high cpu load caused by "HC counter timer" process

[kurtdeneef]

If you receive a sh tech output of a router with a rather high cpu load and the process which takes a lot of memory is “HC counter timer”,what could be the possible cause?

I searched everywhere but could not find any relevant information.

Any idea?

Here’s the output:

------------------ show process cpu ------------------

CPU utilization for five seconds: 78%/9%; one minute: 50%; five minutes: 47%

PID Runtime(ms) Invoked uSecs 5Sec 1Min 5Min TTY Process

22 3774591176 2815831 1340896 43.87% 38.50% 37.69% 0 HC Counter Timer

115 2552 28559 89 25.53% 2.07% 0.42% 322 Virtual Exec

Also the "virtual exec" process is taking some cpu but this might be the result of sending the sh tech through the console line,isn't it?

[smalkeric]

Critical router functions, such as routing protocol processing and process packet switching, are handled in memory and share the CPU. Thus, if CPU utilization is very high, it is possible that a routing update cannot be handled or a process-switching packet is dropped.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk648/tk362/technologies_tech_note09186a0080094a94.shtml