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Because the computer (ACER Aspire V5-122P) was running slow and was quite messy, I reinstalled Windows 10 and installed all the updates recommended. I also installed Avast and MalwareBytes.

It is still running slow and I can see it is because of the infamous 'system and compressed memory'. As suggested by magicandre1981 in a related post, I downloaded the Windows 10 SDK and used the WPR to create a file which I tried to analyze using WPA. I read a bit about it but I end up with unknown processes. As my experience is very new and superficial I was wondering whether it is indeed possible to find the name of the process. This is my only computer and I need it to work so I am desperate to try anything.

More details: I looked Computation>CPU Usage (Precise) and then proceeded to find the thread and process with the highest %CPU usage but there is no process name.

I provided the file so you can see for yourselves.

EDIT:

1) I created a new trace and the CPU sampling data is also missing after the start.

2) I have noticed that the "system and compressed memory" process is oscillating very regularly.

3) No high CPU usage of this process happens when I am in Safe Mode.

Another .etl file using the command line this time.

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Julian Wittische
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  • You haven't really quantified what is 'slow.' Judging from the stock specs of this machine, I'm not surprised at this (AMD cpu w/ slow clock rate and small cache, 5400 rpm drive, 4 gb ram); this is more like a tablet then a real laptop. Sorry that this doesn't answer your real question. – Hefewe1zen Jul 19 '16 at 11:04
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    capture a new trace. The CPU sampling data are missing for a unknown reason for most of the time. I only see some at the start of the trace. – magicandre1981 Jul 19 '16 at 16:25
  • I created a new trace and the CPU sampling data is missing again. Did I forget a step to do before the recording? – Julian Wittische Jul 19 '16 at 21:23
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    don't use WPRUI from WPT, run the commandline version which is part of Windows 10: **"C:\Windows\system32\wpr.exe" -start CPU && timeout 30 && "C:\Windows\system32\wpr.exe" -stop C:\Result.etl**. Now look if it includes the CPU sampling data – magicandre1981 Jul 20 '16 at 04:34
  • It includes it but it stops too. File in the edits. We can see that the guilty process oscillates a lot and that the thread ID is 532 (can you confirm please?). But I still have no idea what to do. – Julian Wittische Jul 20 '16 at 05:18
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    I don't have the permission to download it – magicandre1981 Jul 20 '16 at 07:55
  • I am very sorry, I fixed it. – Julian Wittische Jul 20 '16 at 21:59
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    I got the file via the email request – magicandre1981 Jul 21 '16 at 04:34

1 Answers1

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Analyzing the ETL with WPA shows that the cpu usage comes from the AMD/ATI GPU driver atikmdag.sys:

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Your driver version is "8.01.01.1533", This looks like the older Catalyst 15.8. Try the latest driver from AMD.

magicandre1981
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  • I did that and now I have a black screen after boot. I did a system restore and it solved the black screen. I tried installing only what I needed, unchecking several unrelated drivers but it did not work. Now my plan is to actually try an earlier version of catalyst. What do you think? – Julian Wittische Jul 21 '16 at 00:39
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    yes, try other AMD drivers until you found a driver that works and no longer shows the atikmdag.sys usage – magicandre1981 Jul 21 '16 at 04:33
  • have you found a working driver? – magicandre1981 Jul 23 '16 at 08:03
  • I tried 5 different drivers. Black screen or high CPU usage every single time. I will try more as soon as I have time. I have had to create a partition and dual-boot to be able to work on my computer. – Julian Wittische Jul 25 '16 at 22:46
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    ask this AMD in their forums if they have plans to fix this issue – magicandre1981 Aug 06 '16 at 07:31