Re: Progressive slowing - a chronic condition

From: Steve (Steve_at_weirdstreet.fsnet.co.uk)
Date: 08/12/04 

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 12:32:55 +0100

Thanks for your helpful suggestions.

I did the Panda scan, which found nothing. (I already used Ad-Aware, which
is good, but it hasn't helped with this.)

You've made me a bit worried about the fan, though. How do I know for sure
whether its faulty or not? - I'd need something specific to tell the
supplier. The fan is working - insofar as it makes a noise, and some air is
expelled. But is it working properly? The laptop does get warm when it's
been on for a little while. Not burning hot, though. Should it be completely
cool? Also (I don't know if this is normal) there's a sound of the fan motor
(I assume) starting up for several seconds before the fan itself kicks in. I
do avoid using it on soft surfaces (laps, beds, carpets...) because I think
it does block the airflow and I think it does get slightly hotter.

"Grant" <geashworth@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:42cd01c47fa3$1eac9480$a601280a@phx.gbl...
> Hi M8
>
> Could be a few things, please don't discount anything,
> and try everything!
>
> 1. www.pandasoftware.com
> (use their onlince activescan for a virus scan,
> sometimes it finds stuff that NAV misses)
> 2. www.download.com - Download Ad-Aware
> (Give this a try, it's free and loads of people have
> success with it)
>
> 3. This may be the scarry thing, but, does your laptop
> get very hot? is there air being blown out the back or
> side, tell u why...
>
> The CPU needs to be cooled for the machine to function at
> its best, and sometimes a faulty fan or overheating
> processor, may allow the system to run, but you will see
> performance degradation such as you described. I won't
> name makes or models, but it is a well known fact in
> repair circles that some makes of laptops are notorious
> overheaters. Always use a laptop on a level surface in a
> well ventelated or temprature regulated room.
>
> This may not solve your problem, but may be the stepping
> stone to getting closer to a result.
>
> If it is the fan - take it back to your supplier - your
> machine should still be covered by it's one year
> warranty, and have the unit replaced.
>
> If you want to chat about it catch me as a contact on
> MSNMSNGER :-(note to silly people - THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE
> TO GET INTO SILLY CONVERSATIONS)-:
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Can anyone comment on or explain the following?
> >
> >1. I bought a new 2.8 GHz laptop in January. Windows XP.
> Performance was
> >never great, but I noticed perceptible slowing by about
> March.
> >
> >2. Having experienced similar progressive slowing with
> my last computer, I
> >felt suspicious and took a few rough timings... The time
> it took for menus
> >to appear, for example.
> >
> >3. Now, I've been using computers for around 15 years
> and have NEVER before
> >had to worry about how long it took for menus to
> appear!!!
> >
> >4. I reappraised the situation this week. Here's what I
> found.
> > a. In March, it took (near as I could estimate it)
> about half a second for
> >the Accessories submenu to reveal from the Start menu.
> (I chose this because
> >it's reasonably large and doesn't change.) I timed this
> immediately after a
> >boot up.
> > b. It now takes more than a full second for the same
> submenu to reveal
> >under the same circumstances.
> > c. A music programme which ran beautifully back in
> January no longer runs
> >without the sound completely breaking up and repeating.
> I'm no expert in
> >this, but my guess is the problem is it's using virtual
> memory and the
> >programme's having to wait for the disk to catch up.
> Whatever, it didn't
> >have to do this under the same circumstances back in
> March.
> > d. Even my word processor is slowing to a standstill.
> It can sometimes take
> >nearly a second for a single key to register.
> >
> >5. My computer does NOT have a virus. That is, I have
> had a fully updated
> >NAV installed and active from the start. So, if I do
> have a virus, it must
> >be one that has escaped Symmantec's attention since
> January. I also use
> >RegScrubXP to keep the registry trim, and manually trim
> down the prefetch
> >directory.
> >
> >6. It seems to me there are only two possibilities.
> > a. There's something wrong with the computer hardware.
> > b. There's something wrong with the operating system.
> >
> >7. The fact that I noticed a similar effect with my last
> computer (Pentium
> >2, 333MHz running Windows 98) might suggest it isn't the
> computer, unless
> >it's a problem with Intel chipsets generally. It seems
> more likely it is
> >something to do with the operating systems.
> >8. Microsoft/Intel have been accused of bloating
> software to reduce computer
> >lifetimes.
> >I don't know anything about this, and don't make any
> such accusation. But
> >Whatever is going on here, it seems clear something
> somewhere's getting
> >progressively clogged up.
> >What?
> >Either someone with too much power is doing something
> very cynical, or
> >someone with too great a monopoly is producing
> substandard software.
> >
> >
> >.
> >