Hi,
Please run Dell diagnostics to check the hard drive functionality:
1. Turn on (or restart) your computer.
2. When the Dell logo appears, press F12 key 2-3 times and press Enter.
3. When the 'One Time Boot Menu' appears, highlight 'Boot to Utility Partition' and press Enter.
4. When the Dell Diagnostics main menu appears, select 'Express Test'.
5. Share the error code, if any.
You can download and install this software Process Explorer (1 MB).
Sort the Private Bytes in descending order as shown in the image.
You may also perform a clean boot to determine if there are any background programs causing this issue.
You may also observe the CPU usage in Safe Mode.
Hope this helps.
Thanks and Regards,
Manpreet C
I have a Dell Inspiron 531S desktop . . it's *always peaking at/near 100. I imagine that's what makes it hum/buzz.
*I need to know what to do about it.* I don't have money, I had a Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm last Jan. and haven't worked since.
A guy at Best Buy said that there's probably something malicious running in the background to make it do that. There aren't any programs running in the task manager and he said that the Processes are all unrelated . . to a possible cause.
The browser I use is Cometbird, I do have IE9 installed. The system was sold with Vista Basic, it now has 7 Premium. (32 bit) It's been working with Microsoft Security Essentials for at least a year.. something different before that. I have System Mechanic 11.5 Professional on it. I downloaded Sophos' free rootkit removal tool - nothing.

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