Hey guys, So for the past month or so, my laptop has been running video a bit choppy whenever I watch it for an extended amount of time. For example, I watch a lot of TV online (having moved to Spain). It might be fine for 45 mins and then suddenly, the video starts running choppy although the sound is fine. If I run it too long without doing anything, the audio will get affected as well and my whole system just lags. I've tried finding a solution online and I can't tell whether it's an issue of my laptop overheating/hardware issue or if it's software. I can use the Internet to browse pages and email just fine so the issue is only with video. I have that desktop widget thing where it tells you how much of the CPU is being used and when it starts lagging, it's in the high 80's/low 90's. Any help would be appreciated!
How's your RAM look? It could also be an issue of too many programs running "in the background" as they say.
I have 6GB of RAM. I also have the Intel Core 2 Duo CPU - T9400 @ 2.53 GHz 2.53 GHz At least that's according to my system specs. I've also tried running the task manager and end some processes that don't seem important. Google Chrome, which is what I watch my shows on, definitely take up the most memory.
My first, and currently only thought, on why performance would deteriorate over time is heat. Are you using the lappy on a solid surface so that the fans can generate good airflow? When did you last open the case and clean the fans?
Okay, I don't have small screwdrivers so I'll have to buy some today and clean it out. Trying to look through the vents, I definitely see a lot of buildup. I'll let you know how it goes and thanks for the suggestion!
Hope your fans are easier to clean than the ones on my HP dv7t. I have to disassemble the whole freaking notebook to get to the fans. You might want to check the notebook's manual before opening the case. You should be able to access the manual online.
HO-LY. SHIT. That was a giant pain in the ass. I wish I saw your post before I decided to try and disassemble my laptop. Seriously, does it really have to be that ********in hard to take apart a laptop? Un********inbelievable. I had to use my brother's iMac to find the schematic online which luckily helped me reassemble the god damn thing. Of course, I also have 4 screws leftover. The biggest waste is that I never got far enough to get to the fan. It required me to have to take the screen off and there were too many wires attached and I didn't trust myself to do it. I just ended up taking the compressed air can and spraying through the vents. It does seem to be running slightly better so I guess I should have just done that from the beginning. ¡Joder!
Sorry you went through that! Well, I hope the compressed air helps a bit. Some fans are easy to access... some are, well, not so easy. On the bright side, you have 4 screws that you can do... something... with.
Haha! Right now they're sitting on a small dish and I have no clue what to do with them. Part of me wants to disassemble it again so I can figure out which screws I missed. The other part of me is saying "shut the ******** up". Thanks for the tip though because it seemed to have done the trick. I just watched an episode of Boardwalk Empire and 2 episodes of House all in a row and I had no issues with the graphics. And I definitely feel a lot more air coming out the vents then I did before.
there's an easy way to clean the fans without taking the laptop apart. simply take a hoover (or vacuum cleaner in American), take off all the big stuff from the tube end so that you are only left with a sucking hole a few cm wide, and stick it for a while to the opening where the hot air is normally blown out. it's obviously not as effective as opening and cleaning, but if you do that on a regular basis, before it gets out of hand, you will never need to open your computer.
I may be wrong about this, but using a vacuum near any expensive electronic seems risky to me. There's a chance of static electricity buildup. I've also read about the possibility of damaging the fan bearings due to the fans spinning too quickly from compressed air bursts. That last part may just be an old wives tale, though.
Oh crap, I just bought one of those computers and I live in very dusty house. Why on god's green earth should you have to take the screen off to get to a fan?
So that you'll need to buy a new one in 3 years, rather than 5 years, of course. Heat is the nemesis of many laptops.
I still got those 4 screws somewhere. I have to say, getting the dust off the fan has made such a huuuuge difference as well as elevating my laptop so that the hot air can actually leave.
Of course, the question now is, is it any better? My guess would be, no... unfortunately My first thought was processes that run after a certain period of user input such as a virus scan or similar. Maybe paging on/off the hard disk, that sort of thing.
I've never had a problem. I don't think plastic can build up much static. and obviously it should be off. you are basically just creating the same airflows as a fan, only stronger.
Yea. It depends on your case. Plastic would probably be fine, but I could see there being a slight chance with a metal case.
for modern cards just rub with eraser the copper part of the video cards it doesn't matter how high your RAM was.
You may have a virus or malware, those can put you up to 80-90% even when your not running programs. You may want to try a different anti virus program. You can check out the recomended programs on PCworld or something like that, dont go with one of those no name brands.