one more thing, sometimes it will say 287mhz right after a cold boot, without doing anything! i always check the cpu speed when i boot up !

SVT Fox,

Thank you for using Dell's Community Forum.

How are you determining your processor speed?

i was just playing half life and it all of a sudden got really really choppy, the highspeed fan went on (loud) and it says its running at 287 MHZ and i beleve it this time!!!! what is going on??? Am i going to have to send this thing back AGAIN!

 

-marcel

right click on my computer, properties.

ya it was not at first

but i cleaned it out, it was working nice for awhile, about a day, but now its back to its normal habbits! of 287 MHZ

Silly question.  Is your fan/heatsink clear of dust?

Are you running SpeedswitchXP ?

yes i do but it will not display the cpu load or frequency, only the max speed,

 

there is definitly something wrong with my computer!!!!

I'm thinking it's a mobo.  Call Dell support and go through the motions.  Good Luck.

mobo? motherboard?

 

its getting sent back for a complete service soon

 

-marcel

Yes - motherboard

Have you run the Dell diagnostics? 

i was finally able to download SP2, but its still reading at 287mhz and speed switch is still not working either

To rule out that this is software related, do a clean install. (if you haven't done one yet)  Go here for detailed instructions.  Remember to burn your drivers before you start.  All your drivers can be found in the C:\DELL\DRIVERS folder.

Failing that, you likely have a hardware (mobo or CPU) failure.  Good thing you still have warranty.  Call Dell, tell them you did a clean install, updated all drivers and BIOS and want to send in the machine for repair/replacement.

Mine's been working fine (crossing fingers).

rip

its going back today, i hope they fix it