Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Dan White, Edmonton shares a problem about laptop

Jan 7, 2014 7:57PM PST

Hi, my name is Dan White. I am from Edmonton. I am a newly registered member of this community. I want to ask a question regarding my laptop which has become a cause of concern for me. I use Dell laptop and Inspiron model. I have installed Windows XP operating system in my PC. My problem is my laptop runs very slow and it processes information very slow. It gets shut down automatically when I work 2-3 hours. The monitor of the laptop has a horizontal line in on the middle portion. Please tell me the reasons of the problem and suggestions also.

Thanks
Dan White, Edmonton

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Re: XP laptop
Jan 7, 2014 8:06PM PST

Generally, XP laptops has reached their end-of-life point, unless you used it only seldom.

That horizontal line most likely is a hardware issue. That slowness can be hardware also, or it is a malware infection or just the usual overload of running big programs or many programs on an old machine with a slow processor and not enough RAM.

I'd start with the hardware angle. Download and burn a Linux disk (or make a Linux bootable USB-stick if your laptop supports booting from USB) and see if the screen is OK now. If it isn't, it's time for a new laptop, unless the image on an external monitor is good and you don't mind using that.
If it's all fine in Linux, find your install disks (Windows + drivers) and do a clean install of Windows XP to see if it's fast again.

Kees

- Collapse -
Dan White Edmonton - Regarding laptop
Jan 12, 2014 5:18PM PST

Hello Kees_B, I am thankful to you for your kind suggestions. If I increase RAM power (currently using 512 MB RAM) up to 1 or 2 GB, can it remove the slow processing of my laptop?

Thanks
Dan White, Edmonton

- Collapse -
Re: adding RAM
Jan 12, 2014 5:32PM PST

It wouldn't become slower. It's quite likely it becomes faster. But with an XP laptop it's up to you decide if it's worth the money.
That automatic shutdown after 2-3 hours might mean it needs cleaning (removing dust from fans and the inside). That might make it faster also, if it's smart enough to slow down because of heat building up.

And there's always the issue of the bad display..

Kees

- Collapse -
Dan White Edmonton : regarding laptop
Jan 13, 2014 5:34PM PST

Hi Kees_B, I think I should try once as you have suggested about fan cleaning. Because dust is visible inside the laptop. Thanks for suggesting these useful ideas.

Dan White, Edmonton

- Collapse -
Look into
Jan 16, 2014 2:48AM PST

You didn't any details of your Dell laptop product info. It certainly helps. However, since this is XP based as others have posted to you, clean(blow out) the air vents and houseclean the s/w as well. If you don't require or seldom use some s/w, remove it. If you check the specs of your laptop add all the ram it can install. Next, be sure you have a good battery as well. If you find the video line running in your display is constant and truly a h/w fault, you should consider getting a replacement laptop as cost maybe reasonable to move on on top of all the suggestions that may not cost much.

If you haven't yet, then make back-ups and copies of your super critical data to safeguard just in case this laptop decides to belly-up at a later date. A latter date maybe sooner than you think. Wink

tada -----Willy Happy