BleepingComputer.com: All game drastically slow down

6/13/2009, 07:35:07

Hi. My Dell Inspiron 600m does not like to play hidden object games. I can play almost any game that is not graphics intense, but once I play a simple game such as Fishdom H2O (from Big Fish Games), the system drastically slows down. Even after exiting the game, the computer is slow. The problem occurs with any of the hidden object games from any of the game suppliers. (Since I don't play any other type of graphics intense game, I do not know if it occurs with those types of games.)

I went to bigfishgames.com and found an answer (update video card driver), but that did not solve the problem.

The slow down also occurs while watching Netflix movies. The movie starts to show individual scene pictures, but the sound stays at its regular pace.

The slow down usually occurs after about fifteen minutes of play or movie watching.

Other than buying a new laptop or pc (out of the question), are there any other fixes?

Thanks,

Cass


Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp.080413-2111)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: Inspiron 600m
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A17
Processor: Intel® Pentium® M processor 1.70GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 483MB used, 3516MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode


ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI MOBILITY/RADEON 9000 AGP (0x4C66)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C66&SUBSYS_01BE1028&REV_02
Display Memory: 64.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Default Monitor
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6587 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 11/10/2005 22:49:44, 252416 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes

Have you cleaned your laptop out lately? Blow some compressed air through the vents.

When your computer is running slow, open task manager (ctrl+alt+delete). Go to the processes tab and sort the items by what's using the most cpu. Also, what is your total cpu usage? It should say at the bottom of task manager.

My laptop is cleaned physically and dynamically each week.

The task manager reads that the CPU usage is at 100% and most of it is taken up by the system idle process. (Whatever that is!)

Also, because it is a laptop, I have it on slats that allow air to flow beneath it and a desk fan blowing at it.

Can you minimize out of a game (alt+tab) while it's running, then check task manager? It's normal for system idle process to be using 100% cpu usage while you're not doing much of anything.