Poor Performance After Reformat

Question

I have an Inspiron 5160 that I recently reformatted. I used the Windows XP disc provided by Dell when I bought the computer. After reformatting, I installed every driver that I could find on Dell's website under the drivers and downloads section for my computer. Looking in my device manager, it no longer shows any hardware that has no drivers. In addition, I downloaded the Dell program that scans for malfunctioning drivers and rolls them back. I ran the program and it came up with no errors. After all this work, my computer is performing horribly. Programs (mainly games) that I ran flawlessly before my reformat run very slowly now. I have the latest video card drivers, having checked both the Dell website and the graphics card manufacturer's (Nvidea's) website. Before my reformat, whenever I ran graphics intensive games, my device manager would consistently stay between 1 and 5% CPU usage by the game. Now my CPU usage graph jumps all over the place like an EKG. Is there anything I can do to get my computer to function like it did before my reformat? The original reason I reformatted was because I was getting slightly lower performance which I thought was due to a fairly full and fragmented hardrive. And now my performance is drastically lower than it was before. Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Mary G · Answer

I hope you don't mean this literally ' I installed every driver I could find for my computer.' You should only select the ones you need for the hardware you have installed. That list of drivers includes many drivers you don't need. Now every time you boot, all those unnecessary drivers have to load. For instance, the monitor drivers are for external monitors. You don't need any of them. What you do need is this--the Chipset drivers and the Notebook System Software must be installed first before all other drivers. You should use Dell's Current Configuration scan or Belarc Advisor to find out what drivers you actually need for the hardware you have.

Darth Kronk · Answer

Good point, I guess I should have worded that little bit better. What I meant is that I installed every driver that I could find that fit the hardware I have in my computer. I looked at the original hardware list that came with my computer order and used that to figure out all my hardware. I installed only those drivers that matched up with my hardware, yet still the poor performance. If I did possibly install some incorrect drivers, is it possible that just reformatting again could help my performance? I really don't have any files that I would regret losing that I don't already have backed up so the memory loss would be no big deal. Also, I'm not sure what order I originally installed the drivers, so if I didn't install the Chipset and Notebook System Software first, could that be giving me problems? Thanks again for the help. Message Edited by Darth Kronk on 09-05-200603:27 PM

leastmanjr · Answer

Another thing I forgot to mention, is if you try to install a driver to a piece of hardware your computer does not have, the driver will not install.  You do not have to worry about installing a bad driver.  Dells drivers only install if the hardware is present.

leastmanjr · Answer

I'm not sure if you need help anymore, but I just thought I would mention something about the order of install.  You must install the dell system software before anything else.  It should go into the computer before anything, including the chipset.  The chipset should be next and then the graphics card.  If you do not install the system software first, the thermal settings may be messed up and the computer may step down when it shouldn't.   anther thing to keep in mind is the computer may be overheating.  Overheating can cause serious performance issues.  Try this nice piece of software for monitoring your temps.    http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html   If your computer is reaching temps of over 70 deg C, then it is overheating.  I believe they put the pentium 4 prescott processor in that computer as well.  That processor runs much hotter than the northwood.  If you do have an overheating issue, and need a new processor, make sure to get the northwood.

Darth Kronk · Answer

Thank you for you helpful comments. I was able to figure out the problem. My processor was overheating because the vents and fans were so completely covered with dust that they weren't cooling down the CPU. I was able to find directions to take apart my laptop and clean out all the dust, and now everything is back to normal. Thanks again for the help.

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Poor Performance After Reformat

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