Dell 17R SE 7720 Performance issue - gone after after restart?

[ErickGeebs]

Hi There,

I have a performance problem with my Inspiron 17R SE 7720. Often times when I run games or programs that use quite a lot of graphic/processing power, I experience a LOT of lag. So much lag that it's impossible to play the game or do my work. But then it always goes away when I restart my computer. After a restart I can run the same game on max settings and I don't get any lag at all! (nothing below 60fps) But before I restart it, I can barely get 15 fps on the lowest in-game settings!

It only works when I select "restart". If I select "shut down" and then turn my pc on again, then it doesn't solve the problem.

I can never tell when it's going to lag. Sometimes it's right from startup, other times it's not. Sometimes it lags after my display has gone auto-off to save power, other times it doesn't lag after that.

I've updated my graphic drivers (I always keep them up to date) and I've downloaded the latest BIOS drivers, but I still have the same problem. I have a paid subscription to an antivirus and my pc is virus free. I have tried all kinds of Power Plan settings in Windows but nothing seems to work.

Please can you assist me, as I've been having this issue for months, and have read many forums and tried the solutions, but I just can't sort this issue out. (I run Windows 8.1 btw)

Thank you so much in advance!

 

[Laptop_Nerd]

Hi,

Please do try these troubleshooting steps that might help.
- Go to Device Manager uninstall the NVIDIA driver under Display Adapters then go to Programs and Features and uninstall anything related to NVIDIA as well.
- Download and install the latest graphics card driver located in NVIDIA support site. Here's the link: nvidia.com/download/index.aspx
- Reboot your laptop once the driver has been installed.

 

[ErickGeebs]

Hi,

Please do try these troubleshooting steps that might help.
- Go to Device Manager uninstall the NVIDIA driver under Display Adapters then go to Programs and Features and uninstall anything related to NVIDIA as well.
- Download and install the latest graphics card driver located in NVIDIA support site. Here's the link: nvidia.com/download/index.aspx
- Reboot your laptop once the driver has been installed.

Hi there. Thanks for the reply.

I've tried everything you suggested step by step, but I'm still having the same issue.

I uninstalled everything NVIDIA from Programs and Features, but one problem when trying your troubleshooting steps, is when I uninstalled the NVIDIA driver from Device Manager, the new driver didn't want to install because it said "could not find display adapter" or something like that, and so the installer could not run. So I had either "scan for new hardware" or restart my laptop so that it can find and recognize the display card. But then when I did that, then Windows automatically downloaded drivers for it and I couldn't stop it. So in essence I could only install the new NVIDIA drivers once Windows already automatically installed its own drivers for it.

Could that have been why it didn't fix my problem? And if so, how do I get Windows to recognize my graphics card without automatically installing drivers for it?