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Hello amigos...

I recently have been having some really bad problems with lag and was hoping you would be able to help me out.

I currently am playing DaoC from a Dell Inspiron laptop - 3GHZ processor, 1GB Ram, and (a small) 64mb graphics card, which sadly i cannot replace as its fixed into the motherboard. Im running Windows XP and have 4GB free space of memory on the hard disk Am currently on wireless broadband internet.

When i updated my ram a loong time ago, (more than a year ago) I was surprised and very happy with the results. I had jumped from 256 MB RAM to 1 GB, and RvR was perfect, smooth and fun (only thing is i would sometimes be stuck running up hills or bridges but that was a gfx card thingy and it didnt matter much )

Anyway, i was having a lot of fun and no problems for a long time - but recently, things have been worrying me...

About 2 weeks ago, i began to lag a bit in my Severance RvR group, and had to pull out, disappointed. I couldnt be much of an asset if things were a bit jerky sometimes. About a week later, it worsened. I lasted 5 min in the group and noticed nasty lag when a castle/tower/group came into view...

In the last few days, it has been very bad, been resigned to solo runs which were just bareable and then a couple days ago proved to be too much. Now, i ported to Domnann with one of my characters, and it was roughly one frame every 5-6 seconds. Was like i was watching a slideshow of screenshots, not playing the real thing. Was horrible. I realised that i cant carry on like this and my last resort would be to reformat... but i wanted to ask advice first because it really would be last resort to wipe everything!

About 3 days ago i checked for Spyware etc and found a lot and removed them. It may also be important to note i installed a new version of AOL recently - about a week ago (version 9.0) if that makes any difference Yes, i know AOL sucks but thats what i got atm Also, i tried keeping powercable cool and computer switched off as much as possible. I changed the System Cache memory from 364 - 761mb to 761 -1531mb (the 1531mb said "Recommended" next to it)

Anyway - if anyone would have any insight... please let me know...

Many thanks

Zakoraya

for 1 gb ram yes, the guide iread said 1531 ram. Other problems i dont know mate tbh it sounds as if (if you do have one) your filewall and/or anti virus and spyware stuff hasnt been working proply and youve gathered up so much that its starting to slow down your comp. Try installing the stuff afresh getting the updates and doing some scans then try and play. If not mate i dont know, you will probly have to re-format.

just reinstall, you never know what crap youve picked up that av and anti-sw hasnt picked up.

Oh and get a firewall, ideally in hardware, or in software as a minimum.

Thanks for your time + help, will reinstall and hope for the best

<hugz>

Zakoraya

Ah - thought might be important to note that my computer has been spontaneously turning itself off recently a number of times. Am i overworking it? What could this be? Maybe it is the cause of the lag?

Earendil wrote:Ah - thought might be important to note that my computer has been spontaneously turning itself off recently a number of times. Am i overworking it? What could this be? Maybe it is the cause of the lag?

check the temp of Cpu when its been on for a while plus system temp and GFX card.. thats usually a cause of lag and sudden shutdowns..
check it when u start to lag in game.. restart pc and go into to bios if u dont have a temp indicator on desktop.. (some m/boards have this feature)

Also update virus scanner, run a full system scan, and run a reg file cleaner..

Hope this gives u something else to work with..

Just noticed this in the list.. may be worth having a read
http://prydwen.net/showthread.php?t=2466

Problem: Your PSU (power supply unit) is too old and needs to be replaced. If it isn't replaced soon you'll lose your mother board at the very least. Basically your computer is over heating since the PSU is failing and the only safe thing for your computer to do is to reset itself (fail safe). I think that maybe the problem anyway, it's definitely a hard ware issue. Also check to see how much dust etc is clogged up around the fan and the graphics card, it might be just short circuiting since it's been so progressive.

What overdue said, had machines switching off randomly like this a couple of times and both times was powersupply.

As per advice above - check temps first before splashing out - the hot weather could have just pushed things over the edge.

Chips operate ok up to about 90C after which you can get problems (though depends on cpu - you can get full operational specs from amd/intel website), though a properly cooled chip should be below about 50C under load, and i certainly wouldnt be happy if my cpu was running at 90!

Note that your motherboard is probably set to switch things off at a lower temperature than this (its usually set around 70C) so go into the bios and check (though not all motherboards support this feature). You should also be able to set it to give a warning before it switches off, so set a warning temp at about 65C, and shutoff at around 75C, then putting your PC through its paces, if you here the machine beeping you know cpu temp is most likely to be the problem. If this isnt the case then just check the fan is operating on any motherboard chipsets, North bridge is the most important.

If all looks ok on cpu and north bridge, the powersupply is probably your best bet. If you have another PC try swaping powersupplys around (provided they are in similiar machines - you dont want to be putting a 250W powersupply in an Athlon machine).

Ahhh thanks for feedback :) Few things though, cos im not great at computers really yet

1. How do i check computer temperature/power temperature? By bios, do you mean the F2 thing at startup? I went there and browsed its menu's but havent really found any temperature indicators. How do i check on which parts of the computer the fan is operating on?

2. By power supply do you mean the power cable with the (sorry for crude term lol) big rectangular thing, which has a lead which you plug in? Because i replaced this about 4 times in the last 4 months for different reasons Maybe this latest one has been overworked and i gotta contact Dell again for replacement

3. Any advice on how to cool power systems/computer? Should i try putting like a big pack of ice or something on it or is there better tactic hehee

Thanks so much for all your support!

Zakoraya

Earendil wrote: 1. How do i check computer temperature/power temperature? By bios, do you mean the F2 thing at startup? I went there and browsed its menu's but havent really found any temperature indicators. How do i check on which parts of the computer the fan is operating on?

Yes, usually f2, looks like an old DOS Clipper application when you get into it. Option is usually under something like PC Health Status, or something like that - though again I must stress its dependant on the BIOS chip on your motherboard and it may not even be there. Would be surprised if it didnt have at least the ability to see what the temps were though, even if it wont let you set shutdown and warning temps.

Earendil wrote: 2. By power supply do you mean the power cable with the (sorry for crude term lol) big rectangular thing, which has a lead which you plug in? Because i replaced this about 4 times in the last 4 months for different reasons Maybe this latest one has been overworked and i gotta contact Dell again for replacement

Doh, my bad, didnt read the details on your first post. Forget the stuff about the power supply (i was thinking of a desktop). Its much more unlikely that this is the source of your problem.


Every laptop that ive ever come across has passive cooling on the chip and chipset with an exhaust fan that switches on when the machine get hot - you normally have an airvent on the left side of the machine which exhausts out hot air. What you should get is the fan switching itself on intermittantly to remove heat from inside the machine, it will make a distinct sound when it does this. Perhaps this fan isnt working for one reason or another.

You can also feel around on the machine to see how hot it is, it really shouldnt feel hotter much hotter than a warm bath anywhere on the machine.

It sounds like your machine may still be within warranty - i'd strongly advise getting on to dell and explaining the problem, as its unlikely you will be able to do anything to resolve it yourself.

Sorry for giving some slightly misleading advice on the back of others comments without paying proper attention to the original post.