Periodic freezing for 1-5 minutes

[arke]

First, my system specs:

Medion MD42200 Laptop
Intel Centrino M
512MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 Mobility

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I recently reinstalled Windows since it was getting sluggish - Desktop operations and things like Web browsing were affected, Games still ran fine. After the reinstall, the Desktop stuff is better. However, there is a new problem. 3D Games (such as GTA:SA, Racer) will periodically freeze for a period of 1 to 5 minutes. I did an update of the video drivers, which didn't help (and I was using the ones that I got on CD before the reinstall and those worked fine anyway).

I did a few more tests to gather what happened. I set up my TV as a second monitor, and had the task manager on it while I was playing GTA:SA on the main screen, and had a clock next to my monitor. The freezing happens every 3-10 minutes, during which time the computer completely freezes for about 1-5 minutes. Sometimes, the task manager updates just as the freezing starts or in the middle. I told the task manager to sort by CPU useage, and during the freezing, the System process was using something in the 90s range of %CPU. The same thing happens with Racer, except that Racer drops to an FPS of about 0.5 instead of completely freezing (probably because its not as resource intensive). However, even then things like Ctrl+Alt+Del, Ctrl+Shift+Esc, the numlock key, and all those intresting key things don't do a thing.

Thanks for your help ahead of time

 

[Ronco Rox]

you might have programs running in the background. either open up the processes and close some programs down or go to the startup menu and disable programs from running in the begining of the computers startup.

 

[arke]

you might have programs running in the background. either open up the processes and close some programs down or go to the startup menu and disable programs from running in the begining of the computers startup.

Negative. I usually turn off pretty much everything before I start a game, and I tweaked the startup stuff (via msconfig). Also, its the System process doing it and only when doing 3D games so I don't think it could be another application thats running.

But thanks anyway.

 

[prosser13]

Can you check the temperatures?

What are they at?

 

[~mr mixx~]

how long have you had the lappy for? when was the last time you done a defrag of the hhd?, i do one every 4 months. also have you cleaned out all the junk files using a utility like cc cleaner /or window washer ?

 

[arke]

Can you check the temperatures?

What are they at?

80-90 (on the old install it was a bit better since I undervolted slightly but I haven't done that yet because I wanna get rid of this problem first)

how long have you had the lappy for? when was the last time you done a defrag of the hhd?, i do one every 4 months. also have you cleaned out all the junk files using a utility like cc cleaner /or window washer ?

Its a new windows install, a week old.

And I've had the lappy for 1.5 years now.

 

[~mr mixx~]

well depending apon how big your hhd is and how much percentage is used up, this will play a big part in computer slowdown.there are some tweaks you can do to help speed things up...but i really don't have time to make up a list for you.

jusk the below link for ideas for speed..

http://computerforums.org/showthread.php?t=40518

 

[arke]

well, i figured it might have something to do with something i installed, so i wiped windows again, installed only the drivers, and ran racer (which doesnt need an install) ... sure enough, 10-15 minutes later the same thing happens. ARGH!

Somebody suggested GPU overheating so I'm gonna take a look at that.

 

[LambOfGod]

you arnt overclocking your CPU/or Videocard are you?

 

[arke]

Nope