My laptop started acting up, please help!

[Gyula_Torok01]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 that I got second hand 2 years ago. It had no issues up until now. Currrently, after 2-3 hours of use it slows down to a crawl and most of the time I have to restart the laptop to get it running good again. Sometimes even restarting doesn't fix it. I don't think it has anything to do with the sofware as I have defragged the laptop, run CCleaner and also a virus search and it found no viruses.

All the details you might need:

Laptop: Dell Inspiron 1545 (manufactured between 2009-2010)
CPU: Intel Pentium T4400
RAM: 3GB DDR2
OS: Windows 10 Enterprise x64 (installed 6 months ago)
500GB WD HDD

If you need any more info I will post. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[robert600]

when it starts to slow down... have you tried going in to task manager to see what's going on?

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

when it starts to slow down... have you tried going in to task manager to see what's going on?

Yes, I checked the task manager and there are no new processes that start up when I get the slow downs.

 

[rgd1101]

windows 10 enterprise? legit?
What is the cpu temp like?

 

[robert600]

I have no experience with CCleaner but I have found iobit products to work very well for my needs. What I would try 1st is ... download iobit Advanced System Care (the free version is fine) ... install it ... let it run a scan and do the (10,000 or so lol) fixes it wants to make. Reboot and see how things are. Let me know.

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

windows 10 enterprise? legit?
What is the cpu temp like?

Yes, it's actually Enterprise. I don't know about CPU temps but most of the time when the laptop slows down it sounds like a jet engine.

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

I have no experience with CCleaner but I have found iobit products to work very well for my needs. What I would try 1st is ... download iobit Advanced System Care (the free version is fine) ... install it ... let it run a scan and do the (10,000 or so lol) fixes it wants to make. Reboot and see how things are. Let me know.

I have every iobit product installed other than their antivirus. I ran Advanced System Care and rebooted. Things were a bit better but I got terrible slowdowns after about 3 hours of use.

 

[robert600]

when it slows down and makes this jet engine sound ...does the air coming out of it feel very hot?

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

when it slows down and makes this jet engine sound ...does the air coming out of it feel very hot?

Yes, the air feels hot when it comes out.

 

[robert600]

It sounds like to me like your cooling system isn't working to well. Before doing anything too drastic though it would be best to check this. Can you download CoreTemp (it's free and a very small file). Run it, note the temp of the cpu ... keep the window open but use the computer for a while and when it starts to slow down note the cpu temp ... as far as that goes you can keep an eye on the temp as your using the other and see how it climbs. Do that and then tell me what's going on cpu temperature wise.

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

It sounds like to me like your cooling system isn't working to well. Before doing anything too drastic though it would be best to check this. Can you download CoreTemp (it's free and a very small file). Run it, note the temp of the cpu ... keep the window open but use the computer for a while and when it starts to slow down note the cpu temp ... as far as that goes you can keep an eye on the temp as your using the other and see how it climbs. Do that and then tell me what's going on cpu temperature wise.

Ok. I will tell you tomorrow.

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

It sounds like to me like your cooling system isn't working to well. Before doing anything too drastic though it would be best to check this. Can you download CoreTemp (it's free and a very small file). Run it, note the temp of the cpu ... keep the window open but use the computer for a while and when it starts to slow down note the cpu temp ... as far as that goes you can keep an eye on the temp as your using the other and see how it climbs. Do that and then tell me what's going on cpu temperature wise.

Hi. Sorry for the late reply. I checked the CPU temps when I got a major slowdown and it was sitting at 78 degrees celsius.

 

[robert600]

"Hi. Sorry for the late reply. I checked the CPU temps when I got a major slowdown and it was sitting at 78 degrees celsius."

That's warm but not really warm enough to cause a major slowdown. Could you start Coretemp again and when it starts slowdown ...can you tell me what the load is (right hand side of the window ...about half way down ... there will be a number for each core of your processor (i'm guessing you have 2)?

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

"Hi. Sorry for the late reply. I checked the CPU temps when I got a major slowdown and it was sitting at 78 degrees celsius."

That's warm but not really warm enough to cause a major slowdown. Could you start Coretemp again and when it starts slowdown ...can you tell me what the load is (right hand side of the window ...about half way down ... there will be a number for each core of your processor (i'm guessing you have 2)?

Ok. Ill post the load when the laptop begins to slow down.

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

"Hi. Sorry for the late reply. I checked the CPU temps when I got a major slowdown and it was sitting at 78 degrees celsius."

That's warm but not really warm enough to cause a major slowdown. Could you start Coretemp again and when it starts slowdown ...can you tell me what the load is (right hand side of the window ...about half way down ... there will be a number for each core of your processor (i'm guessing you have 2)?

So I checked the load when I got a major slow down and both cores were at 80%. (wanted to post this yesterday but internet went down :/ )

 

[robert600]

ok .... that is way too high .... i presume you weren't doing anything that was really making the computer work at the time. Clearly there is a background program running out of control.

I Wonder if it isn't hung up on looking for updates - lets turn updates off and see. can you

1) type services.msc in Cortana/Search box and click on the 'Services desktop app' that will appear under 'Best Match".

2) scroll down the list of services that will appear and find 'Windows Update' in the services list (it will be near the bottom of the list).

3) Double click Windows Update and in the Windows Update Properties Window, select ‘Disabled’ in the Startup type list box.

4) Click Apply and Ok.

5) shut down your computer and then restart it.

Does it still slow down?

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

ok .... that is way too high .... i presume you weren't doing anything that was really making the computer work at the time. Clearly there is a background program running out of control.

I Wonder if it isn't hung up on looking for updates - lets turn updates off and see. can you

1) type services.msc in Cortana/Search box and click on the 'Services desktop app' that will appear under 'Best Match".

2) scroll down the list of services that will appear and find 'Windows Update' in the services list (it will be near the bottom of the list).

3) Double click Windows Update and in the Windows Update Properties Window, select ‘Disabled’ in the Startup type list box.

4) Click Apply and Ok.

5) shut down your computer and then restart it.

Does it still slow down?

I didnt't even think of this. I have my Widnows Update set to notify me when an update is availabe, so it is constantly looking for updates. I'll follow your steps and update you about the slowdowns in a bit.

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

ok .... that is way too high .... i presume you weren't doing anything that was really making the computer work at the time. Clearly there is a background program running out of control.

I Wonder if it isn't hung up on looking for updates - lets turn updates off and see. can you

1) type services.msc in Cortana/Search box and click on the 'Services desktop app' that will appear under 'Best Match".

2) scroll down the list of services that will appear and find 'Windows Update' in the services list (it will be near the bottom of the list).

3) Double click Windows Update and in the Windows Update Properties Window, select ‘Disabled’ in the Startup type list box.

4) Click Apply and Ok.

5) shut down your computer and then restart it.

Does it still slow down?

Thank you for spending time on helping me. This fixed my laptop and it's as good as ever. Thanks again.

 

[robert600]

Great!!!!

just out of curiosity .... now that your cpu is not racing at 80% .... what does CoreTemp show the temperature to be

 

[Gyula_Torok01]

Great!!!!

just out of curiosity .... now that your cpu is not racing at 80% .... what does CoreTemp show the temperature to be

Been running the laptop for about 6 hours now. Highest CPU temp was 59 degrees.

 

[robert600]

That's perfect ... enjoy!!