Why is my i7 system SO laggy?

[PointFortyFive]

Hi, I have these specs on my Samsung laptop :

CPU : Intel Core i7 2670QM

OS : Win XP 32-bit. (Don't ask, but I need XP 32 bit for the nature of my work.)

GPU : Intel HD 3000. There's a Nvidia GT-520MX card in the laptop, but it's not working, because drivers for XP 32-bit are unavailable. (Full thread if anyone's interested : GT 520MX drivers for Win XP - Guru3D.com Forums)

RAM : 2.66 GB. It's actually 6 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz(PC3-10700), but because of my 32 bit XP, i'm forced to use less.

HDD : 1 TB SATA-II 5400 rpm

Chipset : Intel HM65



The above config is pretty decent, even with the graphics card and memory limitations. My problem is that the laptop hangs frequently and the response is extremely slow. It looks like something is bottlenecking somewhere. It takes almost 10 WHOLE minutes to boot up. Could anyone tell me what component is the culprit? It's slowness is driving me crazy. *bangs head in frustration*

PS : PLEASE don't ask me to upgrade my OS. That's not possible as it's a laptop for official purposes, and I work with several low level applications and softwares that run on XP 32-bit or lower. Not even Win 7 32 bit will do.

 

[tomys24]

may be it is running under-clocked. but why is memory at 667 mhz? AFAIK your processor supports ddr3 at 1066/1333 mhz

 

[coderunknown]

^^ DDR

 

[PointFortyFive]

may be it is running under-clocked. but why is memory at 667 mhz? AFAIK your processor supports ddr3 at 1066/1333 mhz

Sorry, it's actually at 1333 mhz. The 667 Mhz was the I/O Clock from CPU-Z. 2x667 ~ 1333. And no, it's definitely not underclocked.

^^ DDR

DDR3

 

[whitestar_999]

very hard to tell.one way i can suggest if you have a spare hard disk/laptop/pc is make an image of your existing hard disk on a spare hdd(~15-30 min depending on how full is your hdd),format & reinstall xp(~15 min) & then without installing any driver check performance.if performance is good then install drivers one by one & notice performance.if performance is still good then problem is with your existing install & best way is to keep this new install but if performance becomes bad after installing drivers or before even installing drivers then problem is with hardware & you can't do anything about it so use image to restore your old xp install & find a way to live with it.

 

[Santosh Kulkarni]

Hi,

My suggestion is to remove all services from startup option (msconfig from RUN command) and delete prefetch files and temp files and check whther performance is ok or not?

With Regards,
Santosh Kulkarni

 

[doomgiver]

Hi,

My suggestion is to remove all services from startup option (msconfig from RUN command) and delete prefetch files and temp files and check whther performance is ok or not?

With Regards,
Santosh Kulkarni

why would deleting prefetch files be of any use in his condition? infact, it might even slow it down a bit.

@OP why dont you reinstall your OS? backup/store your important data and reinstall. also, the problem is because you dont have graphics drivers. hence gpu load becomes cpu load, slowing down your laptop.

 

[d6bmg]

OS : Win XP 32-bit. (Don't ask, but I need XP 32 bit for the nature of my work.)

Makes no sense a all.
Get 64bit OS, as it can run all 32bit programs. And it have 32bit win7, win xp compatibility mode.
And again, possible cause of the system gets hanged: a process running and utilizing all resources in your laptop. Run a virus check.

 

[Santosh Kulkarni]

Hi, deleting prefetch files will make system fast not slow....

Regards,.
Santosh

why would deleting prefetch files be of any use in his condition? infact, it might even slow it down a bit.

@OP why dont you reinstall your OS? backup/store your important data and reinstall. also, the problem is because you dont have graphics drivers. hence gpu load becomes cpu load, slowing down your laptop.

 

[PointFortyFive]

Makes no sense a all.
Get 64bit OS, as it can run all 32bit programs. And it have 32bit win7, win xp compatibility mode.
And again, possible cause of the system gets hanged: a process running and utilizing all resources in your laptop. Run a virus check.

I asked the IT team to install Win XP 64 bit, but they do not have it. I use VS 2005, and I need to make binaries using the command prompt, and flash it on devices through some DOS tools. Also, my company has installed a couple of monitoring tools on everyone's laptop. Could that be the culprit too?

Viruses are non existent, since the net is heavily restricted, R/W USB access is blocked, and the virus definitions are updated almost every second day by the IT team. Heck, I'm not even allowed to take the laptop home.

also, the problem is because you dont have graphics drivers. hence gpu load becomes cpu load, slowing down your laptop.

But the HD 3000 is almost as good as a low range dedicated card. Also, shouldn't the i7 handle the load comfortably? Task manager shows the processor idling almost always. Even when compiling 10GB of code, it's max utilization is 60%. So something else apart from the CPU or the GPU is bottlenecking. That makes me think it's the HDD. But at my home laptop, I have a 5400 rpm HDD too, with i3, and 3 GB RAM, and a dedicated Radeon 5470. The home laptop is lightning fast. (I don't game, except DOTA). So it probably isn't the HDD either. That's why I'm so confused.

very hard to tell.one way i can suggest if you have a spare hard disk/laptop/pc is make an image of your existing hard disk on a spare hdd(~15-30 min depending on how full is your hdd),format & reinstall xp(~15 min) & then without installing any driver check performance.if performance is good then install drivers one by one & notice performance.if performance is still good then problem is with your existing install & best way is to keep this new install but if performance becomes bad after installing drivers or before even installing drivers then problem is with hardware & you can't do anything about it so use image to restore your old xp install & find a way to live with it.

I have other friends in my team with the EXACT same laptop and specifications. Theirs are also lagging as bad as mine. So I can rule out a bad install too. It's definitely something hardware related. OR that monitoring tool related.

Hi,

My suggestion is to remove all services from startup option (msconfig from RUN command) and delete prefetch files and temp files and check whther performance is ok or not?

With Regards,
Santosh Kulkarni

Removed temp files, no improvement. Not able to remove services from startup, cause of that stupid monitoring tool. But I had a look at them, there were only a few essential items. No bloatware or unneeded stuff.

 

[Santosh Kulkarni]

Hi,

Do one thing, go to task manager, arrange by memory consumption, see which process consuming max memory and end that process and check it... u told that laptop is official laptop, then catch ur IT team to rectify ur laptop slowness issue......

With Regards,
Santosh Kulkarni

I asked the IT team to install Win XP 64 bit, but they do not have it. I use VS 2005, and I need to make binaries using the command prompt, and flash it on devices through some DOS tools. Also, my company has installed a couple of monitoring tools on everyone's laptop. Could that be the culprit too?

Viruses are non existent, since the net is heavily restricted, R/W USB access is blocked, and the virus definitions are updated almost every second day by the IT team. Heck, I'm not even allowed to take the laptop home.




But the HD 3000 is almost as good as a low range dedicated card. Also, shouldn't the i7 handle the load comfortably? Task manager shows the processor idling almost always. Even when compiling 10GB of code, it's max utilization is 60%. So something else apart from the CPU or the GPU is bottlenecking. That makes me think it's the HDD. But at my home laptop, I have a 5400 rpm HDD too, with i3, and 3 GB RAM, and a dedicated Radeon 5470. The home laptop is lightning fast. (I don't game, except DOTA). So it probably isn't the HDD either. That's why I'm so confused.




I have other friends in my team with the EXACT same laptop and specifications. Theirs are also lagging as bad as mine. So I can rule out a bad install too. It's definitely something hardware related. OR that monitoring tool related.




Removed temp files, no improvement. Not able to remove services from startup, cause of that stupid monitoring tool. But I had a look at them, there were only a few essential items. No bloatware or unneeded stuff.

 

[doomgiver]

Hi, deleting prefetch files will make system fast not slow....

Regards,.
Santosh

do you even know what prefetch does, and how it works?

But the HD 3000 is almost as good as a low range dedicated card. Also, shouldn't the i7 handle the load comfortably? Task manager shows the processor idling almost always. Even when compiling 10GB of code, it's max utilization is 60%. So something else apart from the CPU or the GPU is bottlenecking. That makes me think it's the HDD. But at my home laptop, I have a 5400 rpm HDD too, with i3, and 3 GB RAM, and a dedicated Radeon 5470. The home laptop is lightning fast. (I don't game, except DOTA). So it probably isn't the HDD either. That's why I'm so confused.



I have other friends in my team with the EXACT same laptop and specifications. Theirs are also lagging as bad as mine. So I can rule out a bad install too. It's definitely something hardware related. OR that monitoring tool related.

what i mean is that you dont have the DRIVERS for the gpu
hence, cpu has to take up the rendering job of the gpu. think of it this way : both your onboard and nvidia card have been disabled..... get it?

what is the idle usage %?

and yes, best if you involve your IT team.

Hi,

Do one thing, go to task manager, arrange by memory consumption, see which process consuming max memory and end that process and check it... u told that laptop is official laptop, then catch ur IT team to rectify ur laptop slowness issue......

With Regards,
Santosh Kulkarni

he has got over 2 gb ram, unless he is running a lot of virtual machines on the processor, he is fine.

 

[whitestar_999]

^^no display is possible if both onboard video & graphics card are disabled.intel HD3000 is obviously working if GT520MX is disabled & like op said it is equivalent to a 520.one possible reason may be driver issue of onboard HD3000 & i am not even sure any laptop manufacturer provides official xp compatible 3rd gen core i drivers.

 

[doomgiver]

^ i didnt mean that they were not working...

as an actual real life eg :

i have a AMD 955 BE and a HD6770.
while i was installing the gpu drivers, the screen res was 1156x800 or something, and i was playing solitaire (or trying to)
it displayed an error and said : "hardware accelleration turned off. you may face problems blah blah"

the game actually ran slow... crawling more like.... this on a 955BE and a HD6770.... so i have a good reason to say that the lack of adequate drivers is the problem here.

 

[whitestar_999]

you are right in the sense that even if you don't install driver onboard graphics will work although in a much reduced capacity.however you posted "cpu has to take up the rendering job of the gpu" hence the confusion.as far as i know no laptop manufacturer provide xp drivers for their 3rd gen core i laptop which seems to be the issue here.

 

[PointFortyFive]

Hi,

Do one thing, go to task manager, arrange by memory consumption, see which process consuming max memory and end that process and check it... u told that laptop is official laptop, then catch ur IT team to rectify ur laptop slowness issue......

Max was chrome at 64 MB. Everything else in a reasonable amount. RAM usage : 50%

what i mean is that you dont have the DRIVERS for the gpu
hence, cpu has to take up the rendering job of the gpu. think of it this way : both your onboard and nvidia card have been disabled..... get it?

what is the idle usage %?

and yes, best if you involve your IT team.

Idling at 0-1%

^^no display is possible if both onboard video & graphics card are disabled.intel HD3000 is obviously working if GT520MX is disabled & like op said it is equivalent to a 520.one possible reason may be driver issue of onboard HD3000 & i am not even sure any laptop manufacturer provides official xp compatible 3rd gen core i drivers.

so i have a good reason to say that the lack of adequate drivers is the problem here.

Afaik, dedicated cards needed their own drivers, while onboard stuff like the 3000 use some default drivers that come along with windows, which is why the display is obviously working, as whitestar said. If that is not the case, is there any way to check if the correct drivers are present for the HD3000? I could post a screenshot of device manager video properties tomorrow at work, if that'd help.

Another thought : Since it's a 64 bit procy running a 32 bit OS, could the processor have some extra overhead trying to manage backward compatibility?

 

[whitestar_999]

*downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_De...OSFullname=Windows+XP++Professional*&lang=eng

almost all processors in last 4 years are 64 bit so no issues there.

 

[balaji2525]

Give a try by Reinstall the XP or install Windows 7 as secondary OS and check... AFAIK The problem should be with OS.. XP catches virus and malwares so fast... I have faced same kind of issue so many times. As it was my personal PC i reinstalled the OS and everything was working fine