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    Skipping/Slow M140

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by E1505Guy, Jul 20, 2006.

  1. E1505Guy

    E1505Guy Notebook Consultant

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    Decided to play some old school games today on my M140 and was surprised at the results. While playing both Total Annihilation and Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2, the animation on screen would freeze for a second every 10-15 seconds, like the machine couldn't handle it. I have a decent processor and 2 GB of memory. What the heck...I only have 30 processes running!

    This has occasionally happened in DVD movies as well.

    The machine was reformatted only a few months ago (same symptoms before reformat). The machine is routinely kept free of spyware and viruses, and I use CCleaner daily. It has been defragged recently. Any ideas?
     
    E1505Guy, Jul 20, 2006
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  2. Amber

    Amber Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    Could be antivirus/firewall running a scan in the background. I would try turn off all of you programs, and see if you get better results.

    Did you check task manager at the time to see if you were maxing out on your CPU?
     
    Amber, Jul 20, 2006
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  3. Elderlycrawfish

    Elderlycrawfish Notebook Consultant

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    Running on battery/power conserving settings perhaps?
     
    Elderlycrawfish, Jul 20, 2006
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  4. E1505Guy

    E1505Guy Notebook Consultant

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    For the games I used NHC to set the CPU at Max Performance. I'm running AVG Free antivirus, no scan running in the bg at the time; use only the Windows firewall. Will have to check task manager however.

    But I just don't understand it, I could play these games easily on my old PIII desktop with no problems what so ever. Now on the M140 I can't and its newer tech? Please please please don't be a hardware problem...I'd have to call Dell...
     
    E1505Guy, Jul 20, 2006
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  5. E1505Guy

    E1505Guy Notebook Consultant

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    Task manager is not running at 100%.
     
    E1505Guy, Jul 21, 2006
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  6. gridtalker

    gridtalker Notebook Virtuoso

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    Your laptop might be getting to hot or there is something running in the background
     
    gridtalker, Jul 21, 2006
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  7. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

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    What kind of video cards to the games require? Your XPS M140 only has an integrated GMA900.
     
    Charles P. Jefferies, Jul 21, 2006
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  8. E1505Guy

    E1505Guy Notebook Consultant

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    The games do not require a discrete video card and as stated before, they run on the old Intel Extreme Graphics chipset in my desktop with no problem. The GMA 900 is much better than that.
     
    E1505Guy, Jul 21, 2006
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  9. jzephyr

    jzephyr Notebook Geek

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    Could it be that you're playing on the battery instead of with the power plugged in?
     
    jzephyr, Jul 21, 2006
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  10. E1505Guy

    E1505Guy Notebook Consultant

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    Power is plugged in, notebook hardware control is set to have the CPU at max performance.
     
    E1505Guy, Jul 21, 2006
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  11. Elderlycrawfish

    Elderlycrawfish Notebook Consultant

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    It's a longshot, but you mentioned you've got AVG running, though not scanning in the background.... maybe try turning the program off entirely? How 'bout wireless, is that on?

    What drivers are you using for the GMA? The Dell ones or the intel ones? Again, a longshot, but maybe there's something going on there too, or with the Intel graphics settings.....
     
    Elderlycrawfish, Jul 21, 2006
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  12. E1505Guy

    E1505Guy Notebook Consultant

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    Wireless and AVG were on, I'll try turning them off. I'm running the latest Intel drivers for the GMA 900. Settings are at default.
     
    E1505Guy, Jul 21, 2006
    #12