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My laptop seems to be struggling to perform

  • 11-04-2010 10:52pm
    #1
    paddyland
    Closed Accounts Posts: 932 ✭✭✭


    In the last three days, I notice a change in behaviour of my laptop.

    When I open a webpage or a document folder, there is a lag or delay of a second or two while the machine seems to freeze for a moment before the application opens. It also affects scrolling down a webpage for example, where instead of rolling down smoothly, it freezes for a tiny moment and then jumps past where I wanted to go.

    At the same time, the cooling fan seems to roar away louder than normal. There is usually nothing open except one window at a time. But it is like the laptop is straining to do something behind the scenes.

    How do I find out what is causing this obstruction, and is it a sign of problems to come? Many thanks if you can help...


Comments

  • #2
    Voodu Child
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,706 ✭✭✭Voodu Child


    It could be any number of problems, and you would need to provide more info for a better guess. For reference, always give as much info as possible in your first post (computer spec, operating system, what web browser you are using etc) - because if people have to drag these things out of you they are just not going to bother responding.

    Anyway, for starters I would try:
    1) CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up the task manager, sort by CPU and see if any particular app or service is hogging your resources.
    2) Run a full virus scan. If you don't have an anti-virus suite, Microsoft Security Essentials is free and does the job.
    3) Defragment your hard-drive.

    There is more OS-specific things which might be causing it (indexing etc), but until I know what OS you are running there's no point mentioning it.


  • #3
    unnameduser
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,081 ✭✭✭unnameduser


    voodu is on the ball.

    Most likely your PC has something running that is consuming resources ie virus or malware or a component is failing,

    Task manager info is def the first place to start?

    What OS are you using and what the the maximum RAM and CPU levels. how many processes are running at the moment?


  • #4
    paddyland
    Closed Accounts Posts: 932 ✭✭✭paddyland


    Acer Aspire 5920G
    Intel Core2 Duo CPU T5750 @ 2.00GHz
    4.00GB RAM
    32-bit OS
    Windows Vista Home Premium

    I did a defrag last night, which took hours. Still behaving the same. Basically, the laptop sits quietly with just the desktop open. But as soon as I open Firefox, the fan starts roaring. I can open all webpages, but they seem to stick regularly. On Boards.ie, for example, when I hover the cursor over a thread topic, instead of the little popup with the first line of text of the thread, I get an empty square, and when I try to scroll up or down, the pages sticks, then jumps suddenly, instead of scrolling smoothly.

    I haven't downloaded anything recently, and this began suddenly in the last four days. I appreciate any suggestions. I just worry if this is a forewarning of something about to crash. I have done a virus scan, and all clear. I downloaded the latest version of Firefox. There is nothing else open except a single Firefox webpage. I am not particularly tech-savvy when hardware starts getting upset. Many thanks for your kind responses.


  • #5
    zodac
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 555 ✭✭✭zodac


    When the computer is running slowly, check what's using the resources in Task Manager.

    Rightclick the taskbar> Task Manager> Processes Tab. Click the "CPU" column to order it so the application with the most CPU usage is at the top.

    If you're not sure what it is, post it here. ;)

    Should have read the first reply. Do what Voodu said. :p


  • #6
    sKeith
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,404 ✭✭✭✭sKeith


    You mention that the fan starts and sounds like it is struggeling. if you feel (with back of hand) at the output vent for the fan you should feel a rush of hot air. While the machine is busy the cpu gets hotter and the fan spins hard to cool cpu down. As the fan does its job the CPU get cooler and the fan slows back down again. A common problem I have found with laptops is that many layers of dust makes a blanket which covers then fan. If you hear fan working like crasy and cannot feel good airflow then this sounds like the problem. You can fix this problem in two ways. 1. open laptop so as you can get at fan and remove the layer of dust. 2. if air inlet is appropiate, a strong vacuum cleaner may be able to pull the dust clumps out, sucking from the bottom, not the side. People may not wish to do 1. themselves but anybody can do 2. if they own a vacuum cleaner.


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