Laptop Prob

[Dingodog]

Running XP Pro on a 8 year old Dell inspiron, the cpu fans are running constantly and if I look in windows task manager under the performance tab the cpu usage is 100% all the time. The 40gig hd is only half full and there are'nt that many programmes installed, its as if there is something running in the background all the time, any ideas why its doing this???

 

[daveleebond]

taskmgr->processes tab

click on CPU column header to sort by usage.

Apart from system idle, what ones are on the top?

 

[Dingodog]

Hi thanks for the reply,
iexplore.exe 58,328k
explorer.exe 13,492k
These are the top 2

 

[daveleebond]

if you right click on iexplore(internet explorer) and end process, does your cpu usage go down?

 

[Dingodog]

No it stays the same :-(((

 

[Lordakura]

how many other programs are running with iexplore? Does your cpu usage dive down if you disconnect the internet connection?

Also first off I would look at doing a scan with a decent anti spyware program, ie adaware or an equivilant just to rule that out of the list.

What state is the hard drive in? how old is it and has it been scaned for errors / defragged recently?

With the fan running constantly all the time I would be slightly leaning towards that the cpu is over heating and thermal throttling has come in to slow your cpu down hense the speed - fan issues.

Whats the laptop feel like? does it feel red hot on top of the key pad and are all the vents clear from any dust / obstructions that you can see?

Sorry about the mass of questions im just trying to get a feel for how the laptop is behaving with out being able to prod it in person

 

[hoppy]

how many other programs are running with iexplore? Does your cpu usage dive down if you disconnect the internet connection?

Also first off I would look at doing a scan with a decent anti spyware program, ie adaware or an equivilant just to rule that out of the list.

What state is the hard drive in? how old is it and has it been scaned for errors / defragged recently?

With the fan running constantly all the time I would be slightly leaning towards that the cpu is over heating and thermal throttling has come in to slow your cpu down hense the speed - fan issues.

Whats the laptop feel like? does it feel red hot on top of the key pad and are all the vents clear from any dust / obstructions that you can see?

Sorry about the mass of questions im just trying to get a feel for how the laptop is behaving with out being able to prod it in person

I think your questions are fair enough mate.
I would simply start with a good clean as i know it affects my pc badly if i dont do it once a month.
Ideally you want an earth strap on your wrist and some good tools handy a can of air and the manual if possible.
You didnt say if you have any utility programs installed or how often you maintain your pc.
It may be boring but its essential to maintain your hardware and software.
If a clean dosent sort it out then post back.

 

[Dazza]

As well the above, try this...

Check for any updated drivers, especially Chipset, VGA and Sound. It's been known for a buggy driver to cause this sort of behaviour sometimes...

 

[Lordakura]

I think your questions are fair enough mate.
I would simply start with a good clean as i know it affects my pc badly if i dont do it once a month.
Ideally you want an earth strap on your wrist and some good tools handy a can of air and the manual if possible.
You didnt say if you have any utility programs installed or how often you maintain your pc.
It may be boring but its essential to maintain your hardware and software.
If a clean dosent sort it out then post back.

indeed and if you wanted to poke around and didn't have an ESD wrist strap available you could just keep the power lead plugged in but switched off, although saying this now im not sure if this would work with a laptop as im not sure if the earth on the power block of the laptop goes straight down to earth or to the neutral leg of the transformer, but for PC's deffo works

 

[Bally12345]

Try running your laptop in safe mode and see what it is like then, in safe mode everything but the essentials are loaded so your laptop should run ok... If it doesnt then you more than likely have some malware/spyware/virus etc...

I would recommend installing the following apps:
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (Anti Virus)
SUPERAntiSpyware Professional (Spyware Remover)
Revo Uninstaller (To uninstall unwanted/unused apps)
CCleaner (To remove all temp files etc, and fix reg entries)

The other option is to backup everything up on to a usb drive then format and install windows again from scratch.

 

[Dingodog]

Wow, soooo much to check out lol, ok I'll go thro them all and come back to all your kind replies, many thanks.

 

[Dingodog]

Soted, Mallwarebytes sorted it out, thaks to everyone