HP Proliant Gen8 Servers can show 0% (Zero Percent) CPU Utilization in Task Manager after upgrading to Windows Server 2019

by Cengiz Kuskaya 28/07/2020

written by Cengiz Kuskaya

Problem Description

Task Manager “TaskMgr.exe” can show 0% (Zero Percent) CPU Utilization on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019 after an Operating System Upgrade or an Windows Cumulative Update on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019. In our case we have upgraded an HP Proliant ML310e Gen8 Server from Windows Server 2016 to Windows Server 2019. Everything was working fine after the In-Place Upgrade nearly for 1 year and Task Manager was also showing all Graphs on our Hyper-V Server.

At some time after several Windows Security and Cumulative Updates Task Manager “TaskMgr.exe” begun not showing the CPU Utilization Graphs anymore but we don’t know which of these Updates caused Task Manager to malfunction. We know that Task Manager doesn’t show the exact Workload and the exact Utilization can vary in comparison to Windows Performance Monitor “Perfmon” but it shows the approximate Utilization and is a very handy Tool for every Administrator.

Unfortunately we had also not the chance to uninstall these Updates because on Windows Server 2019 most of the Updates especially Security Updates cannot be uninstalled. At this point I had to figure out which component was responsible for the Graphs in Task Manager. The Journey began.

Root Cause Analysis

I have basically generated 3 “TaskMgr.exe” Process Dumps from a Good and 3 Dumps from Bad Scenario. After the analysis I figured out that “gdi32full.DLL” was responsible to collect and deliver the CPU Utilization Info and “win32u.DLL” was the Requester.

I will not dig into the Dump Analysis. I couldn’t figure out exactly why it is malfunctioning because Microsoft unfortunately didn’t provide the “SYMBOLS” for “gdi32full.DLL” therefore I couldn’t dig in deeper.

One thing is definetely clear. A design change in “gdi32full.DLL” caused Task Manager to not showing the Graphs anymore. I am not saying that this is a BUG instead it looks like more a Design Change.

I begun testing with the available Information on the Internet and Support Forums and finally got it working. Mentioned below is the solution.

Solution

The Utilization Graph in Task Manager worked “only” after applying “all” the steps with this “order“. The sequence of the steps is very important.

1. Reinstall the below drivers with this sequence.

a. iLO 4 Channel Interface Driver for Windows Server 2016 and Server 2019
b. iLO 4 Management Controller Driver Package for Windows Server 2016 and Server 2019

2. Change the Power Settings of your HP Proliant Gen8 Server to “OS Control Mode“.