Can someone diagnose this problem?

Question

I have a Dell latitude x300 with windows XP and 2010 norton Anti virus. The battery no longer holds a charge, so I have to plug it in and whenever I shift the power chord or the laptop, it'll randomly shut down (the power chord is going out, I can tell). This happens quite often and I always turn it back on and do a full system scan to make sure it wasn't attacked. However, I've been sitting here for a good two hours waiting for it to turn on and move super slow, at the rate of responding every thirty minutes to one click. Norton doesn't seem to be working or active, it's too slow to tell, so is it possible it could have a virus? Or is it just time for a new laptop? I usually don't delete my browsing history, the last time I did was about a week ago, and I use my laptop a lot.I have music and videos and some pictures but nothing that would cause it to run super slow, everything had been fine till now. Any thoughts as to why it's sooo slow? Any responses would help, thanks.

Answer 1

Could be various reasons. Since your laptop sounds older, it's possibly moving very slow due to overheating due to buildup of gunk on the CPU Fan/Heatsink. Overheating will scale down the processor and in extreme situations will cause very slow movement. I had an older Dell Inspiron very similar to this, overheated constantly, dead battery, shorted out power cord that had to be positioned. I sold it for parts on eBay.



You'd probably be better off getting a new cheap $400-500 laptop than spending any money fixing an old one. Batteries and power cords are expensive

Answer 2

Look at your hard drive light. If it is constantly flashing when no programs are running, it could be that your drive is on its way out. While the drive is seeking and finding the odd byte of data, your system will continue to wait until any load is completed before reacting to anything in the keyboard buffer.

Use another computer (once you are satisfied there is no virus risk) and connect the suspect drive as a SLAVE. Examine the contents and do a backup (not a restore point). If this works, then the motherboard is suspect. Borrow or buy another drive and try an install (try FreeDOS) using your suspect computer. If symptoms persist, a replacement may be in order.

Answer 3

If the computer is frequently shutting off without properly shutting down this could cause problems. I'd at least get a new power cord and battery. I'd start backing up files that you do not want to lose. If you don't mind spending the money then get a new laptop. I think you'll be glad you did.

Answer 4

First delete internet temp files, then try doing a disk check Open run and type in chkdsk. It will run and check the disk for any errors. It that don't help, try turning off Norton. I had lots to problems with it and had to remove it. Now use a free program Avast, and it works great. Have a few tip on it also.

Answer 5

the first part of your question tells it all ,two things a bad power cord or the dc jack{this is the part in which the cord plugs into the laptop the internal connector} this can be replace by a computer repair shop first thing i would try is a new power cord http://www.partspeople.com for good price it can be return save some money try that first also a repair should have power cord with adapters to see first it is the power cord, make sure they do it in front of you

Answer 6

mmmmm there is the clinicical exploration, interrogation, presumptual diagnoses, and lab works, that quite are transaminases (alaline and aspartate), alkaline fosfatase, billirubin (that makes you yellow), and abumin. i could go on and on, yet merely see your scientific professional while you're worried, he's conscious, or could understand...

Answer 7

The hard drive could be going out on it, could try replacing it.

Answer 8

i think its time for a new laptop.. all laptops start to fail when they are old, can t help it. get a mac book if you can.:)

Answer 9

Check for malware.. FREE program here. http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php



Then may want to use free of ccleaner.. i use this 3 times a week.. FREE also.. get it here http://www.piriform.com/ ~



Edit : Malware was posted on this question,, in an answer . i removed that answer..