ekrn.exe High CPU Usage

[michael83815]

ekrn.exe is sucking the guts out of my CPU. I have Intel core duo and its runs 53% constantly.:thumbd:

[Marcos]

Check the last scanned file as well as the number of scanned files in the statistics window. If the same file is scanned continually, you can exclude it from scanning.

[michael83815]

-{ Quote: "Check the last scanned file as well as the number of scanned files in the statistics window. If the same file is scanned continually, you can exclude it from scanning." }-

Thanks, I'll Re-install and give it a try.

[michael83815]

Marco,

Where do I check the last scanned file?

[Marcos]

Under Protection status -> Statistics

[trjam]

-{ Quote: "ekrn.exe is sucking the guts out of my CPU. I have Intel core duo and its runs 53% constantly.:thumbd:" }-
I have it on a laptop now for its second day and it is humming like a bird. I feel for you but Marcos will figure where the issue lies. I am totally impressed with this beta, dont mind my avatar, it changes colors like the horse in the Wizard of Oz.;)

[Motherroad]

Running fine here also on XP home. The web scanner seems a lot faster.

[michael83815]

I have checked out what you said Marco and it is not stuck on a file. So I'm un-installing and going back.

[michael83815]

Macro,

After Christmas I can Install and create a screen video of the problem if that helps at all.

[Rmuffler]

Hello michael83815,

Do you have any backup software running?

Thank you,
Richard

[michael83815]

-{ Quote: "Hello michael83815,

Do you have any backup software running?

Thank you,
Richard" }-

I don't have any scheduled backup software. But I use Paragon Drive Backup.

[Marcos]

Can you confirm or deny that temporarily disabling real-time protection makes a difference?

[michael83815]

-{ Quote: "Can you confirm or deny that temporarily disabling real-time protection makes a difference?" }-

It makes no difference. I have tried disabling Firewall, RealTime, Antivirus and none of them change the CPU usage.

[michael83815]

I disabled startup scan and rebooted and then went to statistics and it is still scanning files is this normal?

[Marcos]

-{ Quote: "I disabled startup scan and rebooted and then went to statistics and it is still scanning files is this normal?" }-

That means the real-time protection driver is registered in the system, but the kernel may not be actually scanning files (ie. if you accessed the test file eicar.com you wouldn't be alerted by real-time protection).

Just out of curiosity, are you having an email client open when cpu usage spikes up? Maybe a log from SysInspector from the moment when the cpu spike occurs would shed more light.

[michael83815]

-{ Quote: "That means the real-time protection driver is registered in the system, but the kernel may not be actually scanning files (ie. if you accessed the test file eicar.com you wouldn't be alerted by real-time protection).

Just out of curiosity, are you having an email client open when cpu usage spikes up? Maybe a log from SysInspector from the moment when the cpu spike occurs would shed more light." }-

here is the file: sysint.zip

[michael83815]

How do I send the files to you they are zip files.....

[dorgane]

put here :
http://cijoint.fr/

or here :
http://dl.free.fr/

[nodyforever]

Hello,

1 image EAV 4.2

2 image ESS 4.2

[nodyforever]

ekrn.exe constantly 50% CPU usage scan animate eye to upgrade normal signatures for pre release update. Consuming 50MB RAM

default definitions + interactive mode firewall + unchecked integrated mail, context menu, user interface elements and effects and system updates.


Note: iThe scan is interrupted only if you restart the computer if you do not continue to do the scan tirelessly.


Normality functionality view link: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1595617&postcount=19

[michael83815]

After troubleshooting, the bitlocker driver seems to be the cause after disabling it my cpu returned to normal.

I thought Win 7 pro did not have bitlocker.

[gisuck]

i think the enterprise version of windows 7 comes with bitlocker...

technically all versions have the bitlocker driver, it is just not available to you to use unless you upgrade to enterprise or ultimate edition.

[gisuck]

I have left a feedback email to the beta team about ekrn's high cpu usage on the "Start up scan" for my netbook freezing the computer for about 2 minutes. once the startup scan is completed, the netbook flies faster than when the 60 day trial of norton internet security 2009 was installed.

i think that this could be fixed if there was some type of cpu limiting feature when scanning (system or start up) the will prevent eset from stealing all of the computers resources... while this may not be an ideal solution, it should not be of concern as the real time scanner should pick up any harmful virii that the user executes.

[Marcos]

-{ Quote: "I have left a feedback email to the beta team about ekrn's high cpu usage on the "Start up scan" for my netbook freezing the computer for about 2 minutes. once the startup scan is completed, the netbook flies faster than when the 60 day trial of norton internet security 2009 was installed." }-

The startup scan is run with the lowest priority, however, if you're experiencing slowdown and don't want to disable the startup scan tasks completely, try editing the task and in the last setup screen change the priority from "lowest" to "when idle".

[michael83815]

Well like I said I disabled the bitlocker service and my problem went away. I think I have bit locker because I upgraded from Vista Ultimate.

[gisuck]

-{ Quote: "The startup scan is run with the lowest priority, however, if you're experiencing slowdown and don't want to disable the startup scan tasks completely, try editing the task and in the last setup screen change the priority from "lowest" to "when idle"." }-

this made a HUGE difference... the computer doesn't choke on start up or waking up from sleeping. Thanks =)

[Stealth111]

I will tell you this for sure. I have it installed on my 2 systems (1 XP sp3 32 bit, 1 Win7 32bit) that I use every day, and I DO notice a problem. I am seeing ekrn.exe running at 35-50% on both systems, but HERE is what I am definitely seeing that is not right...The animated eye down by the clock is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS stuck at "Startup scan in process" even though I have NOT restarted the machine for over a week. I know that it does this scan after a signature update as well, but it seems to never STOP AT ALL EVER!!! It does not seem to hung on any particular file either. The last file scanned does change as I watch it in statistics window every now and then. It is on sessionstore.js (Mozilla Firefox) right now, but again that changes during system activity...

[Donald®]

-{ Quote: "ekrn.exe constantly 50% CPU usage scan animate eye to upgrade normal signatures for pre release update.

Note: iThe scan is interrupted only if you restart the computer if you do not continue to do the scan tirelessly.
[/url]" }-
Same problem here, I don't want my notebook setting fire, returning to good and stable 4.0 version. :thumb:

[Motherroad]

I am getting the error message that ekrn.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. Currently running ESS Beta with DefenseWall and AntiLogger. Any ideas on a fix? This is on XP SP3. Thanks.

[ronjor]

Take a look in the XP event Viewer and see if any apps are showing up as having a problem.

[JackSun]

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit and Eset smart security 4.2 Beta.

I installed the beta so that I could use the Anti Spam feature with Mozilla Thunderbird 3. This works fine but I have a problem with high CPU usage under certain circumstances.

I have setup a scheduled in depth scan for once a week at 03:00 am and I have ticked the box to wait for next scheduled time to scan if it misses one for any reason.

This worked fine for a few weeks but now it starts up a scan at random times. I often realise it is scanning as the PC performance drops noticeably. If I check Eset, it is running an in depth scan which I can stop, but this then leaves the ekern.exe using 50% of the CPU time. They only way I can get it back is to reboot the PC or terminate the eset process.

How can I stop the scan from running at unscheduled times and why doesn't it stop using CPU time once I have cancelled it.

N.B. None of my drives are setup to use Bitlocker.

[TuutTuutTuut]

I've had a similar problem. This occured when using the regular 4.0 version. I had the problem that Windows (XP SP3) did not recognize ESS anymore. Windows claimed my computer was unprotected. I got the advise to delete the contents in the c:\windows\sytem32\wbem\repository\ folder. I first had to stop a service before deleting the files. Windows would rebuild the repository then after a reboot. It didn't and ekrn.exe would continuously use 25% (quad core)

At first I couldn't resolve that problem and considered reinstalling windws. In the end changing an environmental variable, a path statement, which had somehow gotten corrupted solved my problem. Luckily I didn't have to reinstall windows. :D