HL2 Huge framerate drop- help me figure it out

Hey guys. I just went to play HL2 and CS:S after about a month and a half of downtime. Now the framerate is so bad and jumpy i cant stand to play it. I checked netgrph and the framerate is about 12-15 FPS. I dont know what the FPS used to be when i played a while ago because it was SOO smooth i just never bothered to check. All the settings are the same as they have always been when i installed the game, just set to the application preference. But now even when I tried to put the resolution even lower and everything else on low quality it only helped by about 3-5 FPS and looked awful.

My computer:
Core2Duo 1.83, geforce 7400 512mb (yes it really is), 1gb ram, XP Pro sp2

Basically i had not played in over a month because i was backpacking, and though i had my computer with me the entire time, i have very good protection and dont think anyhting got damaged...? OS and everyhting else works fine and flies.

The only software that i cant think of that i added since i last played was an upgrade to Pidgin 2.1.0 then to 2.1.1. But i dont see how that could affect anything?

When i used to play sometime i would keep pidgin open in the background and it still ran smooth as a whistle... and right now as in the past i always have Rocketdock running in the background.

I use LV2G Driver 8425 and havent changed it since i got my computer.

The only other thing that i can think of that happened to my computer in that time is that i ran out of disk space. Turned off system restore. Wiped out a ton of crap. Turned system restore back on. Now i have around 30% free diskspace on a 15 GB primary partition.

Thanks!

 

Hi try to see the task manager if dont have any programs using cpu too much. Or chek your settings and drivers because of system restore may something changed to worst. ok Wheb you figure it out please post the problem and the solution, I want to know what can done it. Good luck.

 

I checked task manager, nothing else is using up CPU while the game is running. And how am i suppost to check driver and settings? i already stated what driver im using and what the game settings are set to...

Ive also uninstalled pidgin 2.1.1, then ran HL2. no difference. so i reinstalled it again.

I really just dont understand what happened. This game used to fly. and i really dont have anything on this computer. very few programs and apps and very few files.

 

*off topic: he awrowinged do you play america's army.

 

No. I only have hl2 and cs:s. Why?

Any help or advice with the above?

 

I play on a server a guy named aerowing plays on....just curious

It would be a pain in the ass but you could reinstall windows....or try rolling back to a date when it worked well. Also try some different drives (the mobile force drivers are good)

 

Check your cpu and gpu temps to make sure they aren't outrageously high (could be causing them to clock down).

 

If Vista, check power settings not set to "Power Saver", or even "Balanced".

 

OK weird thing. Yesterday. i turned on my computer and didnt do anything but start Steam in offline mode and launch HL2... and boom 120 fps....

Ill let you know when i figure out exactly what i am running or booting that happens to kill my fps in the game.