CPU Goes to 100% when running WMP or VLC

[Shadow Rider]

I'm not sure if this is due to a recent RAM upgrade (computer seemed to run ok after I increased my Dell E1505 notebook from 1GB Ram PC-4300 to 3GB PC2-6400, even though the computer maxes out at PC2-5300). But now when I watch videos on VLC player or WMP the computer Core Duo processor may go up to 100% for an extended amount of time so that the computer runs extremely slowly, this didn't happen before.

Unfortunately I was dumb enough to throw away my old RAM after seeing good speed on the comp for two days.

I might have installed a few programs after the ram change like Photoshop CS5, Pidgin 2.7 (which I removed). Does anyone have a guess as to the root cause of this problem?

All of the RAM is recognized by the system (Even though the Crucial scan says that the comp can support only 2x1GB)

 

[Fat.Clown]

if you swapped out the RAM, have you tried running memtest86? to test your RAM.

 

[farinha]

On the processes tab which process is using most of the cpu?

 

[Lexluethar]

That is a lot of spikes - i would see what is eating up CPU usage. I don't know what all your doing but 1.7 gb of used RAM isn't horrible if you are doing stuff - i've be more worried about the CPU spikes.

Run memtest to ensure you have good RAM.
Check the task manager to see what process is spiking.
Kill that process if it isn't necessary.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Are you watching HD videos?

 

[Shadow Rider]

No just regular videos. Actually before the ram upgrade HD videos would go really slowly after awhile, whereas they're now much smoother. This is an image of what the cpu actually does once it starts hitting 100% usage. I'm considering doing a fresh install to see if that'll help, it's just a lot of hassle if its only a minor software problem somewhere, especially if it turns out that it doesn't work.

farinha: On the process its usually one of the browser's that's using the most CPU, so if I turn that off everything works ok. Looking at your folding tagI remember installing folding@home right after the RAM upgrade, but removed it after a few hours, could the residual of that that be one of the issues affecting this old laptop?

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Doubtful that f@h would be causing this problem.
How many tabs do you usually have open on your browser?

 

[farinha]

If you're on facebook or other pages that is always refreshing then it will use processor cycles but I doubt it't that much...

Doubt it is f@h, if it was it would show on task manager under the processes tab.

 

[Shadow Rider]

Doubtful that f@h would be causing this problem.
How many tabs do you usually have open on your browser?

Maybe 10 per browser, Opera+FF. But it used to be that this wasn't a problem I think.

 

[remixedcat]

do you have flashblock? a flash ad might be doing that to your processor. I use flashblock. ads can use up to 50% of my processor. the most cpu usage wmp ever had was 24 that's when I did the syncing to my sansa fuze and it was doing its encoding process.