Service CxUtilSvc.exe running and making fans go crazy

The Pool Man · 26 Feb 2021

Hello Everybody,

About a month ago I did a fresh install of Windows 10 on my 1.7 year old Lenovo Flex. All software is current. But the other day (once) I noticed my otherwise quiet fan spinning loud. TaskManager offered CxUtilSvc.exe as the source. I stopped the process (at that time) and that fan action hasn't come back. Even though I see the process is there in TM.

I checked it against Defender and Malwarebytes and they were kosher. I did some web searching and those notorious sites are all "Download this to remove it."

CxUtilSvc.exe Windows process - What is it?

Hmm.

So I guess I need to know a site that is trustworthy on if I should remove it or leave is there?

Ghot · 26 Feb 2021

@The Pool Man

I would use the tutorial for backing up drivers, then get rid of it, and see what happens.
Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 10

If you look at the problems with 20H2, you'll see that a few of them revolve around the Conexant drivers.
Known and Resolved issues for Windows 10 version 20H2

I would check Task Scheduler too.

/edit
What does Device Manager say under: Sound, video and game controllers?

Service CxUtilSvc.exe running and making fans go crazy-image1.png

My point is... if you don't NEED the Conexant driver... get rid of it. See if that solves the problem.
But backup the Conexant driver first, ofc.

Jacee · 26 Feb 2021

@The Pool Man
Please read this and see if it applies to your system: What is CxUtilSvc.exe? Is it Safe or a Virus? How to remove or fix it

The Pool Man · 26 Feb 2021

Thanks all. There's a martini in my future and so I'll be all over this tomorrow.

So far it's still inconclusive.

The Pool Man · 11 Mar 2021

So I considered the above and it was all head-scratching. The process rarely comes on but I caught it yesterday. What bothers me is that that process runs wild until you touch the touchpad or key and then it backs off. As if attempting to hide.

So I deployed the blunt force technique. Task Manager said this app lives here and I removed it. I'll check to see if it's come back.

pepanee · 12 Mar 2021

I found: "Conexant High Definition SmartAudio" online

From the picture above, can you list the names of the items listed under "Sound, video and game controllers" please?
I may want to mention that you can try to disable it temporarily, assuming that it's an additional sound card device that you may not need, and see if your sounds work. If not, then we can reinstall it using what Windows Update can find for it.