rise back up again when I face it into the corner.

How wierd.

Some electronic thing somewhere is screwing with you, probably.