Surface 3 High CPU usage

[ElCamino78s]

Anyone else having or had high CPU usage on their Surface 3? It seems to always run a bit warm, now I know why. I looked at the task manager and the CPU usage is always around 40% to 60% without any programs open. This is after a reboot. Then when I open Edge browser or anything it is very sluggish.

Any ideas what some may have done if you had this issue with the Surface 3?

See attached Task Manager...

 

[bronsky]

I use IE11. Edge is not ready for prime time.

 

[GreyFox7]

Anyone else having or had high CPU usage on their Surface 3? It seems to always run a bit warm, now I know why. I looked at the task manager and the CPU usage is always around 40% to 60% without any programs open. This is after a reboot. Then when I open Edge browser or anything it is very sluggish.

Any ideas what some may have done if you had this issue with the Surface 3?

See attached Task Manager...

Yeah, that's Abby Normal

There are a lot of causes ... system interrupts can be anything that generates an interrupt. USB devices, display, audio, and micro SD cards, other system processes, delayed procedure calls.

If you have USB devices, disconnect them (one by one) then see if the system interrupts drops
Turn off Bluetooth.
Remove the micro SD card if you have one.
One at a time, In Device Manager uninstall the driver for Audio devices, wifi, USB, Display. they should automatically reinstall.
Temporarily turn of Cortana ...

If none of this yields any results you may need to Refresh/Reset it, or keep digging...

 

[bronsky]

My typical utilization is under 50%.

However, when the unit is indexing updates, my utilization rate can shoot up to 100% and temps hit levels that threaten to throttle (although it never has yet).

I have also experienced high utilization rates when connected to a host of BT devices and using the Wifi to transmit significant levels of data. But, normal operation is well below 50%.

As far as Edge is concerned, I don't use it. I prefer IE11.

 

[GreyFox7]

I let it idle for a minute....
This is what it should look like...
Note: Set the Update Speed to Low on the Task Manager View Menu Otherwise you get high Task Manager usage.

 

[jnjroach]

Anyone else having or had high CPU usage on their Surface 3? It seems to always run a bit warm, now I know why. I looked at the task manager and the CPU usage is always around 40% to 60% without any programs open. This is after a reboot. Then when I open Edge browser or anything it is very sluggish.

Any ideas what some may have done if you had this issue with the Surface 3?

See attached Task Manager...

Do you have music stored on a Micro SD card per chance? There were some S3 devices that were pushed out the wrong driver for the Sound Card that could cause the System Interrupt CPU usage you're experiencing. It was fixed in a subsequent Firmware Update. If you've applied all of the updates rolling back the driver or forcing an update for the driver typically fixes it.

 

[ElCamino78s]

Do you have music stored on a Micro SD card per chance? There were some S3 devices that were pushed out the wrong driver for the Sound Card that could cause the System Interrupt CPU usage you're experiencing. It was fixed in a subsequent Firmware Update. If you've applied all of the updates rolling back the driver or forcing an update for the driver typically fixes it.

I do have a SD card with documents, pictures and music. I also have all updates. So you are saying to roll back sound drivers and then install current ones? I have other Windows computers and none run so high. I don't think it ever goes below 30% and always is warm. I have a Surface Book and when in idle, it runs basically 0% - 3%. Also use a Surface Pro 3 for work and never see such high usage, of course if I am working on a lot of programs it does.

 

[ElCamino78s]

I let it idle for a minute....
This is what it should look like...
Note: Set the Update Speed to Low on the Task Manager View Menu Otherwise you get high Task Manager usage.
View attachment 7590

My Surface 3 doesn't go that low even letting sit idle. I will set the view on task manager to low and see my results.

 

[ElCamino78s]

Yeah, that's Abby Normal

There are a lot of causes ... system interrupts can be anything that generates an interrupt. USB devices, display, audio, and micro SD cards, other system processes, delayed procedure calls.

If you have USB devices, disconnect them (one by one) then see if the system interrupts drops
Turn off Bluetooth.
Remove the micro SD card if you have one.
One at a time, In Device Manager uninstall the driver for Audio devices, wifi, USB, Display. they should automatically reinstall.
Temporarily turn of Cortana ...

If none of this yields any results you may need to Refresh/Reset it, or keep digging...

I will remove the SD card and see what the results are. I use the SD card for storing all documents, pictures and music. Also will uninstall per your recommendation and reinstall drivers. Thanks.

 

[jnjroach]

I do have a SD card with documents, pictures and music. I also have all updates. So you are saying to roll back sound drivers and then install current ones? I have other Windows computers and none run so high. I don't think it ever goes below 30% and always is warm. I have a Surface Book and when in idle, it runs basically 0% - 3%. Also use a Surface Pro 3 for work and never see such high usage, of course if I am working on a lot of programs it does.

Correct, Uninstall from Device Manager(delete the drivers) reboot and then run Windows Update.

 

[Phoenix73]

I know this is an old thread BUT, I found a fix for my Sp3 that may work for the high cpu usage on many surface devices.
Go to control Panel, sound and click the recording tab. Right click in the blank part of the devices box and tick the 2 check boxes,
"show disabled devices" and "show disconnected devices" Then if you see a device called "Stereo mix" by realtek, enable it.
I have had this issue on my sp3 since new 2 years ago and only just found this today. I have restarted and shut down and cold start and put to sleep and woke it up 10 times on each and my cpu after cold start is only 3% max at idle now instead of 25 to 40%.
I really hope this helps anyone, I know it has been a long standing issue for many.