Ntoskrnl.exe (System) randomly stuck at 99% cpu on one CPU core


  1. Posts : 194
    Windows 10
       #1

    Ntoskrnl.exe (System) randomly stuck at 99% cpu on one CPU core


    Hello,

    I have the following issue on my laptop, a Dell XPS 15 9570, all latest drivers and bios, latest Windows 10 1903, that randomly, maybe once per week or less, Ntoskrnl.exe (System) randomly gets stuck at 99% cpu on one core, and stays until I reboot Windows. The 99% load on one core gets shifted all the time by Windows over all cores of the CPU, maybe each 1-2 seconds it gets shifted to another core.

    Is there any way how to find out, why this happens? I am not sure if this is just since 1903 or was already happening under 1803.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 14,901
    Windows 10 Pro
       #2

    Try ProcMon to get a better idea of what's really going on when it happens.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 194
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    axe0 said:
    Try ProcMon to get a better idea of what's really going on when it happens.
    It just happened again on my laptop, and I used Process Explorer to identify what it is, it said it was "ntoskrnl.exe psreturnprocessnonpagedpoolquota". It seemed to happen randomly after waking up from modern standby.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Pro 1909
       #4

    I've been experiencing this for the last few months also. I've found that putting the system to sleep/hibernate briefly and then waking back up clears the situation for a while. I've tried all the other disabling USB, re-installing drivers, checking malware, etc. System process (PID#4) always beating away at psreturnprocessnonpagedpoolquota - samed fixed offset (via Process Explorer 'Threads' tab.)
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 194
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    ripwit2 said:
    I've been experiencing this for the last few months also. I've found that putting the system to sleep/hibernate briefly and then waking back up clears the situation for a while. I've tried all the other disabling USB, re-installing drivers, checking malware, etc. System process (PID#4) always beating away at psreturnprocessnonpagedpoolquota - samed fixed offset (via Process Explorer 'Threads' tab.)
    Yepp. The problem still exists in 1909 and randomly happens on my laptop. I cant figure out why or whats triggering it. It seems to be a nasty but in the Windows 10 kernel.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Pro 1909
       #6

    Found a potential solution - Windows MemoryDiagnostic RunFullMemoryDia


    gorgor said:
    Yepp. The problem still exists in 1909 and randomly happens on my laptop. I cant figure out why or whats triggering it. It seems to be a nasty but in the Windows 10 kernel.
    The first answer from: What is the cause of a high CPU usage of 'system and compressed memory' in Windows 10? - Super User appears to work for me.

    When looking at the Task Scheduler the "RunFullMemoryDiagnostic" task was running while one CPU was being pegged (1 of 8 on a 4-core). I ended that task and the CPU dropped back to near zero.

    I'm going to let it start up again to verify and then look at perhaps changing some of the triggers in the ProcessMemoryDiagnosticEvents task.

    These triggers are:
    - Log: Application, Source Applicatoin Error
    - Log: System, Source Application Popup
    - Log: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-StoreMgr/Operation

    I'm not sure why these would trigger a memory test but perhaps it's a way to clear memory after a faulting process. Since I have 64GB with usually 16-30GB not used, it could be this takes a long time.




    Whew!
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 194
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #7

    @ripwit2 Thank you so much for this, you seem to be right about everything you said in your last post... if you wait long enough, the 99% usage on one core goes away, but it takes very long time, for me around 30 minutes or more. So this is a memory diagnostic scan Windows 10 does, triggered by some crash... totally bad design and programmed by MS.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 194
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Just happened again right now and it is indeed the memory diagnostics:

    https://i.imgur.com/g9z2uAv.png

    Wonder why it happens, I dont see a crash of an app under logs.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Pro 1909
       #9

    gorgor said:
    Just happened again right now and it is indeed the memory diagnostics:

    https://i.imgur.com/g9z2uAv.png

    Wonder why it happens, I dont see a crash of an app under logs.
    I didn't really check to see what caused this but, for me, there has been no recurrence of the cpu pegging. Guess it's just another Windows bug....
      My Computer


 

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