Vostro 1500 - High CPU usage

My sys:

Vostro 1500 (T7100 1.80GhZ)
4 Gig Memory
Nvidia 8600 GT video card
Windows 7

I have had my vostro 1500 for about 2 years now. I have being fairly satisfied with it until last couple of days. I have weird problem that my cpu usage is high and my overall performance is very sluggish. For instance if I'm playing flash video on one browser, my cpu usage is nearly 100%. I can't do anything else smoothly like read something else. I used to be able to play games like Football Manager 2010 fine, but now it is very jerky/unresponsive.

I know the first thing that comes to mind it is software problem (spyware/virus/windows/antivirus). My computer was working just fine the day before and I didn't make any changes. Irregardless I did format and did not install any new programs except for drivers + firefox. Still same issue. Now I can't even play high def youtube videos (too jerky). Even High quality MKV videos on my computer playing through VLC are slightly jerky. Now I have not had any issues with flash before and I have reinstalled fresh copy of Windows 7 many times without any issues.

So I believe my problem is of hardware nature. First thing I thought of is my fan given that my computer gets hot fairly easily and it is 2 years old. Has being happening for awhile but it is not too hot, and my fan used to make bit high noise, but has being quiet recently. However I have downloaded couple of programs to test the heat, and it says its in the range of 49-55 celsius. Hasn't gone above 60 which I think is fairly low?

I'm out of reasons why cpu usage is high for even for simple tasks. I have being multitasking with 3 different browsers open with many tabs open + playing games windowed for couple of years without any problems. If I try to do anything even simple now, it is not longer smooth.

Could my CPU speed being reduced or something in BIOS? That is the only logical explanation. I would appreciate any of your thoughts on this.

 

Hi,

By chance I'm stumbling across your post after hardly being on the forums these days!

I had the exact same thing a few weeks ago. I was running Win7 x64, I have the latest & greatest drivers and BIOS loaded. I have an almost identical spec Vostro 1500 too.

Initially I thought it was a GPU driver problem so I uninstalled but it was so sluggish at uninstalling and reinstalling that I closed that problem. Then I thought it was the HDD, so to test this I formatted and reinstalled Windows, the problem was still there and Seagate Seatools (very good HDD diagnostics program) said my drive was 100% ok.

The thing that pointed me to the right direction was the Windows Experience assessment thing, you know, with the score. Usually my CPU gets 5.5 but it got under 3 :/ I installed all the drivers I needed and again it got well under 3.

I just got back from traveling to and from London and was rushing half the time so I think the laptop got beat up a bit in my trolleybag as I was going back and forth (which is why I thought the HDD was the next culprit). But from the random behavior of the Vostro (occasionally, on some boot ups, it would be fine) I had a feeling something may have come slightly out of place, and unseated itself a bit.

I did something I should have done a while ago and disassembled the laptop, taking the CPU GPU and ram out, and putting them back in place, and took the opportunity to completely clean the CPU and heatsink assembly and apply some Arctic Silver 5.

It's been fine ever since and a HUGE amount cooler. Laptop underside used to get too hot to touch when gaming, but now its just really warm lol! Kinda glad it all happened in the end

 

Thank you unrealmusik. I was heading in this direction as well. This laptop has being used pretty heavily and I'm pretty sure it is dusty in there.

Is there guide to disassemble and reassemble Vostro 1500 on this forum? I found the manual on the dell website, but that is only for taking it apart.

 

I wonder if the CPU is throttling due to heating. The monitoring page of RMClock (see the instructions here) will show if throttling is occurring (you can also use RMClock to reduce the heat being produced by the CPU).

it is likely that the cooling system will need cleaning out after a couple of years. Dell's instructions here imply that the computer needs dismantling to get at the cooling system.

John

 

Thanks for the responses guys.

I'm going to clean the fan and the process cleaning thermal cooling.

However according http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1520/en/sm/fan.htm#wp1179839

it says I need to remove unnecessary stuff like keyboard/graphics card/harddrive/etc. Couldn't I just remove the back cover and go right at the fan?

 

I had a similar problem as you and the problem was indeed dirt and dust in my fan. Check out here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5656278&postcount=29

Sami

 

If you can access the fan and heatsink by removing the back cover sufficient to clean out any muck then ignore the rest of the instructions.

John

 

Thanks a lot
I had the same problem
Fortunately, the solution will help you