Processor load stuck at 100%

[dops7107]

Very recently the processor load remains at 100%, with no idling. I have a Mac Mini 1.25 GHz running 10.3.9, with 1 GB RAM. I have rebooted and have no applications open. Activity monitor says that the most active process is Finder. Restarting the Finder has no effect. It does seem to have a negative effect on system performance - opning images in PS is slow, and Firefox is jerky with beachballing.

I have attached a screenshot of active processes. Any help would be much appreciated. The only recent thing I can think of that I have installed is Doom II and Classic to run it. But neither of these is currently open.

 

[eva01]

try deleting the finder preferences

repairing permissions as well

 

[dops7107]

try deleting the finder preferencesl

ahem. where might I find those?

 

[crazzyeddie]

Nope. Common error. One of the files (usually an image) has a corrupted custom icon. So get all your jpg, psd, tiff, etc... off your desktop and into a folder, then restart. The problem should go away. If not, put everything else on your desktop into a folder (except hard drive and CDs, duh) and restart again. Then just use process of elimination to figure out which file it is. If it just started happening recently (I hope so!) then start with the newest files and work backwards in time.

 

[dops7107]

Nope. Common error. One of the files (usually an image) ...

crazyeddie, you the man. I had moved the images, thinking that might be the problem, but it didn't occur to me to restart again. Thanks!