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Question

Wired/Wireless Internet Goes out while Playing Game - Have t

Jul 11, 2012 10:09AM PDT

Hi everyone. Hopefully I can get some help here.

System: Dell Latitude D630 Laptop with OS XP service pack 3.

Graphics card: Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset

I recently recovered from a virus (bout 2-3 weeks) and I am having a bit of a problem.

Whenever I try to play a game (WoW for instance) it runs perfectly smooth and fine for about 6-10 minutes. After said time, the game gets choppy, FPS drop significantly and my internet goes out.

The only way to fix this is to restart my computer.

As for anything else, my computer browses completely fine and there is no noticable choppiness. It should also be noted, however, that this problem with the video games and internet cutting out also applies to streaming video.

Whenever I try to stream a Netflix video on a 23" monitor, my computer (it's a laptop Dell Latitude D630 docked to a station) reacts as if it were a video game and gets choppy, and internet goes out. This DOES NOT happen whenever I am just on my laptop UNDOCKED.

None of this happens to anyone else on my network -- just my computer.

Is this a network problem? Or is this a hardware problem?

Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Given the story, tell me about your canned air use.
Jul 11, 2012 10:13AM PDT

Did you try performing your usual 6 month cycle early?

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Clarification?
Jul 11, 2012 10:21AM PDT

I am not entirely sure what you are talking about.

Are you referring to my laptop fan?

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No. I'm referring to your laptop.
Jul 11, 2012 10:22AM PDT

Laptops need cleaning from a few months to about every 6 months. I'm asking about your laptop maintenance in case you never do that.
Bob

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Ahhh sorry about that
Jul 11, 2012 10:23AM PDT

No I have not :/

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I'd do that next.
Jul 11, 2012 10:26AM PDT
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Alright sounds good.
Jul 11, 2012 10:28AM PDT

I read up somewhere that someone had a similar problem streaming his videos and he cleaned his laptop and it got better.

I'll pursue this and post if it improves at all.

Thank you

Ryan

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Negative---
Jul 11, 2012 12:23PM PDT

It seemed to run a bit longer, but to no avail, my internet was dropped once again (although FPS were fine!).

This is really starting to annoy me now :/

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Negative--
Jul 11, 2012 12:23PM PDT

It seemed to run a bit longer, but to no avail, my internet was dropped once again (although FPS were fine!).

This is really starting to annoy me now :/

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Although...
Jul 11, 2012 12:40PM PDT

I do notice that the internet and everything DOES happen once the fan runs super high for an extended time (like 3 minutes).

It's not making any rattling noises or anything - it's pretty smooth. Just kinda loud and noticeable once it picks up y'know?

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Dust
Jul 11, 2012 1:05PM PDT

Saturday I worked on a desk top computer that had a noisy fan after a few minutes of starting.
I could hear the fan change speeds and when it was making the most noise was when it was running the fastest.

Looked inside and found the CPU fan and heat-sink 70% covered in dust.

Had to remove the fan and heat-sink to clean out the dust.

Put everything back together using a fresh coat of thermal paste on the CPU and heat-sink connection.
The fan is now running quite.
The CPU was overheating due to the lack of air flow.
The fan is temperature controlled and increases speed as it senses an increase in temperature.

A clean CPU is a cool CPU.

..

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It turns out it is the fan after all.
Jul 11, 2012 2:02PM PDT

I brought in a fan that was laying around my house, put it next to my laptop and turned it on low. Now my computer functions normally and everything is good.

I'm going to go buy one of those laptop fan attachment thingys haha.

Thanks to everyone who helped!

I really appreciate it. My thanks to you, R. Proffitt Happy (you too snapshot2 Grin)

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Good to read.
Jul 11, 2012 2:33PM PDT

Until it settles down, I suggest you get it clean and use that canned air every month for a good 6 months. Then you can do the usual 6 month regimen.
Bob