Inspiron 1520 sluggish HELP!

Hi all,

I have a Dell Inspiron 1520 with Vista home premium and 4GB ram. I love this laptop and wouldnt change anything about it, except that Im having one small problem, when using on battery power, everything becomes very sluggish and slow the cpu usage jumps up sometimes to 99% the CPU heat drops low as if not using full power. games become choppy, flash games become ridiculous, and movies depending on their quality might also become choppy.

I cant properly use the laptop unless on AC power.

can there be some sort of damage to the windows power management or speed step technology, is that in windows or in bios or on motherboard??

appreciate all help.

 

Check your power settings? Did this suddenly start happening recently, or has it always been a problem?

 

it started happening after about 3 years use . So I formatted, or actualy did a factory restore, i dont think it stop, i dont quit remember but i know that soon after the restore it happened again or that i noticed it again after about a week from the restore. I dont remember if i used it on battery power within that first week :s I did the restore for that particular issue.

Soon after I had to replace the original battery but this is not an original or oem one. Can it be some weaker power battery issue, original one loosing power and second not original one improper power? how can i check or find out?

 

The heat could be coming from your processor, what type of processor do you have? T5250? T7250?

Also, much like you I am using the Dell Inspiron 1520 as well, the best battery to get is this one, it works just as well as the OEM replacements.

 

Its got T7500 CPU, however I mention that the heat DROPS at same time that the slowness/slugishness happens much like it does when on power save mode when the speed step kickin down.

does windows control the cpu multiplier?

 

if i turn off speedstep in bios dos that give me max or minimum clock speed? thanks

 

You can control the CPU multiplier through RM Clock which is available in the undervolting guide, but as for Speed Step, I'm not sure I understand that enough to give you a proper response.

 

That'll give you 1.20 GHz on the T7500. However, if you use ThrottleStop after turning off Intel Enhanced SpeedStep Technology in the BIOS, you can then set the clock to any speed from 1.20 GHz to 2.40 GHz (2.40 GHz requires Dual IDA, explained in the ThrottleStop thread). So although by default it gives you a low clock, it is one way that you can set any clock speed you want and even overclock your CPU slightly.

If you do decide to try that, especially if you try overclocking, I recommend monitoring temperatures - I use I8Kfangui on my 1520. I'd also recommend cleaning out the dust first either way if you haven't done so in the past 18 months. By the 24 month mark (since last cleaning) it really builds up.

That said, this does sound odd, and it could be that the battery isn't up to snuff. I replaced my original one, which now lasts about 40 minutes, with a Rayovac one from BatteriesPlus that has served me well, but it was also noticeably more expensive than the one Mihael Keehl linked (which I've never used). Does your original battery still have any life in it? Even if it only lasts 20 minutes that would be enough to figure out if the battery's the problem.