m17x Lag all around.. even after re-installing OS

Just 7 days ago I formatted (with the AW discs) my m17x back to factory settings. The reason i decided to do this was because a few minutes after I booted the machine it would lag horrible all around, the mouse would move just fine but opening/closing/minimizing windows would lag as well as all other regular software operations such as opening/closing a tab in firefox or chrome, etc etc, you get the idea... Once the notebook was back to the original vista settings after format I started installing all the software I usually use, so far no problems.. Another thing I did was install steam along with MW2 and played all throughout the week with no problems or hiccups.

Today is the seventh day since formatting and since then I have not installed any new software, problem is the lag is back Right after I boot or restart the machine everything runs smoothly but after a few mins or an hour the lag is back. I tried to see if it might be a process that suddenly starts and screws things up but If i load MW2 right after boot (when everything is running smoothly) the game lags horribly as if I had a video card the wouldn't be powerful enough to support it (i have dual 260's). By the way, the driver for the video card is 186.82..

I'm out of ideas.. I really dont understand what could be causing this since it ran flawlessly for a week without me installing ANY programs during that week; plus, it also runs perfectly after booting, except for MW2, but the os runs fine.

Im running vista x64 and i have both the 260's and the 9400 enabled. The bios is the factory one, never upgraded.

I ran AVG antivirus and several anti malware programs with no infections.

WHAT IS THIS!!? Its really annoying, it is even frustrating to surf the web, let alone play any games...

If you have ANY ideas i'd like to try them! PLEASE!

thanks

Alex

 

Interesting development.. After reading in the forums that many people have disabled their 9400 i decided to do the same myself. After that was done i loaded steam and then MW2 and the mouse what immediatelly responsive in the main menu, before this the mouse would be stuck for at least a minute or two before i could actually move it. When in-game I noticed an EXTREME improvement but still not 100% smooth like it was a few days ago.

This definitely helped but didnt solve the issue. I havent noticed any lags in the os itself but then again sometimes it presents itself after an hour or so..

Please post any ideas you might have, this is killing me!

Alex

 

Have you tried installing the latest nvidia beta driver?

196.86, found on the dell site.

Look here for more info:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=464841

 

I havent tried that, im on 186.82

Do i need to re-enable the 9400 and uninstall my current drivers before i upgrade?

How do I unsintall the current driver?

Alex

 

Installed 196.86 and problem is still there...

Alex

 

Update to BIOS A03. Also, disable the Hybrid and Integrated graphics in the BIOS. See if the behavior changes.

 

Hi avillabon,
Boot from your resource cd and run a hard drive test. I have a feeling that your issue may be the result of a failing hard drive.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

I did, udated from version A01 to A03.. Extreme improvement!

I was having a horrible dpc latency (see my other thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=465567) and that seemed to fix the problem overall except for one thing. Every time I load MW2 the main menu completely freezes for 1 or 2 mins and then I can use it without any further problems. What could be causing this?

The weird thing is that It was working perfectly for a whole week right after it was re-formated and then the issue came back... I think if it was a failing hdd issue then the re-formatting wouldnt have helped, right?

Alex

 

Hi avillabon,
Sometimes a failing hard drive is a slow process. They act quite normal from time to time, with spurratic slowdowns that eventually result in death. Although this might not be the case, I would run the diagnostice to be sure.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

Interesting.. Didnt know that is how it worked. Thanks for the info.

I went ahead and ran window's CHCKDSK (check disk) on boot with both "automatically fix file system errors" and "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" active. It took about 2 and a half hours and there seemed to be ano problems, then again I wasnt looking at the screen the whole 2.5 hours.. Does it generate some kind of log? Im guessing if something was wrong it would have shown some kind of warning or something, is this the case?

Thanks

Alex