Why does my CPU stay at 100% used?

[Dr. Zauis]

A couple times a day I find my computer starts to slow down mainly when I'm using Safari. When I check the Activity Monitor I see that 0% of my CPU is idle and most of it is being taken up my Finder. It goes back to normal when I go to the Force Quit Menu and Relaunch Finder.
I am on a iMac G4 1ghz 256Mb RAM and on 10.3.4.

[stoid]

Have you installed ANY third-party hacks (i.e. ShapShifter, APE)? One of them might be causing this problem.

[KC9AIC]

Though I don't know what's consuming all your processor, you can type "top" into the Terminal to see more of what's happening. That would make a nice screenshot for us to see. BTW, my B&W G3 runs 100% all the time, since it's folding. :)

[abhishekit]

In your picture, its finder which is taking all CPU. May be it got hung or you were accessing a network drive.
Regarding safari, it does take a lot of CPU sometimes on my comp too.
Also you may want to upgrade the ram a little bit.

cheers

[Dr. Zauis]

Have you installed ANY third-party hacks (i.e. ShapShifter, APE)? One of them might be causing this problem. No
I restarted my computer to see if that will fix the problem. Next time it happens I'll take a screenshot of terminal.

[bousozoku]

No
I restarted my computer to see if that will fix the problem. Next time it happens I'll take a screenshot of terminal.

Either that or sort descending by CPU % and click the System Memory tab and change from My Processes in the list box to All Processes.

Since you have so little RAM, almost anything you do in Finder could be causing the problem. If you have a photograph on your desktop, try eliminating that and see if it helps. You might want to keep track of when you do copies or use Find and see if the problem starts after that.

[Dr. Zauis]

After a day and a half with out my CPU getting stuck at 100% it happened again when I used Exposé. I attached my screen shots of terminal and activity monitor if that helps.

[BrianKonarsMac]

After a day and a half with out my CPU getting stuck at 100% it happened again when I used Exposé. I attached my screen shots of terminal and activity monitor if that helps.

256MB of Ram is quite low. 512 i'd say is he BARE MINIMUM for OS X!! I use 512, and it's not exactly zippy, but it's 100% better than 256. I'll buy a gig stick eventually, but you really need to upgrade ASAP, even a 256 chip will give you a significant boost. It looks like your CPU is constantly going to the HD which isn't good.

[Dr. Zauis]

256MB of Ram is quite low. 512 i'd say is he BARE MINIMUM for OS X!! I use 512, and it's not exactly zippy, but it's 100% better than 256. I'll buy a gig stick eventually, but you really need to upgrade ASAP, even a 256 chip will give you a significant boost. It looks like your CPU is constantly going to the HD which isn't good.
I know I need more RAM, thats what everybody is saying. I went to crucial.com and found out what I need (http://www.crucial.com/store/ListParts.asp?mfr=Apple&model=iMac+%28G4%2D1GHz+PC2100+DDR%29) .
I had no idea that it was that cheap. I think I'll get a 256MB for about $50 ( I remember about a year ago I bought a stick of 128MB PC100 RAM for about the same price at CompUSA) How easy is it to install new RAM in the iMac? Do I just unscrew the base and stick it in or do I have to get around some things?