Guest Tam o' Shantie Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 YoI have 2 laptops, one is a P3 1ghz with 512mb of ram and it performs exactly as it should.The other is a P4 M, 1.7ghz with 1gb ram. It performs like shit. For months I've been putting off the purchase of a new HDD and always assumed this was the problem - it was constantly grinding away, HDD light on almost constantly even when doing stuff like browsing the internet. Last night I fitted a brand new disk drive and installed Windows XP Pro, and the same performance lag is present. It is most apparent when browsing the net - scrolling down a web page doesn't happen smoothly, it jerks and jumps. Putting a URL in, I can be typing away and nothing appears, then a few seconds later all the text goes in at once.Clean OS, with the spec above, brand new hard disk and a GB of ram, system managed virtual memory. I can only assume that the CPU is fucked? Has anybody got any suggestions for free CPU diagnosis software...something I'm really not familiar with fixing. Other than that, what else to try? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 It's unlikely to be the CPU at fault if the hard disk is still constantly grinding away. The first thing I'd check is that you have all the correct and latest chipset drivers installed for the laptop (the ones Windows XP installs by default will be rubbish performance wise) and I'd also check to see you have the latest BIOS firmware installed. If the firmware has never been upgraded before then you almost certainly won't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tam o' Shantie Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 It's unlikely to be the CPU at fault if the hard disk is still constantly grinding away. The first thing I'd check is that you have all the correct and latest chipset drivers installed for the laptop (the ones Windows XP installs by default will be rubbish performance wise) and I'd also check to see you have the latest BIOS firmware installed. If the firmware has never been upgraded before then you almost certainly won't.OK to clarify, the hard disk is now silent and the light flickers only when in proper use. I'll get onto the drivers issue and see about flashing the bios, cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tam o' Shantie Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 have done both, seems slightly slicker but browser scrolling still jerky...it's infuriating :@ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Neutral Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Try turning virtual memory off completely - right click my computer etc..which software is installed?Task manager - sort by CPUwhat is the make/model - have you lived it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 have done both, seems slightly slicker but browser scrolling still jerky...it's infuriating :@Have you installed the graphic card drivers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Neutral Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Have you installed the graphic card drivers?if you have go to device mamanger and check there are no problems, also check event viewer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tam o' Shantie Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Try turning virtual memory off completely - right click my computer etc..which software is installed?Task manager - sort by CPUwhat is the make/model - have you lived it?laptop is more or less standard XP pro installation, have chucked on firefox & avg but otherwise nothing. cpu is not under load, only process using any is system idle. laptop is a compaq evo n800v - what do you mean have i lived it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tam o' Shantie Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Have you installed the graphic card drivers?booyah - think this might be it, it's needing a driver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tam o' Shantie Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Neil, you were right. Thanks to both of you for your help...funny how you can overlook the simplest of causes when trying to fix a problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Neutral Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Neil, you were right. Thanks to both of you for your help...funny how you can overlook the simplest of causes when trying to fix a problem for alternative drivers to nvidia/ati try OmegaDrivers.net - Home of the ATI & NVIDIA Omega Drivers. Home - more optimisation options Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 Neil, you were right. Thanks to both of you for your help...funny how you can overlook the simplest of causes when trying to fix a problem Indeed! Easy done. Glad you got it sorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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