aspire v5-122p cpu is always at 99%, memory is sometimes at 100%..so frustrating!

I am BEYOND frustrated with this laptop. I have had it sent for repair/troubleshooting TWICE now. It has been super slow since the day I got it. Should have just returned it while I could...

Anyway, the CPU is constantly at 99%, even with nothing running. Sometimes, it starts up and apps will run okay (with just internet being really slow). But mostly, it is just altogether too slow to do anything on. Have reset to factory settings several times as well, so trust me, that does nothing. Took off McAfee as someone reccommended. Checked all the startup prgrams and have nothing unneccesary.

I also have trouble with updates. They just load and load and won't install. Sometimes, it will say it failed for an "unknown reason" (it literally told me that once!). Other times, the computer just freezes. Or it is slow to even install one little update and just gets stuck in one place. No extra stuff on there, no viruses. I can't figure out why the cpu and memory are always so high. What is the ideal numbers? Any ideas as to what is causing this? My warranty ended the beginning of this month, so ACER won't help me anymore (even though they kept assuring me nothing was wrong)... Help Smiley Sad

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Blayn-Acer

After you restore to factory settings, does the speed improve any, even if for just a short time? I want to look into why you are still having problems after repair. Can you please send me a private message with your name, phone number, and serial number, so I can investigate further.

chriswaine

This is the worst laptop i have ever seen and is not fit for purpose.

It comes with 4GB RAM, which is not enough.

I have upgraded to Windows 10. Added more RAM at my expense to 8GB.

Now i'm batlling with 100% CPU and a virtually unusable laptop.

It should be withdrawn from the market and anyone who bought one replaced free of charge with a laptop that can actual be used. I cannot even type on it because of its lack of available.

Its been sat unused for about a year because it was so rubbish but i decided to try and fix it but after two days of trying to get it to work its still just a waste of time.

aferraro21

It is not Windows 10, and it is not any hardware on your machine that is underperforming causing high CPU usage. In most cases when working on other people's computers who have had similar issues upgrading to Windows 10, I recommend going into advanced power settings, and setting the minimum threshold for CPU usage to 2% on both plugged in and on battery. Then set the max threshold to 98% on both plugged in and on battery. Restart the computer and see if that made a difference.

If that didn't fix the issue move onto this registry modification for memory management. Seems to also help on machines that were upgraded from older versions of Windows.

Step 1. Hit Windows Key + R Type in Regedit and then hit Enter.

Step 2. Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management in the editor.

Step 3. Find ClearPageFileAtShutDown and change its value to 1.

Step 4. Restart the computer.

Last step is to go into the task manager and identify the program that is sucking all of your CPU resources. That can be done by right clicking on the start menu bar, then clicking into the tab that allows you to see applications running in the background. I recommend clicking into the startup section and disabling applications that do not need to run upon startup. I also recommend going into the control panel, and disabling unnecessary processes from the task scheduler tool and services tool all within "administrative tools."

My personal computer is an Aspire 5532 which is over 7 years old. I run it with a SSD, 8gb of ram, and upgraded the CPU to a dual core Turion TL-66 processor. I've modified the background services to only run the ones I've determined are necessary for the experience I want out of Windows 10, and it is FAST. I know exactly what you are going through, and once you find the culprit it should resolve the issue you are having.

Worst case scenario, your machine may be infected with a virus or malware, which you will be able to tell when opening the task manager, identifiying the process absorbing large amounts of CPU processing, right clicking that process, clicking on the details tab, then discovering that process does not have a reputible creator/copyright. Sometimes those are often difficult to remove from a machine, as they get embedded deep within the OS, and even when their root files are deleted, they have installed sub-applications that reinstall themselves.

I'm certain the recommendations I've provided will help you to find more enjoyment out of your computer, and will hopefully resolve your issues. I'm running Windows 10 Professional that is very heavily customized with the background services that are bundled with the operating system. It was well worth learning how to customize it rather than just going out and buying a new machine for $600. Even my almost decade old 5532 still does everything I need it to and is enjoyable to use.

chriswaine

Thanks for the reply. I've already tried most of the suggestions you have made but there a few I haven't so I will try them and see how they go.
The laptop has been as bad from day one, it always ran with 100% cpu. It initially came with Windows 8.1 which had the issue. Windows 10 has been a complete fresh install so no virus / malware. All Acer drivers have been reinstalled. I have a HP laptop also and that's worked great from day one. The V-5 has been a nightmare from day one and I've spent hours trawling internet posts trying to find solutions but none have worked.

aferraro21

Another issue you might be running into is that I have found some Acer drivers, like my crystal eye web cam driver, to contain bloatware/spyware. I'm being careful not to call it a virus or malware, because the process running in the background was pretty easy to detect, and was using about 2-20% of my background resources. I disabled and deleted the application that was included after installing the 5532 driver from the Acer website.

With that said, the driver Windows 10 provided worked just fine for Skype, which is what I needed it for anyway.

I would recommended not using Acer drivers off their website, and allow Windows to find and install the drivers for you. If you go into the device manager (in control panel) and you notice a device is showing an error because of an incorrect driver, try right clicking on that device, removing it, and restarting the computer. Windows will prompt itself to search for the device driver in its database. You can have a lot more confidence knowing you are not including any software prebundled by Acer that could potentially be conflicting with the operating system itself. Which Acer does on almost all of their machines (other manufactures like Lenovo are notorious for doing this too... annoying if you ask me).

I wanted to make sure I pointed that out, good luck!

chriswaine

Thank you again. I have identified the process taking up a significant amount of cpu and it was a Windows process. I can't remember the process name but will check it tomorrow. Due to the laptop locking up I had to power off and now get the BSD every time I try to load Windows. So it looks like a re-installation of Windows again before I can try any of your suggestions.

aferraro21

Cool, if you can figure out the process that is taking up all of your memory, write that down, then search for solutions on how to fix or disable that process via a google search. Chances are someone else has had the same problem your having and has figures it out already. Then boot your computer through safe mode, it should allow you to make the fix you need without the computer running so slow that you want to run your head into the wall. If you can do those things I'm confident you can get that computer working correctly.

piotrek1

Hello, any progress?

I Have the very same model and very same problem. I was looking for help at the internet with no result. I've consulted my dealer, and they suggested to switch my power mode to "full performance".I've also consulted my computer specialist friend, and his conclusion after couple tries was that the CPU unit here is just very poor. And I've tried with the ACER customer service. They changed my hard drive, but nothing has happend.

I've also tried to install Ubuntu and other Linux OS, both were blocked by the computer.

I've reinstalled windows, updated Windows to 10, I've blocked most startup apps, I've tried switching off my AV, I've uninstalled plenty of pre-installed ACER/windows apps... and guess what? NOTHING HAPPENED. What is wrong with this computer? Like It was said before: it's virtually unusable.

aferraro21

Unfortunately, cpu resource issues in Windows, can really only be narrowed down by going through task manager and pinpointing the application or Windows process that is causing the glitch. There are some instances where disabling that application or process can only be done through rebooting the computer into safe mode because performance is so crippled.

I'll admit, Microsoft should have worked out these bugs, but they didn't, and every computer has different reasons things are happening even for the same issues. Wish I could replicate your issues but I can't.

Try using task manager to isolate the problem.

chriswaine

No none. Although I would class myself as a computer expert I do know my way around solving issues with them. It's not Windows, everyone would have the same issues if it was. It is the hardware that's at fault. Even with more RAM the AMD processor isn't up to the job. Otherwise known as not fit for purpose. By the lack of response from anyone from Acer on here I'm rapidly concluding that I've just bought an awful piece of rubbish that can't even run notepad! I'm going to have one last go but can't spend any more time on it.

piotrek1

Here are 3 screens with my resources monitor.

1: my basic programmes opened, including Firefox, Foobar, Flux and Avira. CPU usage line was jumping between 61% and 99% every second. Computer running really slow.

2: I've closed most applications, turned wi-fi off, disabled AV. Just left the photoshop (using just 0.22%!!!) . CPU use at 99/100%!!! Computer still slow.

3: forced closing of Foobar (apparently it was still running after normal exit) and Skype. Although it seems the computer was relieved (CPU around 33%) it was still not performing as it should. For example it takes more or less 2 seconds to open windows menu and another 1-2 seconds to type. Letters appear with a delay. There is some improvment after all.

I've re-opened Firefox and it's running a bit quicker than before. Yet, as I'm typing this some letters appear on the screen with delay.

99% cpu usage.jpg

99% cpu usage 2.jpg

99% cpu usage 3

Update: Both opening new Youtube tab in Firefox or opening Foobar 2000 (audio player) were causing instantly 99/100% CPU usage. It really bothers me, because it's basic and simple multimedia player. And I can't imagine not using youtube.

photoleia

I had this same issue with my Win 10 laptop and for WEEKS tried everything under the sun - every suggestion online PLYS a win 10 reinstall. I had always been told to never mess with the paging file for some reason, so the thought never entered my mind. In the end though I was at my wit's end. I found information for setting a custom paging file size and I did it. That, miracle of miracles was the thing that finally worked. Here is the info I used to do it. I carefully monitored the disk usage for almost a month to make sure it was finally fixed. The problem has not occurred again. http://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/13605-100-disk-usage-windows-10-help-2.html

photoleia

Please forgive typos. Not near computer at the moment. It is difficult to type this out on a phone keyboard that keeps hanging up.

Joshuablake48

Hopefully if your still dealing with this i can help...a couple of years ago i bought my wife a brand new acer aspire v5 122p.. I was happy to buy her what i thought was an awesome comp. for the price... I was wrong. Since the day she powered it on the cpu would maxed out and the system would lag super bad... Anyways here we are several years later and i think i finally fixed it.. Go to device manager then display adapters. Hopefully yours is the same but under display adapters mine said it was radeon something something. Double Click , select update driver, then browse computer for driver software. It will find a few drivers. In these results will say Microsoft basic display adapter. Choose this and let the computer do its thing. After its installed everything will be back to normal. Im really not sure what the display adapters actually do but i cannot tell a difference in appearance or anything but my computer cpu is at 14% as im typing lol. It constantly goes up and down from lets say 14% and will jump to 95% for a second then goes right back down but not enough to slow the system down... I can actually navigate from page to page with very little lag and can actually open chrome and watch YouTube!! Like i said hopefully your problem is the same and this will help you out. Ive searched and searched online and have tried everything but nothing made a difference... By the way i did update this computer from windows 8 to windows 10 awhile back and still running windows 10 so i dont know if this will help windows 8 but im sure it will.. Thanks for reading and let me know if this helps!

chriswaine

Thanks for this, after giving up for a few months I did actually have another go at this and made some minor improvements. I will try this tomorrow and see how it goes. Thanks for taking the time to post, I notice that nobody from Acer support offered any assistance!

photoleia

I hope that one of the solutions works for you! When I was looking online for solutions to my problem I noticed that no one thing worked for everyone. Something else that other people claimed fixed thier problem was going into Win10 "settings>system>notifications & actions" and turning "get notifications from apps and other senders" off. It didn't work for me, but a significant number of people on message boards seemed to say that this fixed their problems.

It is really frustrating so I hope that you can find the fix that works for your computer!

photoleia

Adding quickly that I skipped Win8 so I do not know if Win 8 has the same notification settings that Win10 has. That said, even if Win 8 doesn't, maybe it will give you some ideas for trouble shooting of your own. Best of luck.

angelohadjis

I BOUGHT 3 OF THESE.. ALL ARE SITTING UNUSED.

MY DAUGHTER BOUGHT A SIMILAR MODEL IN JAPAN WITHOUT THE TOUCH SCREEN AND IT WORKS VERY WELL. IS THERE ANY WAY WE CAN DOWNGRADE THEM TO WORK LIKE A REGULAR LAPTOP WITH BAREBONES FUNCTIONALITY SO THAT IT CAN BE USEABLE FOR SOMETHING MORE THAN A PAPER WEIGHT?

chriswaine

Unfortunately the thing is sat next to me and still doesn't work. It now doesn't even boot up and stupidly I sometimes get a second wind and try and sort it out but nothing works. I run my own IT company, I write software and I know how to solve computer issues but in this instance it's just a bad bit of kit. Didn't work out of the box properly and despite a fair bit of money and a lot of time it is still just a paper weight. I'm really disappointed that all of the suggestions and offers of assistance are from users and not Acer. I can only believe that they are aware of the problem and know that there is no solution. Never buying Acer again and never buying AMD again ????

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