Laptop has slowed down and become sluggish

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FatTofu

90 posts

Master Geek

#12594 26-Mar-2007 21:39

Hi folks,

Hope you can help me out, I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 about 2 years old. Now it has been working fine up until now when I decided to give the fan a bit of a clean with some compressed air. Now after I put it back in and turned it on that's when it started playing up. It was going ok until a few minutes passed then the fan spun as usual but after that everything started to grind to a halt and the cpu usage is now constantly up or around 100%. This is really frustrating, everything was fine until I cleaned the fan. Could I have done something to it? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

juha

1317 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#65089 26-Mar-2007 21:43

FatTofu: Hi folks,
Hope you can help me out, I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 about 2 years old. Now it has been working fine up until now when I decided to give the fan a bit of a clean with some compressed air. Now after I put it back in and turned it on that's when it started playing up. It was going ok until a few minutes passed then the fan spun as usual but after that everything started to grind to a halt and the cpu usage is now constantly up or around 100%. This is really frustrating, everything was fine until I cleaned the fan. Could I have done something to it? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Is it possible that you made a reassembly snafu and the laptop is now overheating?

Juha

FatTofu

90 posts

Master Geek

#65091 26-Mar-2007 22:10

Yeah that's what I thought. I found this utility online that monitors the temperature and controls the fans and at the moment it's hanging around 40-50C. Is that ok?

bradstewart

4335 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

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Lifetime subscriber

#65092 26-Mar-2007 22:16

40 is about normal for a desktop with stock cooling, can hit 50 under load, not sure about a laptop, depends if it has a mobile CPU or not. My inspiron has a P4 3.2Ghz in it and when it gets going it sounds like its about to take and you can cook on the lid.

Take the fans out and check the connections, also make sure the air vents aren't blocked

FatTofu

90 posts

Master Geek

#65140 27-Mar-2007 12:44

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.061219-0316)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: Inspiron 8600
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A13
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.60GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 390MB used, 2071MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

Card name: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 PRO TURBO
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: MOBILITY RADEON 9600 Series AGP (0x4E50)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_20011028&REV_00
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Default Monitor
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6476 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 8/13/2004 02:15:00, 209408 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes

This is just info from dxdiag if it helps anyone. It seems to be going ok at the moment, after it has been left off over night. Temperature is still hanging around 40-50C and the fan spins as usual but it's not getting bogged down like it was lastnight. It had been on all day but I've left it on before for a few days without it getting slow. Well at the moment I seem to be in the clear but suggestions would still be grateful just incase to goes silly again.