Lagging about

[nathan]

Hello all,

 

Im new here and getting rather annoyed with BOTH my computers! Firstly is my main use one which is the Laptop.

 

The problem im having is that its lagging, but not all the time, only when the processor fan speeds up! its on charge constantly and the processor speeds seem to be keeping steady. RAM use is hovering about at about 50%, the processors are reading at about 10-15% each depending on what im doing. Whats getting me thought is that its slowing RIGHT the way down to a crawl! I can type an entire paragraph without a word appearing on the screen!

 

Only ever lasts for a few seconds though! and there is a lot of heat being pushed out of it!!

 

Now the desktop:

 

Its ALWAYS accessing the HDD, its got a single core 2.8gHz processor in it but it takes nearly 15 mins to fire up, and then its lagging on EVERYTHING i do! I cant get to do anything for 20 mins or so before it catches up! Im not sure what the HDD is up to but the processor is going next to nothing! RAM also appears to be doing very little. I know that this computer needs and upgrade and I plan to not only install a slave hdd but also upgrading the main one to a much much faster one (not sure what is in there at the moment)

 

Please help me out! Im about to take the laptop apart and give it a clean in case the fan is buggered and drawing too much current, but if that doesnt work then im going to need to get somewhere with this.

 

Thanks in advance everyone!

[RandyL]

Hi nathan. A few causes of slow running computers and slow startups.

 

1. Malware

 

2. A failing hard drive

 

3. Way too many startup items

 

4. Not enough or failing RAM

 

5. A failing hardware device such as a CD drive could slow startup but not slow it after startup

 

The first thing I would try is booting into safemode to see if it boots faster.

[Tootech]

Also, to get a full picture please post the specs of the computers, i.e. what version of Windows you run, how much memory, CPU spec if you can, how often the hard drives are defragmented (on XP), and what antivirus software you have installed.

 

Thanks.

[jamesbrown]

by the sounds of things, your system is overclocking unwantedly or your CPU and RAM are not being cooled properly due to poor design and arrangment of fans.

 

It looks as though the heat is building up, this then slows pc performance, and your main laptop heat sensors are pickup up the exessive heat and powering up the main fans.

 

If you are happy to do this kind of thing, i'd take a look inside and check that there is nothing preventing the CPU from being cooled efficiently. the hotter a pc gets, the slowers it gets.

[nathan]

Hi nathan. A few causes of slow running computers and slow startups.

 

1. Malware

 

2. A failing hard drive

 

3. Way too many startup items

 

4. Not enough or failing RAM

 

5. A failing hardware device such as a CD drive could slow startup but not slow it after startup

 

The first thing I would try is booting into safemode to see if it boots faster.

 

That would be the PC, I have a feeling that the HDD is on the way out as its ancient. Im hoping to do a full upgrade on it, however I have been told that the RAM is completely obsolete and I would be hard pressed to find any better chips for it. Ill fire it up in safe next time im on there and see if it helps.

 

Also, to get a full picture please post the specs of the computers, i.e. what version of Windows you run, how much memory, CPU spec if you can, how often the hard drives are defragmented (on XP), and what antivirus software you have installed.

 

Thanks.

 

Im more worried about the laptop at the moment as its the main one I use. I plan on stippiing and upgrading the desktop before I worry about anything on there but with the lappy its got

 

Vista Home Prem

AMD Turon x2 Dual Core Mobile RM-70

4.0 GB RAM

ATI Radion HD 3200 Graphics.

300gb HDD

 

Unfortunatly I didnt build the thing Acer did so im not sure on anything else and its only taken up about 4% of the HDD so I wouldnt think it needs de-fragging.

 

by the sounds of things, your system is overclocking unwantedly or your CPU and RAM are not being cooled properly due to poor design and arrangment of fans.

 

It looks as though the heat is building up, this then slows pc performance, and your main laptop heat sensors are pickup up the exessive heat and powering up the main fans.

 

If you are happy to do this kind of thing, i'd take a look inside and check that there is nothing preventing the CPU from being cooled efficiently. the hotter a pc gets, the slowers it gets.

 

I cracked it open the other day, rather oddly its quite clean, I do think that its heat build-up however I dont know why it slows the computer down to a crawl ONLY when the fan is running?? Its like the Fan is drawing too much power and then slowing down the processor. Would quite like to find out if there is a way to cool the CPU in a more efficent way. All I have is a single fan blowing out from an particularly poorly vented casing out the back. All i can say is that its getting bloody hot!!

 

Thanks for the help so far keep it coming please :D