Some issues with my Dell XPS m1530

Hello everyone!
I have had some problems with my laptop lately.
First my battery lamp is flashing red all the time, maybe the battery is dead? Then when I am playing computer games such as Fallout 3 the laptop get really hot and turns itself off. When I bought the laptop I didnt have any of those problems and i could run games such as Call of Duty 4 without any lagg, but now it is laggy.
I bought the laptop in April 2008
My spec are:
2.2ghz
4gig ram
160gig 7200rpm
8600 256mb nvidia
I appreciate any suggestions and sollutions to those issues
Thanks and Happy New Year!

 

I don't want to point out the obvious but give Dell a call and have them send out a tech to do a mobo replacement due to the heat issues.

In the mean time you may want to try to elevate the bottom side of the laptop to allow air flow while those fans are spinning.

 

Probably the battery is dead.

As for the laptop getting hot and turning off, its programmed to happen that way. You could try cleaning the vents, and also try lifting the laptop (if you have a 6-cell) to allow for more ventilation beneath. It should help cool better. Also you could think about investing in a laptop cooler.

As for laggy performance, its possibly due to heat - but you could also try updating your video drivers.

 

Thanks for answear.
I have the latest drivers from Nvidia's homepage as they now release drivers directly, but the problem is still there. I will buy a laptop cooler and see if it helps. Could it be that my graphic card is also defect?

 

Do you have the latest bios, and GPU drivers installed? If not, install them first and see if it makes a difference.

i suggest download hwmonitor or I8kfangui.. looks like you are having some temps problem.. monitor your heat.. it should not reach above 85C for the CPU and GPU with those games.. Had same issue before, but i didnt reached the point of having to crashout though my GPU and memory temps were at 100Cs.. had my motherboard and heatsink replaced couple of weeks back and my tems are just around 75C - 80C max for playing GTA4 for X number of hours.

 

I have the latest bios A12 if i remember correctly and the latest GPU driver from Nvidias homepage. No difference. A new motherboard and a new heatsink would be good to have replaced then, and probebly a notebook cooler. What do you think about the GPU? Should I try to get that replaced too? Thanks for helping.

 

I am not sure, but probably not, because if your graphic card is defective, you should also be seeing other symptoms like lines and stuff across your screen, for example. So I guess the card as such is fine. May be its just the over heating. I would suggest you clean the laptop very well, allow for more ventilation beneath the laptop and see if the temperatures are still going high.

 

The GPU is imbedded in the mobo.. so if you replace the mobo.. it will come with a new gpu as well...

 

Btw can you take a pix of your old and new heatsink.. also take down the current mobo chipset you have.. and compare if the new one will have the same or different.. You can download HWInfo32 for this..

 

Stupid question, but what do you normally sit the laptop on? A hard surface or a soft one such as a pillow or bed?

 

I use a cooling pad. If I'm somewhere w/o the pad I use a book to prop the back of the laptop up to keep some airspace between the fan and the surface, be it a bed or a table. I never allow the notebook to sit completely flat on a pillow or bed since the soft material will definitely restrict airflow and/or mechanical movement of the bottom notebook fan.

 

same here im using a coolermaster cooling pad too. It also helps in the positioning of my laptop coz its a bit inclined, if i dont have it, my laptop will be totally flat in the table coz i have a 6cell bat. Been planning to get 9cel bat, but looks like its not on stock here in dell singapore.