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Why is ATH.exe using 50% of my CPU?

This started recently, I think there was some quicktime upgrade that happened. I've rebooted my computer and the problem persists. I've found similar discussions referring to AppleMobileDeviceService, but I don't know if this is that issue or something else.

Running Windows 7 64 bit.


Only antivirus is MS security essentials and TrustedID SecureScan (made by Immunet?). TIA


Process explorer shows PID 7988

Windows 7

Posted on Sep 17, 2012 8:46 AM

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284 replies

Sep 17, 2012 4:30 PM in response to Phreddo

This has been happening to me as well for the last three or four days. It has never been a problem in the past.


I believe there was an iTunes update on Wednesday or Thursday of last week and it has been a problem since then. When using iTunes my CPU goes up to 100% and stays there. The services using the CPU are iTunes.exe, ATH.exe and AppleMobileDeviceService.exe (all are obviously Apple related).


If I stop these Apple services mentioned above then my CPU drops back down to 2-3%. If I open iTunes again it doesn't take long before the CPU is maxed out once more.


Prior to this latest update iTunes has never been a problem on my machine over the last four or five years of use.


The machine in question is using Windows 7 x64 (with all latest updates), iTunes 10.7.0.21 x64.


This is a real problem as the machine becomes unusable until I close iTunes down. I usually leave iTunes open all of the time so that I am able to access music from my MacBook and other devices around the house.


Does anyone have any ideas?


Thanks in advance.

Sep 17, 2012 9:35 PM in response to Phreddo

I had to close down ATH.exe cause it was really bad, I even had to eject all my devices. I had my iPhone hooked up wirelessly and my iPod Classic hooked up through USB. So I don't know, if this problem continues with ATH.exe and my music skipping may need to use a different player until iTunes fixes the problem. My audio has NEVER skipped before with the last version of iTunes.

Sep 18, 2012 6:14 AM in response to petipro

Interestingly I disabled wireless sync in iTunes for both my iPhone and iPad this morning and the problem has not occurred since (8am-2pm) and iTunes has been open the whole time and playing music for much of it. I have also synced my iPhone via USB and experienced no problems.

User uploaded file


So from my somewhat limited troubleshooting, it looks like it could be potentially be a problem with wireless sync - appearing in the most recent iTunes update.


I do like using the wireless sync feature but if this solves the problem for the time being then I'll just have to leave that feature turned off, at least iTunes is usable with it disabled.


I hope this helps someone else and I hope that Apple are able to resolve this issue sooner rather than later.

Sep 22, 2012 9:30 AM in response to 3G working on iOS4

I just notice this today. I'm running Win 7 Pro 64-bit, iTunes 10.7.0.21. CPU hanging around 40% for about 20 min.


I leave iTunes running in the system tray so it can do the wireless syncing. When I look at iTunes, it's not doing anything, not syncing, not downloading content, nothing. However, ATH.exe stays around 40% cpu.


I'd like Apple to notice this thread and take a look at it.

Why is ATH.exe using 50% of my CPU?

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