Vostro 1500 sudden performance drop?

I've had my Vostro 1500 for coming up to 3 years, and it's served me really well. However, in the last week it has suddenly and noticeably dropped in performance. I tried reinstalling graphics card drivers - to no avail. I tried reformatting and reinstalling Windows 7 - no help. I tried a BIOS update, and that didn't help either.

After various other attempts at fixes, I checked my Windows Experience Index this afternoon and was amazed to find the CPU at 2.3. While the numbers are somewhat arbitrary, I know for a fact that my lowest score used to be 4.7 - Graphics. (NB that my Graphics and Gaming Graphics still retain their former scores of 4.7 and 5.3). Also, my 3GB of RAM were only producing a 2.9 result, when I know for a fact that, like the CPU, they used to be in excess of 4.7, at least.

I tried disassembling the whole laptop this afternoon. I removed a good deal of dust, took out the CPU and GPU and then put them back in and put everything back together. Re-ran the Windows Experience Index with crossed fingers - 2.3 for CPU, 2.9 for Memory again...

Is there anything else I can try? Or has my laptop just reached the end of its lifespan? I can't seem to understand why, if the CPU is playing up, it'd not just die completely rather than running slower.

Thanks in advance for any help. Specs are in sig in case they help.

 

Don't bother basing your notebook's performance on WEI.

If you do feel Windows is acting up;

- Have you tried running Dell diagnostics and making sure all your hardware is functional

- Have you run a virus scan on your computer? Malware can cause systems to slow down

 

Thanks for the help! Virus scan was one of the first things I did - turned up nothing. I've done a reformat and reinstall since then. I shall try the Dell diagnostics though - do you mean this: How to Run the Dell? 32-bit Diagnostics Utility | Dell UK ?

 

Correct. Make sure if you get a failing result that you replace that part that is "failing" and test with a known good part (RAM, HDD).

I have seen a failing hard drive make Vista boot in 30 minutes so make sure all your hardware is in order.

 

Ran the diagnostics - no apparent problems. This is absolutely bizarre - there has very definitely been a performance drop, and my laptop is a good deal slower than it was a week ago. The last theory I have is that my processor is somehow underclocking/downclocking itself - any way to check this/stop this?

Thanks very much for your help so far.

 

Hrm well try:

- Testing the AC adapter with a multimeter

- Using a known good Dell 90 watt AC adapter

- Using a known good hard drive to reinstall Windows

It could be your AC adapter is going bad, I have seen it happen before. Sometimes a hard drive too.

My Vostro 1500 in my sig runs Windows 7 just fine (even before the SSD, it ran fine on a dying Hitachi 5400 rpm drive).

 

THANK YOU! I can't thank you enough! You just saved me £800

Tried plugging it into another adapter and... sure enough, it ran like the first day I bought it! I'm really grateful for the help.

 

Well that's great to hear. Sometimes AC adapters can do weird things. My Vostro 1500 original AC adapter finally died after 3.5 years, and I scrounged up a PA-12 90 watt, and I'm good to go.

 

Dell uses the centre pin in the PSU connector to communicate with a chip inside the PSU which gives the power rating. Unless the BIOS can be satisfied that the PSU has an adequate power rating then the BIOS throttles the PSU. I wonder if the centre pin in the power plug has got broken off.

John

 

Either way, I've ordered a new one.

I've now got a new problem! My laptop now seems to be shutting down to prevent overheating during gaming - it did this twice while playing CoD4. It also shuts down half way through a 3DMark06 test if I try to run that. I set up GPU-Z to log the temperatures and the highest it got to was 59C - not particularly hot, I'm pretty sure. I've definitely felt the laptop get far hotter in the past, and I've never had it shut down suddenly before.

I was wondering if I could have damaged something while taking it apart yesterday that would cause this? The one thing that sticks in mind is that there was a LARGE clump of what I assumed was dust right up against the air vents, underneath the GPU and CPU cooling pipes. Is it possible that this was insulation of some kind and supposed to be there? If not, could my temperature sensor possibly have become (for lack of a better word) overzealous now that the inside has been dusted?

It's odd - I'm pretty sure it's trying to counter overheating, but I'm also pretty sure that it's NOT overheating. I know this normally wouldn't be advisable, but is there a way to manually prevent my laptop from shutting down due to overheating?

Sorry for more questions - I thought I had this resolved! Still, I'm on the home straight now

EDIT: The other option is that I didn't put a component back in place firmly enough, or something, and that at a reasonably high temperature it just shuts down? Sound a bit fantastical, but I'm a bit lost for ideas! Compared to how hot it's been in the past, this is barely even warm when it shuts off. Also, in the past, I used to experience performance decreases when it got too hot (downclocking to prevent overheating, which is normal), but in this case I don't get that - it just shuts off.