My laptop working too hard

[Kymberly_S]

Hi,

I have a laptop that shouldn't sound like it has 10 programs open and finding it difficult to function as it should. It makes a whirring noise (no disk in) and I can not display thumbnails as the images they are (photos) due to everything on the screen shutting down and the laptop just goes back to the desktop etc.. If I am using a 'tablet' or have another screen attached it just stops all the time.. Really annoying as I waited forever for a decent computer I could do graphics on and now I have this one (for the last year or there abouts) but it is more annoying than the last computer..

Under display adapters in Device Manager it says
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470

my daughters friend has Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family


This is one of the error messages I get..
Display Driver has stopped responding and has recovered
driver display atikmdag stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

I don't get it because my daughters friend can have here photo thumbnails showing so you can actually see what the photo's look like and not some generic thumbnail..

oh. and I have a 1 gig separate graphics card.

This is my system. www.users.on.net/~kymsclan/system.jpg

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

ur pcsounds like it needs a cleanup and fresh drivers

 

[Kymberly_S]

yes I thought that .. but where .?

 

[Kreij]

Not sure what the whirring noise that you describe is being caused by.
It is a fan? Is the laptop overheating and throttling down?

In any case, I would clean out the video drivers and load the latest for the m3470.

 

[moocow0463]

i actually had a HDD sound like it was whirring once, but check the fans also

 

[DirectorC]

The graphics chip is overheating. Have someone open it and clean it out. The fan is probably clogged/dying/dead.

 

[Kymberly_S]

This computer which was supposed to end all my issues with not being able to have photoshop, the 2nd screen.. dreamweaver.. etc working at the same time has barely been used. Due to this issue.. which I had with an old desktop that was toooo old to sustain the software.. etc..

I know it is not clogged with anything due to it being so new.

I had to change the thumbnails of images so it only showed the generic icon to stop the computer from automatically shutting down all the stuff I had opened. And.. it still carries on like I have got the 2nd screen hooked up and the tablet, photoshop etc hooked up and up and running?

Oh.. sorry.. just noticed there were many responses here and I only received 1 email that took me to the last response from DirectC..

Has anyone else had this issue with Vista? This is the first computer I have had vista on and I find it slow and cumbersome.. no offense anyone hey.

Kreij..? the m3470 ? That would be suitable for my computer and better than what I am running now?

Here is my graphics info
www.users.on.net/~kymsclan/graphics_info.jpg

 

[DirectorC]

Fan doesn't have to be clogged to be dead or dying. Could just have been a bad motor. It's definitely not supposed to be making a whirring sound ya know? Much less shutting off during graphics intensive applications. A hardware problem--overheating graphics chip--sounds most likely.

You COULD give the latest Catalyst video drivers a shot.

 

[Kymberly_S]

hrrrmmm... do you think it is that difficult for me to check myself.. I mainly deal with desktops although I have fixed an older laptop that my niece spilt her cordial into.. ??
Talking bout the fan here..

Also.. the catalyst driver.. I just would update my graphics card driver with that or uninstall the other driver and then try the catalyst one?

 

[DirectorC]

If you feel comfortable cracking open the laptop and having a look then I would say hell yes!

And about the driver... err I just found out that driver package is like a year old. Go for the latest Catalyst drivers. The only problem is AMD doesn't have it on their page when you select your laptop model. I'm guessing if you just download the latest Catalyst drivers for whatever modern Radeon video card they will work. You could try seeing if Windows Update has the drivers, too.

 

[Kymberly_S]

Okie doke.. thanks for your help. I have to do some things now.. and hopefully get to this a little later.. (hate the thought I opening the laptop.. not that I don't feel comfortable with that.. just that 'everything' is soooo time consuming.. I wish someone else would do stuff for me for a change. Am I the only one that gets sick and tired of fixing computers? Or.. am I just a winger..

 

[Solaris17]

Okie doke.. thanks for your help. I have to do some things now.. and hopefully get to this a little later.. (hate the thought I opening the laptop.. not that I don't feel comfortable with that.. just that 'everything' is soooo time consuming.. I wish someone else would do stuff for me for a change. Am I the only one that gets sick and tired of fixing computers? Or.. am I just a winger..

nope their are days when i dont even want to boot my system or see a PC and i sit and watch a movie because i get soooooo tired of fixing them.

 

[DirectorC]

My only problem is with cars. But that's my fault because I keep buying thousand-dollar clunkers expecting them to be even semi-reliable.

With computers though, ehh shit's gonna happen, and there's not much in the way of maintenance that you can do about it aside from a good air dusting every month or two.

 

[Solaris17]

My only problem is with cars. But that's my fault because I keep buying thousand-dollar clunkers expecting them to be even semi-reliable.

With computers though, ehh shit's gonna happen, and there's not much in the way of maintenance that you can do about it aside from a good air dusting every month or two.

very true. however i spend more on my PC then I do on a car. so whe the pc breaks it makes me more angry.