laptop unresponsive and laggy to the point of locking up

it was running fine a few weeks ago, then the sound became scratchy, skippy and distorted, then after that it would become, i guess you could say "lazy". i watch the HDD light all the time, and i notice now when i click on something, the HDD doesn't work (what i mean is load work, like opening a program) for up to 3 minutes, doing NOTHING. then all the sudden, it works its arse off. what is going on with this thing??? i ran windows defrag, disk cleanup, avast full system antivirus scan, and spyhunter 4 full scan and found NOTHING. chkdsk found no bad sectors. im lost. any ideas?

Update the Sound driver from the Dell Support Downloads webpage for your PC model.

Check over the PC thoroughly using the Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7


Does the PC still have the factory install? If so that is the worst possible install of Win7 one can have, larded with bloatware and duplicate utilities which interfere with better versions built into Win7. That's why most tech enthusiasts won't even run such an install but instead Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Everything needed is in the blue link to get and keep a perfect install just like a million others have done without a single complaint.

Until then you can Clean Up Factory Bloatware.

gregrocker said:

Update the Sound driver from the Dell Support Downloads webpage for your PC model.

Check over the PC thoroughly using the Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7


Does the PC still have the factory install? If so that is the worst possible install of Win7 one can have, larded with bloatware and duplicate utilities which interfere with better versions built into Win7. That's why most tech enthusiasts won't even run such an install but instead Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Everything needed is in the blue link to get and keep a perfect install just like a million others have done without a single complaint.

Until then you can Clean Up Factory Bloatware.

ive gotten rid of all bloatware i could find, this install is clean, all drivers are up to date. i figured out its not the HDD, its the CPU, with NO TASKS RUNNING AT ALL, just base windows with no programs running, cpu usage NEVER goes below 98%. i can not find the cpu hogger no matter what i do. its SO annoying. got any ideas?

If you previously had the factory install and have not yet done a Clean Reinstall Windows 7 then it is still suspect since there is no way you can ever improve a factory install anywhere close to clean. The corruption goes deep into the registry.

Make sure you've created a Clean Boot, are using a recommended AV for best performance, resolve repeat errors and access System Resources - all from Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 . If these aren't sufficient then keep working through all steps to go over your install thoroughly.

You can try creating a new Admin User account to see if the same CPU usage persists and if not gradually migrate over to that account and delete the old one. User Account - Create - Windows 7 Help Forums

I personally would check the cpu temp with some app like core temp. Just to be sure the laptop is not over heating and stepping down the cpu to try and compensate for the high temps.

it used to run at 170 oF and it didnt step the cpu down. i put a different cooler on it and arctic silver 5, now it runs 122 oF. so its way cooler, i dont tink cpu is being stepped down. its a task killing it. i was in process explorer and there was something called "interrupter" taking 48% of the cpu. i tried to end it, but it says invalid parameter. heres a screen shot of Windows task manager, and this is all the time, not just for the screenshot.

Did you use Process Monitor from Step 12 of Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7
to zero in on the offending Service? There is even a video given in the same step to demonstrate it.

We don't know what steps you've completed until you start working through them with feedback. Not interacting fully with the steps is normally assumed to be laziness or at least a lack of thoroughness that means the problem won't get solved. We're not going to spoon feed everything when very explicit steps complete with video tutorials are just ignored.

gregrocker said:

Did you use Process Monitor from Step 12 of Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7
to zero in on the offending Service? There is even a video given in the same step to demonstrate it.

We don't know what steps you've completed until you start working through them with feedback. Not interacting fully with the steps is normally assumed to be laziness or at least a lack of thoroughness that means the problem won't get solved. We're not going to spoon feed everything when very explicit steps complete with video tutorials are just ignored.

i looked at that list, went through with process explorer, and i also did some disabling in device manager (drivers i newly installed i thought were causing issues, and they were), now cpu usage is not even close to what it used to be. but now my video and sound is still slow and clicky/skippy and distorted.

sorry if this thread is annoying, im not real good with finding issues that are in deep.

How about doing one perfect Clean Reinstall Windows 7 following the steps in the tutorial which assure a perfect install which stays that way if you stick with only the tools and methods given?

Then save it as a backup image and you'll never need to do it again.