I'm running Debian 3.1 with the 2.6.8-2.686 kernel on my laptop, and for some reason my cpu will not go below 51%. While installing the os, and even when booting, i get constant "APIC error on CPU0" errors. I'm not really sure what the error means or if it has anything to do with the high cpu util, but i figured id post it. Also the pc doesn't seem to free up ram when apps closed. if i open kwrite 5 or so times, it'll just constantly eat the memory up. eventually eat'll start using up /swap, but i usually reboot by then

im veiwing the cpu and mem usage with gnome-system-monitor btw.

thank for any help

here's the specs just in case someone was wonderin:

hp ze2308wm
2800+ mobile sempron
768mb pc2700
32mb ati x200 mobility

I don't know Mepis or Gnome but the command "top" will give you a list of running processes and you can see whats eating the cpu cycles.

i used the top command and this is the part that stuck out to me:
i'm not sure what id and si is for, but it looks like that's where the majority of my cpu is going. no process is over 10% in the %cpu column. I looked through tha man page for top, and i didnt see anything that says what ni and si stands for. gnome-system-monitor also doesnt show anything to make up for the lost 50% cpu util.

also top doesnt list firefox as a running process even though im using it right now. gnome-system-monitor lists it as using ~120mb of mem (ouch). im not sure which one is wrong, but obviously something is bogging the system down

any more help would be apreciated