Alright, so i have a dell inspiron 1420.

It used to work fine, but i suspect my CPU, or RAM has screwed up.

It also gets really hot while using it.

The reason i suspect this is that i can't run programs i used to run on the exact same settings they used to run on.

My cpu is a Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.50 GHz

I have 3062mb of ram.

Any help would be...well helpful. Thanks :]

Can you post a dxdiag please so that our resident experts may take a look

How to post a Dxdiag:
XP: Go to Start->run, type “dxdiag” and hit enter. Click the Save All Information button near the bottom right. This will save a Dxdiag.txt in C:\ by default. Then open the dxdiag.txt and copy/paste the information into your post (UP TO sound devices as the Posting Guidelines and Information sticky state).

VISTA/7:Windows7 Go to Start->Search, type “dxdiag” and hit enter, click the Save All Information button near the bottom right. This will save a Dxdiag.txt in C:\ by default. Then open the dxdiag.txt and copy/paste the information into your post (UP TO sound devices as the Posting Guidelines and Information sticky state).

Alright, here we are

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 3/26/2011, 03:39:40
Machine name: BAUSTIN-PC
Operating System: Windows Vista? Home Premium (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_rtm.061101-2205)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Inspiron 1420
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A09
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU T5250 @ 1.50GHz (2 CPUs), ~1.5GHz
Memory: 3062MB RAM
Page File: 1222MB used, 5090MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6000.16386 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip type: Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family
DAC type: Internal
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2A02&SUBSYS_01F31028&REV_0C
Display Memory: 358 MB
Dedicated Memory: 0 MB
Shared Memory: 358 MB
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: igdumd32.dll
Driver Version: 7.14.0010.1272 (English)
DDI Version: 9Ex
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 5/8/2007 16:55:22, 2363392 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B78E66-6942-11CF-6077-F921ADC2CA35}
Vendor ID: 0x8086
Device ID: 0x2A02
SubSys ID: 0x01F31028
Revision ID: 0x000C
Revision ID: 0x000C
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C
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DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled

Your CPU's clock gets throttled in order to prevent damage caused by overheating.

Either clean the laptop thoroughly yourself or have someone who knows how to clean it without damaging it do it.

I've opened up desktops before, how would i go about cleaning a laptop though? I don't want to screw it up, and i live in the middle of no where so that really isn't an option (Having someone else do it)


I guess i should just open it up and clean any little bits of dust?


Edit: I actually watched a video of how to take this laptop apart, and now that i know where the CPU is, that is where it is getting really hot. I'll take off all the covers and try cleaning those areas out and see if that helps.

Alright, i don't know if this fixed it yet, but look how dirty the heatsink was.


http://oi56.tinypic.com/352hqbt.jpg

Oh yes, that would do it.

Yeah, it has never been cleaned.

I still seem to be having a bit more slowdown than normal though.

Try cleaning up your hard drive (this time "cleaning up" meaning deleting unnecessary files) and defragmenting it. You'll pretty much have to do the cleaning up yourself, and I recommend http://www.mydefrag.com/ for defragmentation.

I just formatted, and made a clean instal of vista before this topic, should i still do that?

Well, I presume not. I'm out of ideas then, though.

Entropy happens :shrug: Parts get old and systems don't perform as well as they used to. Not much you can do about that.

The only two recommendations I can make now that you've dusted out your PC is:

1. Do a thorough defrag with MyDefrag (System Weekly or System Monthly)

2. Do a http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796

Immediately after the clean boot, see if your game is running like it used to.

Alright. All my stuff is running great now.

I do have another question though. I can buy "Replacement ram" from dell. when i had the laptop open i saw that i have 1 2gig, and 1 1gig of ram. If i replace the 1 gig with a 2 gig will i see much improvement?

I'm running 32bit vista.

32-bit = max 4 GB RAM+VRAM

I know the max is 4, i was just curious as to whether i would notice any performance increase with adding a gig of ram.

It says i have "2.99GB of RAM" So upping it to four seems like it would help, but i don't know if its worth $50.

How much VRAM does your graphics card have? Does it even have its own VRAM or does it use a part of RAM?

That's about as high as you can go with 32 bits. Adding 1GB more will probably give you maximum 512MB extra available RAM, it's not really worth it.

I can't find that info. I looked on Intel's site, and did a google search.

It's an integrated card, Mobile Intel 965.

Doubt it has much VRAM.


Edit: Okay, thank you Nami88

Next time you notice your laptop getting hotter than it used to clean it as soon as you can (preferably immediately) because overheating can damage your motherboard quite quickly. I used to be lazy when it came to dusting out my laptop and suddenly one day the monitor just went black and stayed black no matter what I did. Apparently the motherboard died. Shame too, it was a sturdy Lenovo.

Alright will do. Thanks for the help, I'm planning on upgrading to a desktop soon, but can't afford it right now.

Anyway, this thing works well enough for now.

Thanks again haha