Laptop Behaviour too much to bear

Hello - a kindly and learned gentleman has been helping me out on the Malware forums, but it seems my laptop's torturing symptoms are unrelated to that, we've been through everything.

Basically the issue is that if I watch or listen to anything - net streaming, dvd, vlc, wmp youtube etc etc, its violently interrupted and distorted. It often is accompanied by a CPU spike to 100 percent in task manager. Also, unresponsive mouse clicker a lot when doing anything, as well as not respondings and general jammy sloth. It's been going on for months. I've tried updating video card drivers, virus scanners etc etc and can't find a cure. I've never faced anything so irritating.

If anyone could help me I'd be so grateful.

This isn't just the above things, the laptop does it sometimes even with the startup windows noise, or my Avast audio alerts.

 

I forgot my laptop is an Advent 6651 Pentium T3400 2.1GHZ, Windows Vista Home Premium

 

Hi, and welcome to Major Geeks!

First, a few questions to get us on the right track.

Have you tried DELETING and then reinstalling your sound and video drivers?

How big is your hard drive, and how much free space is on it?

How long have you owned the machine? Also, I'm assuming you bought it new, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Has the machine been dropped/damaged in any way, including spills? If so, be specific (and no, I don't care if you've damaged it... I've dropped laptops before, it happens).

 

Hi, thanks for your help.

I've had it just over a year and bought it new. No memorable drops, it emits a high pitched buzzing sound (the fan?)

Hard Drive: 175GB free of 222GB S: 1.41 of 1.46

I'll try deleting/reinstalling now.

 

Okay, to properly delete and reinstall the drivers, you need to go into the Device Manager (Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, the link will be under the first heading), and right click, Uninstall the sound and video drivers. Then, reboot and let Windows re-detect the hardware. Let Windows find the drivers online, and use Windows Update to download the drivers if Windows doesn't do it before then.

 

Hi - it didn't work, may have confused things - I reinstalled the drivers of what I found under display adapters in Device Manager. My screen resolution's abit dinged also. Apologies for being useless.

 

Okay, did you try the process I outlined in my above post?

 

Hi, yes, though ur instructions didn't quite match up with my brain/what was in front of me. I uninstalled the sound one and the one under display adapters in device manager and reinstalled/updated. Problems are still there and now takes much longer to boot up, and ages for the icons etc to appear after login. Screen resolution's different now also.

 

That's likely because you haven't properly reinstalled the drivers yet, and Windows is using default generic drivers. Have you used Windows Update (make sure to check the Custom section as well) to find the video and audio drivers once again?

 

This sounds to me like a failed fan causing overheating issues, although I do not have enough evidence to prove this yet.

phildhooks, has the laptop ever been cleaned inside before?
What kind of surface is it sitting on?
How much of a gap is there between the bottom of the laptop and the surface below?
If you look at the back/sides of the laptop you should see a vent. Place your hand next to it. Can you feel any air moving out of the vent?

Please also install http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php and post back the temperatures it is providing. There is no need to worry about the security of this program, I and many other people use and trust it.

 

Hi Collinsl,I think you might be onto something. Could the overheating have already damaged things irreparably?

Lately I've taken care to prop the laptop up on books. I can't feel any air from the vents. Speedfan says: Core O- 68 degrees, Core1 - the same. CPU usage continues to fluctuate wildly for no reason. I've never opened it up/cleaned it etc. It can get very hot if not propped up.

Thanks very much for your time

Phil

 

OK just switched the fan on (yes, Im an idiot) and temp is dropping, now 58 and counting. The noise just stopped.

 

I don't want to jinx it but raising it quite high off the table is (at time of writing) really improving performance. Current temp: 55 degrees, no CPU fluctuations. I've fiddled with that fan button a few times recently though. Leaving it off was idiotic, but I'm sure there's more to it than that.

 

Mine has a fan button on keyboard. How do I do the canned air thing? Is it just gummed up vents do you think? Current temp 51

 

Do you buy canned air from a shop? I'm not familiar with it.

PS. -TimW, I'm very keen on transferring the blame onto Advent for handing a boob such as myself a button that will switch off the laptop fan. It's like handing North Korea the Nuclear button.

 

We don't have Wal-Marts in UK (if only I had the confidence in it staying that way) My keyboard took a nasty jam hit last year, it's never quite recovered. Should I open it up and clean the fan?

 

The temperature's rising again (61). Should I stop using it until buying canned air tomorrow?

 

can't feel air, but they feel warm - 65 now :s

 

Noise just kicked in - temp dropping, now 60.

 

Is there anything I can do as a temporary fix until canned air can be purchased?

 

Hi

Sorry I haven't been around, though looks like you've been well taken care of so far!

You can try these following methods until you get some canned air, to minimize the dust in the vents and fan areas:

Use toothpicks (you DO have toothpicks in the UK right?:-D) or other small (non-metallic is best) skinny objects to attempt to unclog the vents and PULL the dust out. The entire idea of cleaning them is to get the dust out of your machine.

A vacuum cleaner is helpful (using the attachment hose) in pulling the dust out. I usually have a vacuum cleaner running when I'm using the canned air (even if I don't need it to get the dust out of the computer, the dust goes all over the floor and etc. anyway).

Blow short, sharp bursts of air using your mouth into the vents (try not to swallow any dust in the process... heh) to dislodge the dust.

 

Tried spraying canned air in the vents, not sure what it achieved - temperature still uncontrollable, noise, CPU at maximum, tearful.

 

OK, now the fan noise (actually a bit better) seems to cut out when it hits about 50 degrees, then the temperature rockets and then it comes back on around 66, cools it down to 50 and so on to infinity. Performance seems better atm

 

This is about right for a laptop. We seem to have found the problem, and hopefully the solution.

Unfortunately, if your temperatures ever went over about 72-75 in the past then irreparable damage might, and I stress might, have been caused. If this is the case then there is very little that can be done.

If you monitored the temperatures as not being above 68 then damage is unlikely to have been caused.

If you feel comfortable doing it, and you have the right equipment, then you could try removing the panel covering the fan area and cleaning it out, but this may be an advanced job depending on the laptop.

If you want instructions then post back with laptop make and exact model #. Acer put specific model numbers on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop which may be different from the model number on the front.

 

Hello!

Took the panel off and sprayed the filth off the fan. Everything is running superbly, apart from one thing - video playback (now free of distortion/audio distortion) is slightly sticky. It's annoying but not tantrum-inducing - could this be permanent damage, or could I have screwed something up driver-related? (pretty sure I didnt, it all updated fine)

It is a lot better though, thanks so much to everyone who helped me with this, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!