I purchased “The Ultimate Troubleshooter” to see what I could find. Besides some minor program issues and suggestions, which when corrected did nothing for the slow down issue, I did notice the “Load Unload Cycle Count” was not “OK”. My understanding is that this is a hard drive problem and should not cause an overheating processor-like symptom. I also took the keyboard off to see if the inside of the computer was dirty, but everything was clean (I monthly use canned air to clean the grill). I did notice that, when taking the heat plate off from the processor, there was no adhesive. This did not seem to be a problem for six years, so I doubt this is the cause of the slow down (I did make sure no oils from my hands touched the processor or plate).
The processor does slow down, so it should be able to cool. The Pentium III does not appear to have a heat sensor, so I don’t know the temperatures involved. It does not appear to be enough to shut down the computer.
Looking in past forum articles, I have tried:
Right clicking on the Desktop and choosing "Properties"...clicking on the "Settings" tab and then on the "Advanced" button. Clicking the "Troubleshoot" tab and moveing the "Hardware Acceleration" slider one mark lower (to the left). Clicking "Apply" then "Ok" twice to exit Display Properties. Rebooting my machine to see if it is less balky. – No effect
Clicking Start then Run...typing sfc /scannow, and pressing "Enter". Adding my installation cd when asked. Result: it would not run the scan because the dll’s were different. I suspect upgrading to Windows XP-3 changed things from my Windows XP-2 installation disk.
That leaves me with the following questions:
Is the processor going bad? Does the plate and processor need thermo adhesive? Could the Load Unload Cycle Count be the cause of the slow down? Did I remove something critical when I uninstalled the programs? Do I have a bad driver (all appear to be up to date)? The slow down still occurs when I remove the a USB Linksys Wireless device and driver, but could this still be the cause (I do sometimes have problems connecting; selecting network - repair causes a quick blue screen stating something – too fast - and then shuts down)? Could the “video card/on-board video?” be going bad? Before the removal of programs – when things worked – I would get occasional intermittent freezes in heavy game play
I would appreciate any help or advise you can provide. I do have an Excel document of the TUT system report if needed.
Thank you!
Francis
CPU: Intel Pentium III processor 848 MHz
CPU average: ~ 15% to 40% Utilization
Starting up programs: CPU peaks to 100% Utilization, but drops to average after ~20 secs.
Memory: 33% free (167 MB) of 512 MB RAM
Laptop: Dell Latitude C800
BIOS: A21
Operating System: Windows XP Professional 3.0
One problem recognized:
(from “The Ultimate Troubleshooter” v4.80 DB Version)
IDE 0 S.M.A.R.T.
Load Unload Cycle Count: 50 Threshold; 39 Value; 39 and decrease Worst; Status: Not OK