Very weird problem on Inspiron 6000

Question

Hey, I've got a very strange problem on a brand new Inspiron 6000. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. First let me start off by saying that I work in the IT field, and I am very experienced when it comes to computer troubleshooting. This one has me beat. Specs: Pentium M 1.6 GHZ 1 GB DDR2 RAM 80 GB Western Digital Hard drive WUXGA 15.4' screen x300 video card Bluetooth Integrated a/b/g card When I got the laptop, it felt sort of sluggish. Like it took a second to do anything, open menus, right click on something, etc. It started to get pretty annoying, so I reloaded the machine which is usually what I do with a new purchase anyway. Now, I have XP pro on the laptop and it still lags while trying to do things in Windows. I ran 3dmark and it performed very well. Graphics seem to perform well, no choppyness at all. However, if I try to watch a video with media player, it is choppy, and the video lags. Even the visualizations lag while playing an mp3. When trying to type in word or any other word processor, it is a second or two after I start typing before the letters actually start appearing on the page. If my computer is just idling, every few seconds, the HD light goes solid for a second or two and stops as if something is constantly reading from the HD. CPU usage and memory usage is very low, so I know it's not anything crazy eating up my resources. After a second reload, I can be 100% sure it is not virus/spyware related. I've run a memory test, and the memory checks out fine. I'm at a loss here really, it seems to be the windows interface that is lagging. Media player lags, windows lags, word processing typing lags, but games are fast. I've tried changing all sorts of windows performance settings including messing with swap size/management. This is driving me insane, this is a brand new laptop with a gig of dual channel DDR2!!! It should be FLYING! If anyone has any suggestions PLEASE post them, I'm at my wit's end. Thanks, Jeff

jankerson · Answer

Have you loaded all the newest drivers for the machine off the Dell website?   Does this happen on battery and AC power?   Try changing the power setting to Max Performance so the CPU is running full speed to check and see if it still does it.

bacillus · Answer

I note that you reloaded the operating system.
When you did so, did you install the Intel chipset driver and the Dell system notebook software?
The two are essential for proper functioning of that laptop.

jeffevans62 · Answer

Yes, I've installed all drivers, chipset drivers, and the system software package. I'm not sure what you mean when you say "Max performance". There is nothing like that in the power menu in the control panel, or in the BIOS. I'm running XP pro.

Thanks for the ideas guys, keep em comin.

bacillus · Answer

Have you double checked to ascertain that your hard drive is using UDMA 5 and not PIO mode?
Can we also assume that you've checked the system for viruses, Trojans and spyware?

Message Edited by bacillus on 05-20-2005 10:37 PM

jeffevans62 · Answer

Yes, the above has been done. It really seems to me to be the processor speedstep thingie. I've seen the speed drop as low as 300mhz, which it isn't even supposed to do. However, most of the time it's between 600-800mhz, and RARELY do I ever see it break 1ghz.

Hmmmmm, frustrating.

jeffevans62 · Answer

All my windows updates are done, and it happens when I'm off the network as well. Thanks for the ideas though, keep em coming.

HiTechLuv · Answer

Automatic Windows update can cause that problem too. Did you mention that you replaced the OS that came with the machine? If you did, Windows Update can try to download patches to your machine. These patches can be huge and slow down machine dramatically.

Just an idea that you may wanna check.

jeffevans62 · Answer

Any more ideas?

parkerti · Answer

If you set your power settings to 'always on' in the power profile, it will run at the maximum speed for your CPU while on AC power. That will eliminate the SpeedStep as being the culprit.

jeffevans62 · Answer

It is now set to always on. Still the same thing. Sometimes (about 50% of the time) videos lag and are unwatchable even when played right from the hard drive. Microsoft Office products are horribly laggy, taking full seconds to register an enter pressed in word, or when I click new message in outlook. I'm baffled. Any more ideas?

bnice7 · Answer

Did you check to see if any system processes are misbehaving in task manager?  ( & , processes tab, then sort by CPU Usage %).

jeffevans62 · Answer

Yes, processes are behaving. CPU load is very low. Memory usage is also very low.

jeffevans62 · Answer

Any more information anyone can give me is greatly appreciated. I'm pulling my hair out on this one.

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