Windows 10: GPU gets to -1% usage in Task Manager

Hi, i have been getting this kind of weird problem, i have built a new pc recently and sometimes it just freezes and i cant do almost nothing, followed by a restart 6 minutes laters, i have found out that in task manager my gpu gets to -1% when this happens, no graph updates from this point, all is frozen. I have tried with 2 gpus and the integrated one, this keeps happening. Its kind of frustrating to see this happening, sometimes i could be watching some videos and it just restarts since i cant notice the pc is frozen. I also see these 2 critical errors right at the time of restarting photo

:)

 

Task Manager High CPU Usage

I have the same problem myself with it only happens when I scroll through task manager and open and close it. I don't know this for sure but the reason this probably happens is that you may have a lot of processes running and task manager is using a lot
of the CPU to process the usage of each program.

What I have done is disable data that I don't need to see like network usage and GPU usage and it drops the CPU usage a bit. I have also enabled everything and scrolled up and down on it and task manager uses almost twice as much.

I would suggest disabling everything but CPU, disk, and RAM, (I would not suggest having GPU on because it is almost always at 99% unless you have FPS limits).

 

System process in task manager using gpu 1 copy

Hello again Carlo, I appreciate your help so much! so it really was just Nvidia drivers.

i cant thank you enough as this issue was such a pain and you fixed it for me in a day!

For future visitors ill give you a brief process you can take to deal with this issue.

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Step 1: Check for windows/gpu driver updates and see if they fix it

Step 2: if not then check for viruses

-PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION AND CARE-

Step 3: If not then uninstall gpu drivers via DDU program and reinstall the newest version from your GPU provider website (Please check guides on how to do this just in case)

Step 4: If not then READ CAREFULLY PLEASE, type msconfig (System Configuration) in start menu and with that do a clean boot (running nothing but windows) and go to services and TICK THE HIDE ALL MICROSOFT SERVICES (Very important dont mess it up like i did as i had difficulty going into my user in my laptop without the pin ) and then disable all and disable all start ups in task manager.

reboot, login, check if gpu 1 is in use, if not then it isnt windows (which is nice),

now in here you will be testing and finding the culprit via the process of elimination, go back in msconfig and enable half of the programs, restart and check for usage, if it is being used keep halfing it until you get the program, if the pool of programs doesnt have an effect then move on to the other sample.

if you find the reason of gpu 1 usage, i suppose you can either delete/uninstall the service or just disable it (I DONT KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK) and proceed with your life, or somehow fix it (this is how i found it was certainly nvidia).

if you want to go back then msconfig and activate all programs.

The last step was a method of finding the culprit, how to solve it is beyond me as i am unfortunately not a computer engineer

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i really hope this helps somebody in the future as this issue really bugged quite a bit and i dont wish any body the frustration i experienced with this problem.

Farewell.

 

Desktop Windows Manager high GPU usage persists

Several individuals have reported Desktop Window Manager (dwm.exe) using unrealistic amounts of GPU for video playback, gaming, or any high graphics intensive activity. Here is a list of just a few of the many requests for support on this issue:

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Example 5

It has been a few years now that this problem has been reported, are there any accepted fixes. From what I gather, even those individuals with serious graphics cards are vulnerable to dwm.exe dominating their available GPU. I myself report this issue, even
on games and design software with the settings at a minimum. For example, Java will be using ~45% of the available GPU, whereas dwm.exe takes up the remaining ~55%. As stated previously, the result is the entire system halting, not just the game. The mouse
will take a few seconds to stutter across the screen, and task manager will take 5+ seconds to even appear.

There have been many suggestions and no results. Is that Microsoft's consensus then? Thank you ahead of time.