Alienware M17x Running Very Slow

Not sure why, but my machine has been running somewhat slowly lately

It is kind of stuttery when I type and the cursor skips around when I move it sometimes with only internet explorer open (very low load on the machine)

When the machine is pretty much idle it is reporting a considerable CPU usage % (over 30% or higher) for no aparent reason and it does not take much to make it go even higher. I already have the majority of the startup programs and services shut off and am running out of ideas here, but I am unhappy about it.

Also, unrelated, my windows boot time seems to have gotten much slower than when I originally got the SSD installed, any ideas on how to clean it up or do some maintainance to regain that performance?

Thanks in advance guys!

 

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=186

Some really good info on SSD's and tweaks.

 

I should add that if I run HDTune I am still showing 230+ MB/s read speeds

 

Well I rolled all the drivers back that I had updated with the "new" Windows 7 drivers from dell, this seemed to fix everything but the slow boot time lol

Still open to ideas for speeding up the windows boot which seems to have slowed considerably (used to be within 1 second of logging in - now is about 13 seconds )

 

oh nooooooo.... clean install?

 

Have you tried any of the wiper tools? They should work since that drive has the indilink controller. Also if you want the normal garbage collection to work just let the system sit idle for a couple hours.

 

I am completely noob when it comes to SSD maintainance stuff....please share some links

 

Hello , i am getting this problem too , with my m17x laptop, i have vista 64 bits.

I think my problem is i am running on stealth mode , and i cant disable it , the buttom isn´t working , any ideas? .

Also try to turn off stealth mode and change the mode to max power :/ .

Sorry for my bad english

 

I know I am not in stealth mode

 

ok , you can try contact with AW by phone , and try aliencontact, or wathever the say to do .

 

I am getting a new motherboard from them for another problem with the battery/power, maybe that will help it out

 

Did you find any wiper tools yet?

Here's one, LINK.

 

That's a good question - how the hell are you supposed to know if you're in stealth mode or not..??

 

Could not run that wiper program Mandrake, requires some hotfix that I could not run

 

and I take it the hot fix is bios based for the SSD?

Having Indilinx controller based SSD and no way to run the wiper programs = bad news. The wiper program was created by them because the the degradation issues after only a week of use. Do you know the bios version of the drive?

 

Nope, but I can play around with it trying to figure it out, any tips on how to get that information?

 

Normally it's right on the drive. Not sure about your specific model.

 

oh no scook. Not the legendary 13second boot.

lol


try ccleaner and turn off your indexing.

 

indexing has been off since I got the ssd

what is ccleaner?

 

Some program that cleans your registry and other files. It can free ridiculous amounts of space on your HDD safely. At least I've never had a problem, and it seems to be the standard around here. Anyway, this info is nothing you can't find yourself. I'm just giving you a preview.

 

I had an increasing boot time problem with my laptop and I was not running a SSD
You can look in the event viewer to get more information.

 

How full is your SSD?

Just like a mechanical hard drive these things get slower the more of the storage capacity you use... the problem is while losing 30% of your speed on a Mechanical Hard drive is almost unnoticeable 30% on a SSD seems crippling due to the numbers they put out fresh.

If you are filling the drive to 80-90% full you need to invest in a larger SSD

 

Mine is only at 50% unfortunately, so that isn't it. I heard someone say that the nvidia chipset drivers do not support trim, any thoughts on this?

 

Use CrystalDiskInfo . It will show you the firmare version of your drive.

 

I saw one person talking about this in the nVidia forums but he was also complaining about poor performance overall even with a new install.