OS reinstall

Maragon - Dreamweaver

So had problems the other day with my comp (blue screen of death and all that) unrelated tot he game. Had to wipe and reinstall OS. I had vista but had a copy of XP which I decided to install instead because I hated vista issues.

The game played resonably well on vista. didnt get an awesome framerate even on lowest graphics but still easily playable.

After reinstalling the OS i updated chipset drivers sound video networking all that. installed antivirus, updated directx, defragged, ran windows update and think that was abt it.

It seems to get better fps ingame but I am having more issues with random lag. not constant just stutters every few minutes. is there anything else i might want to look at or update to run the game better. XP is using abt half the system resources vista was so i would expect the game to run a bit better.

PS defrag was after game install. I also took the opportunity to clean my laptops cooling unit (was really dusty).

thanks

Hardware
dell inspiron 1525
intel dual core T5550 1.83 ghz i think
3 gig ram
onboard graphics intel express 965 chipsetb:embarrass
wireless n network on a dsl connection 1mb/sec

darthpanda16

It'll be helpful to us if you tell us some of your computer's information.

1) What is the make and model number of your computer?

2) Please also tell us whether you are running a 32bit or 64bit version of Windows. You can find out in Windows by going here: Start > Control Panel > System & Maintenance > System. Then look under System > System Type. It will then display 32bit Operating System or 64bit Operating System. Include that info with the info we ask for below.

3) To create a dxdiag log, go to Start, click on Run, then type in dxdiag and press Enter. Click on Save All Information as a text file (on your Desktop as an example.
If you are using Vista or 7, go to the Start Menu, click on the Search menu and type dxdiag.exe.

4) Copy and paste the top half of your dxdiag into your forum post (that means 50% of the text). If you have Vista, please take out the (TM) (the trademark symbol) out of the text file, as the forums will cut it off and won't display the rest of the text.

If you have a 64bit system, please click on the 64bit Dxdiag/DirectX button to save the correct log file. This is important so that we can help you find the right software for your system.

We'll take a look at it, and offer our advice (our our super cool and helpful community might beat us to answering things for you).

Maragon - Dreamweaver

1) What is the make and model number of your computer?
dell inspiron 1525
intel dual core T5550 1.83 ghz i think
3 gig ram
onboard graphics intel express 965 chipset

2) Please also tell us whether you are running a 32bit or 64bit version of Windows. You can find out in Windows by going here: Start > Control Panel > System & Maintenance > System. Then look under System > System Type. It will then display 32bit Operating System or 64bit Operating System. Include that info with the info we ask for below.
windows home x86 sp3

3) To create a dxdiag log, go to Start, click on Run, then type in dxdiag and press Enter. Click on Save All Information as a text file (on your Desktop as an example.
If you are using Vista or 7, go to the Start Menu, click on the Search menu and type dxdiag.exe.

4) Copy and paste the top half of your dxdiag into your forum post (that means 50% of the text). If you have Vista, please take out the (TM) (the trademark symbol) out of the text file, as the forums will cut it off and won't display the rest of the text.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zu2dltl2xnz

my main question is what would the difference be in moving from vista to xp. I would have expected xp to run a bit smoother due to less resources used by the OS. And was there some driver I may have neglected to install.

LloydAsplund - Sanctuary

Its a conspiracy. Microsoft is telling you to purchase Windows 7.

Ok, maybe I shouldnt do this in tech support. b:surrender

/Billion - Heavens Tear

cant say that im much laptop knowledge but ill put in my 2cents.

first off dont expect to get many frames with an onboard gpu. There are many video cards that are pretty decent for their price in the 50-100$ range.

Also, my friend had a problem with online gaming on his lappy, the problem ended up being a power problem with the onboard lan card. Laptops are set to power up and power down the network cards for when they are in use. This is to extend battery life. Check in your control panel for power management or something along those lines. Make sure the network card is on 24/7, this might fix your problem but expect a lil less battery life.

edit: response to "my main question is what would the difference be in moving from vista to xp. I would have expected xp to run a bit smoother due to less resources used by the OS. And was there some driver I may have neglected to install."

Your comp might run a lil better with xp since gpu + ram = frames per second. XP using less ram then vista will give you a little bit of a boost but not much. most of your frames come from your gpu. expect 3-5 more frames.

Any drivers wouldnt really be giving you bad performance. If it were a video driver you probably would be in a 800x600 video setting and if it were network drivers you wouldnt be able to connect at all.

**what kind of anti-virus are you running? also is it setup for auto update? This may be hogging ram and bogging your system down while it updates in the background**

**may also be a virus next time you read this forum check your task manager for any processes that are using alot of resources. Try not to have every program running running while you do this.**

Easiest way to do this is...
1.) open task manager (Control + alt + delete)
2.) click the "processes" tab
3.) in the processes tab of task manager look at the top of the window. You should see image name, User name, Session ID, CPU and Mem Usage. Click on Mem Usage, this will filter the processes that are using the most memory running now. Keep Clicking it until the highest memory using ones are the top and in order from most to least.
4.) Take the first 10 processes and look back at the image name.
5.) Open a search engine. google preferably.
6.) Search the image names from the top10 on your list of processes. Try to see if any are viruses/worms/malware.

After doing this, being if you found out anything or not. Try another clean sweep anti-virus scan. Do this by first updating your AV. Next, open my computer, look for the Tools menu at the top, Click Folder options, then click the view tap. This will open a list of options. The two options you are looking for on a XP install are...

1.) "Display the contents of your system folders." (make sure this is checked)
and
2.)Hidden files and folders make sure "Show Hidden Files and Folders is checked".

Then run your AV Scan. Becareful because doing this will show your computers system files which it needs for boot up. WARNING: DO NOT GO DELETE CRAZY WITH FILES WHILE THIS IS ON. Most (90%) of bad things are hidden here and AV scans right over it.

After the scan is complete backtrack and make sure you hide the folders that we went over earlier if its a family computer. Dont need a lil bro/sis deleting your boot files D=

Good Luck

o.o people trolling tech support? tsk tsk...

did 10 WQ books while typing this x.x

Maragon - Dreamweaver

Billion thanks for the input.

Better FPS was something i did expect a bit of when switching to xp but i was actually better then I thought. No I was not expecting to get a high fps with onboard graphics I know those have severe limitations.

As I said I am getting better FPS when it is smooth. The issue i noticed was that I get more random lag now. Hope I can explain this correctly. I was playing my fist bm last night so with so many movements a little glitch is a bit more noticeable. ( but no the prolem was not limited to that toon). I would get a decent smooth frame rate but every 30 sec or so I would lag for a second (everything stops followed by a stream of damage numbers). It wasnt so bad as to be unplayable just seemed a bit odd after moving from vista to xp.

Windows update is set on notify of update but dont download.
I am using Avast AV. Unsure of what the update setting are on that but I will check tonight.
It is currently running around 32 processes in task manager and using about 325 megs ram after startup out of 3 gigs of ram (used more than double that under vista)
The computer runs strangely about as loud and warm as it did under vista when running the game (very cool and quiet without the game which would be expected) I ran vista under either the balanced or power saver mode rarely under best performance to keep the heat down. I briefly searched for a driver of some sort to be able to do something similar on xp but did not find anything. Is there some standard program or driver that is intel compatable (something like AMDs Cool n Quiet)?

As far as viruses, I reinstalled windows just this past saturday and the first thing I did after connecting to the internet was DL avast so I should not have any viruses it is possible I know but that should not be the issue.

/Billion - Heavens Tear

im trying to think of a good internet test that might be able to figure out if the spikes your experiencing are FPS related or connection related.

they are probably fps related.

Ive played around with onboard GPU drivers and to say the least they are more work then they are worth =/

whens the last time you changed the fan on it? Might be due for a new one if its getting loud.

try to find a friend that can do it or if you can do it yourself. If not try to find a local small computer company to do it for you. Dont go to geeksquad or any big companies because theyll charge you 100$ for a 2.50$ part and 3 minutes of labor.

Maragon - Dreamweaver

the comp is just over a year old. I think the difference is in the power options in vista. seems like in xp the fan runs all or nothing but vista had 3-4 speeds. (not worth the problems in vista just to get fan speedsb:chuckle) besides its a laptop so replacing parts is a bit more annoying

Actually, I took out the cooling unit (heat sink radiator assemble) and cleaned the dust off on sunday. Runs noticeably cooler now but the fan stll runs on high.

I am going to try to turn off auto update in AV (if its even on ... not sure) when i get home and see if that does it. Cant really think of anything else in XP that would be taking bandwidth other than windows and AV autoupdates.