How to Fix High CPU Usage Caused by System Interrupts

Hello, my computer’s CPU usage percentage always keeps high and I’ve noticed one process that is always active called “System Interrupts,” in this moment, it consumes on average 3.4% of CPU. I never know this kind of process. What exactly is this system interrupt? And is it necessary for Windows system? What can I do to reduce the percentage of usage of system resource?

What’s System Interrupts?

System Interrupts is also called “Interrupts” and “IRQs” which actually are operating system level processes. Interrupts are a form of communication between software and hardware with the CPU. For example, when you type on your keyboard, the hardware and software will respectively send interrupts to inform the CPU of the task at hand then respond to the task by doing necessary processing. On Wikipedia, it explains as below:

In system programming, an interrupt is a signal to the processor emitted by hardware or software indicating an event that needs immediate attention. An interrupt alerts the processor to a high-priority condition requiring the interruption of the current code the processor is executing. The processor responds by suspending its current activities, saving its state, and executing a function called an interrupt handler (or an interrupt service routine, ISR) to deal with the event. This interruption is temporary, and, after the interrupt handler finishes, the processor resumes normal activities.

System Interrupts

What will Cause High CPU usage of System Interrupts?

From the detailed explain, we can know that System Interrupts is a very important and necessary part of your core Windows system setup. Generally, if your PC is healthy, the system interrupts will take up between 0.1% and 3% of CPU usage on average. But it also depending on factors like CPU frequency, running software and hardware. If it’s up to 3% to 10%, it still can be in normal range depending on system setup. But if the CPU usage suddenly or always keeps in very high percentage like 20%, 30% even shoots through the roof, it means there is something wrong with communication between hardware and system CPU.

How to Identify the Problems?

To check what factor causes high CPU usage of System Interrupts, you should first check if there is something wrong with your hardware driver in correct and professional ways. You may need to update hardware driver depending on specific problems. But if you have found potential problems related to internal device, you can try to disable some device drivers to identify the culprit. Don’t do this for many devices at a time, and doing one by one is better. You need to check the CPU usage of system interrupts then right-click the device and select Enable before moving on to the next device. In general, network adapters, Internal modems, Internal sound devices, or any add-on cards, like a TV tuner card, ISDN or DSL adapters, or modems should be the potential culprits.

Here is the way to disable internal device: (for Windows 10) right click on Start Menu, select and open the Device Manager, then right-click the device causing the problem and select Disable.

device-manager

Conclusion

There are many various problems causing the high CPU usage of System Interrupts. To troubleshoot the issue is a tough work to check and also needs some expertise and skill to handle as any wrong operation may cause another new problem. So before you try to do that, please make sure if you can handle by yourself.

Warm suggestion: If you can’t handle to identify and fix the issue, here you’re strongly suggested to contact YooSecurity online technician for professional help!