Problem with my processor?

[xenodude]

I have an Extreme Force 840 which i bought from Xoticpc. It's basically the same thing as an Alienware M17. I have a Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53 Ghz.

A couple of months ago i noticed the cpu fan started making noises, it had no dust build up whatsoever, and the notebook would get really slow, eventually the fan gave up as well as my harddrive. I removed them and received a new fan/hardrive from ASI. i installed them and later proceeded to install windows 7.

Before i use to have a Windows experience index of 5.9 on the processor tab, now it shows a 4.4, if i run it again it increases to 4.6 , 4.7 .

I have downloaded CPU-Z to see if both cores where running and they are, i have cong to msconfig and activated both cores, ive checked the bios to see if both cores appeared but everything seems fine.

Any ideas why the rating dropped so drastically?

 

[mckillwashere]

Sounds like your laptop over heated and kinda fried

 

[xenodude]

is there anyway to confirm that?

 

[mckillwashere]

Can you see what changed in you score?

 

[xenodude]

yeah it went from .9 to 4.6. I guess i understand what your trying to say, i just figured if the cpu got fried it would just die...

 

[xenodude]

yeah, it went from 5.9 to 4.4. i just figured if the cpu got fried it would just die and stop working...

 

[manageit]

Check with the manufacturer for updates of bios flash/cpu driver/chipset driver, sounds like something is just not being used correctly. Most manufacturers (especially Alien) have pretty good components in them, and have a patch or update for most hardware. This could be the change in the rating, new driver or update might fix it.

 

[manageit]

Check with the manufacturer for updates of bios flash/cpu driver/chipset driver, sounds like something is just not being used correctly. Most manufacturers (especially Alien) have pretty good components in them, and have a patch or update for most hardware. This could be the change in the rating, new driver or update might fix it.

Sorry, missed first part of your symptoms.
Fan sped up because of heat issue - remember its only a laptop, they do have they're limitations.
Probably overworked the PSU with whatever you were running to get it hot enough to pull that kind of power.
When the fan loads up, the CPU and GPU are loaded up pulling all sorts of power, and if you do that for long enough, well , heat isn't the greatest thing for electronics.

What were you running at the time?

 

[xenodude]

wow its kind of hard to say, probably some games Heroes of Newerth Lord of the Rings Online(when the symptons started i.e. fan making strange noises etc.) but when the Hard drive died i was watching a movie.

 

[RhapsodyOfFire]

CPU's never slow except two reasons - heating or changing of the voltage/frequency. I suggest scanning for viruses/malware.

 

[mckillwashere]

Rhapsody, have you ever over heated a laptop to the point it shuts down??? Its never the same even after a reformat.

 

[manageit]

Virus/Malware would not slow down the processing speed, just whats available to the user. The frequency would be the same. I am an MCP A+ hardware tech, and food for thought, sometimes a bios flash is whats required if some of the other system hardware had updates recently

Or better yet, sometimes it could slow after a flash update because the system gets reset back to zero. Hence if there was overclocking previously, there would not be after the flash update.

Most common problem I see at my doorstep is people just installing everything that they see (which you were right aboutRhapsodyOfFire) malware, viruses, updates that are wrong.

Malware usually stops you from scanning your system, or stops the internet from working properly, and have never seen a processor SLOW DOWN in frequency from malware.

xenodude managed to run a system benchmark to get a system rating number.

My suggestion, its a good laptop, take it in to a reputable computer shop where they can test the ram physically, and maybe have the case cracked open to check out the state of the fan/processor/heatsink.
If the fan was starting to get loud it was either working hard or on its way out.

This may sound silly too, but when the case is open you may find that the fan and heatsink are not so clean as you think. Many look really clean, but are clogged with dust, and laptop need very little help with overheating.

cheers,

 

[RhapsodyOfFire]

Rhapsody, have you ever over heated a laptop to the point it shuts down??? Its never the same even after a reformat.

I did and it sometimes gives a BSOD or just freezes. AMD doesn't have the option to shutdown which is a - right there .

I didn't understand at the first reading the cpu frequency is lowered. I tough it was a speed/resource issue but not Mhz. So it is not a malware. I also suggest flashing or at least reseting the Bios which could also help.
I had recently a notebook which reported 2800+ working at 800 mhz... I flashed it and it showed 1.5 Ghz which was the right speed and it was a bug in BIOS/Windows Xp.