Laptop upgrades

[Broomjockey]

Well, my laptop's been a bit annoying lately, and uncooperative when I'm trying to watch Flash-videos on the web, and a few other things.

I've already located a memory upgrade, I can get up to 4GB from the 2 it's at for about $70, and I'm considering getting a SSD, if the price on 128's drops a bit more (And it should, since Intel just started shipping 34nm architecture SSDs).

However, all of that's just trying to stop-gap the real issue, which is the processor hits 100% usage. I have a 17" Toshiba Satellite P200-AB7, with a 1.5 GHz Centrino Duo processor. Does anyone know if, or how to find out if it's capable of taking something with a bit more power? That, or any suggestions on what the best course of upgrades is?

Oh, and it's currently running Vista, but I'm bumping that up to Win7 come release day, if that affects anything.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...16819111009CVF Found this. It looks likely. Says Socket P, and I think my lappy is 479. I dunno if those are the same or anything. Other ones I've found are either only slightly better, for more than this, or way better for stupid amounts of money.

[TheSHAD0W]

That should be a pretty decent laptop, and I don't think upgrading your RAM, CPU or HD is going to help you very much. I'm thinking you have some resident apps that are eating your system, maybe Sidebar apps, or possibly malware. Check task manager for specific tasks that are taking the lion's share of your CPU. There are also some Windows services that you may be able to shut down.

[Broomjockey]

Yeah, I didn't think the RAM was going to help much. It rarely breaks 70% usage.

No malware. I've got Spy-Bot going all the time, and I do semi-frequent sweeps with various online scanners. Don't have sidebar turned on. Lions share of CPU is opera.exe (my browser) and svchost, I'm assuming the container process for the browser's. They hit 80+% when the chugging starts. I also did the Services optimization ages ago.

[TheSHAD0W]

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Something's not right.

Throw Firefox on there, doesn't have to be your default browser, see if browsing around with it causes the same behavior.

[Broomjockey]

see if browsing around with it causes the same behavior.

Yes. Yes it does. Took a few extra seconds though.

[TheSHAD0W]

You may also want to check the Event Viewer for system errors having to do with hard drive access, and check under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers in Device Manager to be sure they're all using DMA modes. If your hard drive is running in compatibility mode it will cause serious slow-downs. Either of these could indicate your hard drive is going bad.

[Broomjockey]

No errors in the last hour in the event log, though a parallel port driver service failed to start in the last 24.

How would I tell if it's using DMA mode? It says "This device is working properly," in the General screen.

[Geek King]

What about the network card or network connection? If the browser is recieving a lot of bad packets, it could be pegging the processor trying to handle them all while looking for the few good ones. Not sure if you have a spare card to try, but you might want to see if running it on a different connection clears up some of the problem.

[Broomjockey]

Seems weird that it would only do it while I'm watching flash videos, but I'll give using a CAT5 connection a try, rather than the wireless. Don't have a spare laptop NIC

[Broomjockey]

Still stutters and chugs on CAT 5. I doubt that the NIC can be replaced, so is there any way to tell if it's actually bad, or if it's just that Flash hates my computer with the power of 1000 firey suns?

[crashhelmet]

You mentioned plugging in an Ethernet cable, so is it safe to assume you're normally running wireless through a router? If so, try checking for a firmware update for the router. That might be where the issue lies. Just make sure you're connected via Ethernet if/when you upgrade it.

As far as Vista is concerned, we've seen several instances where there's a conflict of some sort between IPv4 and Ipv6. Right now, pretty much everything runs off of IPv4. You can go into your connection properties for your wireless and local connections and uncheck the Internet Protocol Version 6 and reboot.

I'd also start looking at firewall and other security apps to make sure they're not trying to control too much.

For the processor upgrade, be very VERY careful. Laptops are behind desktops in processor speed due to heat issues. Your laptop might not be equipped to cool an upgrade properly.

Hope this helps.

CH

[Daskinor]

Ok I have seen a rare issue happen with adobe flash.

You can give this a shot

Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc and locate the 'hosts' file.

Make a backup copy of this file before you edit it.

Open the file and you should see this line in it.

::1 localhost

Put a in front of it # so it looks like;

#::1 localhost

This will stop the computer from trying to look at itself and other computers using ipv6 among other stupid things vista does.

Next add this line

127.0.0.1 *Computer Name*

and

127.0.0.1 *FQDN* (if attached to a domain)



Now if this does not solve your issue make sure you restore the original file.

[Mr. Rager!]

I don't think it's your hardware. I had a similar issue and it turned out to be a bad driver of all things.

I have a Toshiba A135-S4487 with my main drive now being a Hitachi 200GB 7200 RPM

I have basically the same processor as you, with it being an Intel Core 2 Centrino T5500 which runs 1.6Ghz and I do have the 4GB of RAM on a 32-bit OS (so, 3GB) and my average CPU usage is 8-14%.

Assuming your motherboard is only capable of a 667Mhz FSB, and your socket is a PPGA478, you could get T7400 Core 2 Duo Centrino and that would work. The T7400 runs at 2.16GHz

Just from past experience though, check your drivers. Have you added any new hardware before this started to happen?

[Broomjockey]

Have you added any new hardware before this started to happen?

No. I have not added any hardware, connected any devices via USB, or anything.

Re: Previous suggestions: I don't have a firewall beyond that in my router, and my desktop is hooked up to the same router and my desktop's fine, so it's nothing to do with my router. I'll try the hosts file though, jic, and the IPv6.