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Random slowdowns

Original Message
Name: caleb
Date: January 25, 2008 at 15:12:12 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
OS: xp pro
CPU/Ram: 2.0 centrino/2gigs
Model/Manufacturer: sager 5720
Comment:
Already tried another forum, but got no answers so lets give this another whirl.

I am having random slowdowns when playing new games, with my framerates dropping from ~40 to ~.5 for about 30 seconds at a time then returning to normal. This happens every 2-10 minutes or so. I suspected overheating but I can't test it as MBM doesn't seem to support my motherboard(no temp readout in bios either). All my drivers are up to date, and this only happens in new gfx intense games like cod4, gears of war, the witcher, and bioshock. I can run WoW and TF2 just fine with no slowdowns. Performance is good otherwise, but this pretty much makes all these games unplayable.

There is nothing in my event logger to go off of, and even though the laptop does feel hot, its not THAT hot. It feels just as hot running other games. There are no weird programs running when I check task manager and I'm freakin stumped here.

I use a cooling pad and keep the fans on my laptop clean.
My video card is a 7800 gtx
My motherboard is a Intel Alviso 915PM+ICH6-M... I think


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Response Number 1
Name: jam
Date: January 25, 2008 at 16:17:07 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
Reply: (edit)
Centrino is not a processor, it's a "technology". Your laptop most likely has a Pentium M.

Have you scanned for viruses & spyware? used MSCONFIG to disable unnecessary programs from loading at startup? Defragged?


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Response Number 2
Name: doomhammerr
Date: January 25, 2008 at 18:44:12 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
Reply: (edit)
Well, your laptop isn't meant to game with new games like cod4 and bioshock, so dont expect anything amazing to begin with, but how old is this laptop, and what are you running the settings on?

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Response Number 3
Name: jam
Date: January 25, 2008 at 19:41:31 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
Reply: (edit)
2GB RAM & 7800GTX won't play "new games like cod4 and bioshock"??


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Response Number 4
Name: doomhammerr
Date: January 25, 2008 at 20:47:56 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
Reply: (edit)
i take it were looking at this

http://www.powernotebooks.com/specs...

and jam, it depends if hes running it at high specs, its a laptop after all. Do you have any other programs like antivirus running in the backgground?


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Response Number 5
Name: caleb
Date: January 25, 2008 at 23:42:39 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
Reply: (edit)
I don't run antivirus in the background and I've had it defragging with diskeeper all night, I'm hoping thats it.

I do regular virus and spyware scans and I'm fairly sure I'm clean.

Also, this laptop destroys new games, I can play anything on the market(except crysis) at high settings silky smooth.


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Response Number 6
Name: caleb
Date: January 26, 2008 at 01:48:44 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
Reply: (edit)
Ok, defrag done and problem still persists.

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Response Number 7
Name: jam
Date: January 26, 2008 at 06:22:01 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
Reply: (edit)
Did you run MSCONFIG like I asked? There may be somethiong loading that you're not aware of....

http://netsquirrel.com/msconfig/


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Response Number 8
Name: caleb
Date: January 26, 2008 at 14:59:40 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
Reply: (edit)
Nope, nothing in MSCONFIG I don't recognize.

In the course of trying to fix this I've actually cleaned my computer up like never before, its running so smooth its almost unbelievable... except this stupid annoying issue with the random slowdowns.

What I'm really leaning towards here is overheating due to the fact that:

A. The Air Conditioner is broken(I live in a Barracks, stupid Marine Corps doesn't fix things) and it is kind of hot in here.

B. Everything seems to be in perfect order other than that. Performance at most times is actually up maybe 10%, its just these stupid slowdowns ruining my fun.


So... does anyone know if overheating could cause this sort of thing? The part I don't get is how it goes back to running smooth after a minute of crapping out(also, reloading makes it run smooth again usually). Usually when my old desktops overheated they gave me a BSOD or just outright crashed.


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Response Number 9
Name: doomhammerr
Date: January 26, 2008 at 16:02:22 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
Reply: (edit)
"I live in a Barracks, stupid Marine Corps doesn't fix things"

i dont know if this is any help, but is your laptop getting dirty inside, on the off chance it could have sand or something inside it causing hardware related issues, im not really sure if thats the problem though, have you popped it open?


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Response Number 10
Name: caleb
Date: January 26, 2008 at 23:41:34 Pacific
Subject: Random slowdowns
Reply: (edit)
I try to clean the fans as often as I can, and at the moment they are very clean.

This computer doesn't come to the field with me or anything crazy like that, its personal property and they would have to try damn hard to make me take it somewhere it could be damaged.


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