Performance halved peridoically

I have been having a few issues with my laptop recently. Namely, after extended periods of play, my FPS will drop to half its normal value for around 40 seconds at time. This happens about 40 minutes into any game and then once every 5 minutes after that.

I have checked my temps and am running normal. My idle temp for the GPU however is about 15 Celsius above what it was a few months ago.

I have been told to dust the inside of the unit as this could cause the issue but, two of the twelve (twelve!) screws for the main compartment become worn down and are currently irremovable, denying me access to the GPU and CPU fans (and the empty second HDD bay which I will soon be in need of).

I have nowhere near me where I could buy any compressed air as I am currently in rural Japan. Any ideas what's causing the issue and what I should do?

Also, Microsoft Outlook will randomly open, force tab me out of whatever I'm done, and ask to be configured every once and a while, slowing things down to a crawl. Weird. Did a spyware and virus scan and it came up empty - running very, very low on HDD space though and at 20% fragmentation...

 

If your idle temp runs 15 degrees higher than before, you can be almost certain that it's the dust, unless your GPU doesn't downclock according to powermizer. Have your checked your GPU frequencies during normal usage? What's your GPU temp under heavy load?

I would try to reinstall your system first and see how that goes, if the problem still persists, there is nothing much left to do other than blowing out the dust inside.

Edit: also try to change another set of drivers and see if it helps.

 

Under heavy load it's usually around 88 Celsius or 90. Guessing my only option is compressed air? No idea where I could buy that. I've been told to avoid using a hair dryer as a makeshift cleaner due to static electricity. Attempted to use some cotton buds to clean out what I could (managed to partially lift the lid with the last to screws still attached) but that didn't do much.

Don't have my original Windows 7 disc with me - will likely need to get that sent out first. Sounds like I need a full wipe of my HDD anyway.

Changed drivers twice, no difference.

 

While 90c is quite high, but it still shouldn't be high enough to force the GPU to throttle, if you don't have windows 7 disc with you, try to do another round of virus/spyware scan with different virus protection/spyware scanning softwares, sometimes some viruses/spywares can be VERY persistent, then you can safely eliminate the factor.

 

I should try that - did a full system scan with F-Secure the other day but it scanned less than 100,000 files which seemed way short of the total I normally have.

Spybot Search and Destroy came up with the normal tracking cookies etc. but nothing severe.

 

Back up important files into a external storage

Download windows 7 (yes its legal, check the windows 7 legal installation and download thread)

wipe out the rebel scum (format the pc)

Install all the updates possible, and install microsoft security essentials

plug the external drive and scan for viruses

transfer the files back.

Heat is really the problem, try to raise the back of the notebook, with anything available

 

I keep a book underneath when playing games for an hour or more - does the trick a little. Going to try and see if there's a local electronics store near me that might be able to open the back. Maybe the fan on the GPU is loose? I do move the laptop around a lot and that would explain the lack of cooling.

Still, the GPU temp isn't abnormally high so no idea why it's throttling itself during heavy loads.

Just tried an F-secure scan and, again, it only did 55000 files. The windows defender scanned over 750000 so I know something is wrong. Definitely need to format this - hopefully it'll help.

Contacted my manufacturer and they want me to send it in for repairs. Across the pacific. And pay for shipping/insurance myself. Hoping a reinstall and compressed air/a good dusting will avert that.

I have been warned that if I don't send it back, they will mark that in their records and take it into account should something go wrong in the future...

P.S. I'm from Curitiba

 

Sounds like the CPU to me not the GPU, normally the GPU will lock at a lower clock and won't go back up till its restarted the CPU will however. Whats the CPU temps during heavy load?

 

CPU after 15 minutes of Crysis 2 (gorgeous game, beautifully optimised but that's beside the point) is at 70 Celsius max while GPU is at 90 Celsius.

Probably not the former then. Hoping it's a dust issue that can be resolved. If I can't get access to clean it decently due to the dodgy screws, I'll try the full reinstall and see if that helps.

EDIT: Just ran Auslogics Disc Defrag tool and apparently my HDD is 38% fragmented. Definitely running a thorough defrag tomorrow to improve things temporarily before a full system reboot later this week when I have time.

EDIT 2: Just ran the full defrag, down to 6% which is great. Also managed to clean out the fans with cotton buds - levered the hatch open enough that even with the 2 screws preventing me from opening it fully, I could still just about reach the fans. Required some taped together cotton buds in order to reach but, 12 used, filthy cotton buds later, it seems a lot cleaner. Idle temp down by about 12 degrees Celsius. Problem fixed? Hope so.

EDIT 3: Nope, idle temps and max temps still higher than normal. Must have been low as I just turned on the laptop before measuring. Dammit...