For the last few days, I have been struggling with my normally super fast Dell Inspiron XPS Generation 1 laptop behaving as if it had molasses running through its veins.
I initially of course thought it may have been a virus that somehow made it through Norton AV. Nope!
Then I figured it may have been fragmentation. I defragged the drive (which had been neglected for some time) and for a moment it seemed to have helped a bit... Nope!
Okay, deeper we go. I started to figure out a pattern. ALL GRAPHICS ops were severely affected. However, it was only 2D and video (Flash, QuickTime, WMV, MPG, etc.) and no matter what was playing... Windows Media Player (I upgraded to 11 Beta, Nada) QuickTime, IE Embedded video, Video LAN, etc. etc.
I uninstalled codecs, cleaned up registry settings, ran a media cleaner... Nope!
Next up, Video Drivers. My lappy has an ATI Mobility Radeon 9800 with 256MB RAM. Interestingly, all 3D graphics were fine... which pointed to a main CPU issue, not a GPU problem.
Upgraded the video drivers to the latest ATI Catalyst set.. No fix.
Reverted back to the Dell native drivers (they have not been updated for some time by Dell) and still no fix. I then used a little tool called
DH Driver Cleaner Professional Edition
http://www.drivercleaner.net
which helps get a clean start if you feel one of the 10,000 files installed with a modern video card is corrupt or something.
STILL NO FIX! ( I promise there is a solution at the end )
Now it was time to uninstall stuff. I started with Add and Remove Programs... tool and got rid of stuff I wasn't using. I got rid of a lot of add on toys and little tools and some major HD hogs that I wasn't using (like 3DSMax, AutoCad, Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, After Effects Pro 7) Nothing Fixed!
Man, I was frustrated. I ran a complete Norton AV scan... nothing
I ran a complete Spyware scan (Adware, Microsoft antispyware beta, etc.) nothing...
Time to hit Google. This yielded one answer after another, one idea after another, none of which made any sense to my because they all had different solutions to different slowdowns. Mine was consistently slow under anything that stressed the video especially. The purely CPU apps did not show much of a problem other than being slower. Video was plain and simple : UNUSABLE.
But, I got to thinking about overheating. My older Dell Inspirons all had overheating problems. I didn't think my new XPS had a problem because I had the latest BIOS which specifically fixed an overheating problem and a fan speed issue.
Further digging in the Dell Inspiron forums revealed a possible problem with clogged radiators (the heating pipes for the CPU and GPU end up on large radiators that sit in front of blowers that force air though them from below the machine and through the radiators and out the back of the machine)
Once I cracked open the fans and pulled them, I was AMAZED at how badly (and totally) blocked the radiators were... no wonder the fans were ALWAYS ON. I quickly vacuumed the dust screen off, blew compressed air throughout to remove any leftover residue. Made sure the path was completely clear through the radiators.
Replaced the fans, closed up and started the beast once again. I reset the BIOS, and went into Windows. I was quickly reminded how quiet it can be in my office when the fans are OFF :-) I quickly logged in and ran through some tests... ALL WAS BACK IN NORMAL RANGES. My CPU and GPU and HD and Chipset temperatures were almost shaved in half... AMAZING!
The video was back up to FULL SPEED. If your Inspiron XPS is acting funny, check the vents, the fans, any radiators, etc. Likely, it is a temp problem.
The Pentium 4 HT has a built in self protection mechanism which will gracefully slow down the chip as the temperature rises instead of just shutting itself off (as in the past). However, it is tough to accept because all the CPU speed reporting tools (including windows 'My Computer... | Properties" itself) do NOT report that the CPU has throttled down.
Here are some helpful links
Inspiron XPS and 9100 User Guide
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/insxps/sm/index.htm
All overheating related articles
http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=gen&c=us&l=en&cs=&cat=sup&k=XPS+overheating&x=6&y=5
WiKipedia article on the Inspiron XPS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Inspiron
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