Is there a cure to my {suspected} over-heating problem??

[Ben K]

Hi guys,

Two years ago I went to the DELL website for a laptop and got a DELL Inspiron 9100 and hit the upgrade button until the price made me wince. I ended up with a 3.2Ghz processor, 1MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB. For RAM I got 512MB DIMM (400MHz) and the graphics card is 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9700.

From reading a few posts, that should be more than enough to 4 table party and run PAHUD and PT but it isn't. In fact, I can only just run 4 tables at party without PT and the HUD and even then the computer seems to run at total stress levels after about 45 minutes.

I'm not sure how to explain what it's like but the following experience must have happened to most people; you move the mouse but the screen arrow doesn't move so you compensate then a second later the arrow catches up and now you're in the wrong place entirely. In the poker context it's been slow enough to cause me time out and fold on several occasions. It can't run DVD's anymore and even Need for Speed most wanted, which once ran so fast I nearly had a seizure, won't run for more than 10 minutes or so before becoming so unresponsive and jerky that the cops get me.

I'm not computer smart enough to really diagnose this but I've had a few thoughts on the topic, so I'll post a few and you can lambast them and (hopefully) spare a bit of time to help me improve the situation. Either that or I'm buying a new computer.

1) I suspect it's just getting hot. It certainly feels fairly hot on the underside where I guess the processor is. Is it possible to get a better fan put in? Is this a plausible problem? Can you mess with parts on a laptop?

2) Has my graphics card somehow died? DVD playing problems and such might mean that I'm asking too much of the graphics card.

3) Something software based that is just overloading the whole system? I'm running at 676MB on the page file and 58% CPU usage with just internet explorer open typing this and the windows task monitor. Given that I've only got 512MB RAM, doesn't that mean I'm into virtual RAM territory constantly?? Is this right (doesn't sound it!)? Ahh, the CPU usage is around 30% but was spiking earlier in this paragraph while the fan was trying to wake the neghbours (which is does every 7/8 minutes for a minute or so)

I'm not sure I want to give up on my laptop just yet. Any help you can give will be much appreciated.

[Meech]

Sounds like software/spyware issue.

What tasks are consuming so much CPU?

[Ben K]

Umm, I'm only (intentionally) running explorer and the task manager.

I've got 51 processes running although serveral (such as SVCHOST.EXE have multiple copies running)

The biggest ones for CPU are the system idle process at 72 or more and explorer.exe at between 4 and 12 or so. Ahh, right CPU is in % and when CPU usage says 20%, system idle says 80%, right that's clear enough.

So not much going on right now, could it be to do with the multiple copies? Is 51 processes a lot?

I remember getting pretty miffed with my computer running lots of what seems like superflouous rubbish a few months back. I noticed when I installed real player and couldn't get it to not automatically open when I switched on. Their helpdesk took me through changing msconfig but my 'smart' computer would fail to remember the changes and revert back by adding a new copy of whatever. I ended up uninstalling real player.

i'll run my spyware program right now. It's got a process for it so I would have thought it's doing it's thing anyway but just in case....

[BiPolar_Nut]

[ QUOTE ]
I've got 51 processes running although serveral (such as SVCHOST.EXE have multiple copies running)

[/ QUOTE ]

Spyware.

Definitely spyware.

Your computer should be fast enough...I've datamined 9 tables on UB w/ PT/PAHUD just fine w/ a lowly P4 2.4GHz and only 256MB RAM...and several IM clients open and a firefox browser gobbling up 200MB RAM w/ 20 tabs open, a porno paused in media player, a mem hungry image editor open, a few putty windows, WinSCP, a minimized Terminal Services session, adn AHK script or two, etc.

Granted, Party is a resource hog, but you've absolutely without a doubt got other problems not related to hardware.

As for the overheating....different laptops have different designs for cooling. Some are FAR superior to others. Inspirons are the budget line (not trying to insult...I realize you upped the specs to a point where it could have spanked some non-budget lines) and in my experience, their cooling is not that great. The good news is, once you remove your junkware and your CPU doesn't stay pegged at 50% capacity+, it will run cooler. Dell Latitudes have much better cooling than Inspirons (I've run them at 100% CPU for a week during a burn in test...and I've had my hands on may other laptops I couldn't run at full load for more than 5 minutes).

I guarantee your graphics card is fine. Any glitches you are experiencing are related to the system being overloaded (likely by rouge spyware processes)

[ QUOTE ]
Given that I've only got 512MB RAM, doesn't that mean I'm into virtual RAM territory constantly??

[/ QUOTE ]

No. I'm currently at 488MB "in use" on my lowly 256MB physical RAM machine. There will be a delay if I switch to an app that hasn't been used in a while which would be entirely in swapspace. If I'm mostly donking around in firefox or a poker site then I'm running from physical RAM. Windows will swap the least used junk to virtual memory. In your case, however, you likely are swapping WAY more than you should be...since it is the junkware that is constantly being used and staying "fresh" in physical RAM.

[Ben K]

Excellent - well not that I got spyware but that I got an ID on at least part of the problem.

Realised I was a couple of months behind on spytrooper updates so I'm going to run it again now with those downloads.

Thanks very much for your help.

[jjshabado]

The lag is almost definitely a RAM issue. The lag you experience is the delay when the computer has to hit the hard drive. I don't have much experience with spyware though, so I defer to more expert opinions on if that could be causing the thrashing thats slowing your computer down.

My Dell laptop (Inspiron 9200 I think) had a problem where if you closed it and it went into hibernation it would move the contents of RAM to the hard drive and shut down (as it is suppose to) but when you tried to wake it up it wouldn't move stuff back and the computer was unusably slow. You had to restart. I highly doubt that is your problem, but if you experience this problem after your laptop goes to sleep...

[BiPolar_Nut]

I'd agree that RAM is at least part of the issue....but because spyware is tying up the available RAM...so still a spyware issue.

Good and accurate observation...just addressing another symptom instead of the cause (IMO) [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Ben K]

I have that problem when I've let the computer hibernate in the past so I don't bother now and just switch it off.

Well, spytrooper founds loads of spyware. I told it to clean it all up and at the end of that process it told me to restart and rerun spytrooper to finish the job. After restarting, Spytrooper is no longer on my computer!!! It's only gone and deleted itself. doh.

Anyway, I presume it did some good before it's demise but when I look at the list of processes, just after switching on this morning with no programs running, I've still got 50 odd and several with multiple copies.

Is it possible the spyware has placed itself somewhere that my computer protects? Is it possible to find out which processes should be running so I can end the rest without tilting my computer? Should I just get a better spyware remover (like who?)?

Sorry to bring this thread up again. Thanks for your help so far.

[Ben K]

Right, well. Just well.

Logged on for me usual Saturday morning spewfest and the computer is behaving as before so running spytrooper has done nowt.

Given the considered opinion is that this is a mainly a spyware issue (with a bit of rubbish cooling thrown in) I'm going to try and back up data and then re-install and then have another look at the resources I have that are supposed to block the spyware.

Any flaws in that idea?? I'll leave it half hour or so just to see if anyone has a better idea in that time.

Thanks for your help so far.

[BiPolar_Nut]

Sometimes it's easier to reinstall than to remove junkware, but you could still try cleaning this one up. I usually recommend Adaware Personal SE and Spybot Search and Destroy (both free for personal use)

Also, disabling system restore and scanning in safe mode are sometimes necessary. You should have multiples of SOME processes...namely SVCHOST.EXE...but that very SVCHOST.EXE is also arguably the most commonly used by malware. On a stripped down loan and mean win2k box, you can have as little as 3 of them. On a moderately tuned XP box you could have 4-5. I believe a default XPSP2 install has 5 or 6.

Watch for similar-name proceses...like SCVHOST.EXE. Processes w/ names similar to known good processes are almost always malware. Some of the nastier malware can launch multiple hidden processes that monitor each other and one will relaunch the other in the event one of them gets killed. They can also monitor the registry and replace entries on the fly if manual removal is attempted. Some will basically hang out in the system restore area and reinstall themselves in the event you do a restore. Some are encrypted/packed and able to mask the code that spyware detection programs use to identify them as bad. Others will directly attack and attempt to disable malware definition updates from popular programs or disable the programs themselves including firewalls. I ran into one a few years ago that implemented almost all of the above techniques...and even modified Norton Antivirus in a way that it reported it was current on updates when it wasn't. That particular box had well over 1,000 malware problems (not including the minor stuff like tracking cookies). I took it as a personal challenge to attempt to cleanse it...and eventually did, but it was more of an exercise in practicing manual removal techniques once the automated programs did what they could to clean the machine. It wouldn't have been worth the time (or risk of missing something) if the goal was simply to fix the machine.

Anyway...I could go on and on about this stuff. In general, reinstalling will give you the most peace of mind because once a box is compromised, you have no way to be 100% absolutely certain the box is perfectly clean.

There's more to be said both in addressing your current machine and how to reduce the chances of this happening in the future, but I've typed enough already lol.