New Computer -- 7 Slows Dramatically After Limited Use

[Talon]

Hey gents,

Have a brand new Lenovo Thinkpad SL410 with 3 GB of memory that sure doesn't seem to be acting like it. Runs Windows 7 on an Intel Celeron DualCore, 1.90 GHz.

I recently became addicted to a certain TV show about people stranded on an island and have been watching episodes on my new laptop. The problem I'm running into is, somewhere between one to four episodes in, my computer gets VERY sluggish, and progressively so; the video gets incredibly choppy; and I have to reboot Windows. Then everything's fine again... for a little while. Then it happens all over again, like some kind of repeating nightmare I keep waking up from then falling back asleep into, over and over.

At first I thought it was Internet Explorer, so I downloaded Google Chrome. Same exact problem. It's not my Internet connection -- I can watch online video all day long on my other computers, and they're fine. And once the video problem kicks in with my new computer, everything else slows down quite a bit too, and stays that way until I restart.

I've got a ton of memory, plenty of free hard drive space (137 GB out of 287 free) -- just can't figure out what's going on with this thing.

Any help, guidance, suggestions -- all would be very much appreciated. Starting to drive me nuts. Any other information you require, feel free to ask.

Thanks fellas,
Talon

 

[osholt]

Hi make sure your GPU drivers are up to date and flash/silverlight are up to date.
Make sure Windows is up to date too.

Make sure your PC isn't running on battery while watching the show or that your energy saber settings are set to performance not battery life.

This is a good place to start.

Oli

 

[richc46]

Part of the diffiuclty of online help is that we cannot see or touch the computer; one symtom can have many causes. Oli can very well be right. If you try his suggestions and they are not successful, I was thinking in terms of a memory leak.
Microsoft details Windows 7 memory leaks, hangs, freezes

 

[WiFi Ed]

Perhaps it's overheating and throttling back?

 

[gregrocker]

All good suggestions. Also check the Event Viewer and Performance-Diagnostics log (click through WEI score at Control Panel>System and choose Advanced Tools which may have problems already cued at top) for errors at the time of fail. Generate a System Health Report there also.

Test your memory using Windows Memory Diag test. If errors, stress test with memtest86 to reveal.

Test your HD with maker's full CD scan: Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

If nothing comes up, I would run a http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?ltr=R which is next best to reinstalling.