Dell laptop very slow, low cpu usage and a lot of windows errors.

UnReeaL

Commendable
May 4, 2016
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Laptop specs:
Dell Inspiron 3537
CPU: Intel i5-4200U
GPU: Amd HD 8670m 1gb + Intel HD 4400
4GB RAM
500GB Toshiba HDD
Windows 8

I bought (regretfully) this laptop 2 years ago and it has been awful throughout those 2 years (I must have called dell tech support around 25 times). But a few hours ago something even worse than before happened. I was casually playing a game and I suddenly felt everything was going slow. I alt tabbed and everything froze. I figured my laptop froze so I pressed the power button and restarted. But everything was still going slow. So I restarted again and went into diagnostics. Everything came back ok, but the laptop wouldn't boot anymore. It just stayed at the Dell logo for 15-20 minutes and nothing happened. I restarted the laptop again and this time it said "preparing system repair" and gave me the error 0xc0000185. I thought "no way" and just said try again. It wouldn't load again, but after 15-20 minutes it went in BSoD and gave me the error 0xc000021a. To cut this story short, I finally managed to boot the laptop using the option to disable driver signature enforcement (I just googled the issue and this is what worked, I have no idea what it does). After 20-25 minutes it finally got me in, but it is incredibly slow. Chrome crashed 4-5 times when I was trying to even get into this site. Windows explorer crashes every few seconds. CCC (the command center for amd gpus) just tried to start like always but was not responding, cpu usage is at 0-7% but everything is very slow and even the HDD is slow. I am trying to backup my important files on a flash stick and it usually is at 0kbps and even gives me an error there (error 0x8007045D). I ran CCleaner and cleaned the registry for issues and am currently running Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and will run my antivirus but I don't think they will find anything. I am hearing a noise from the bottom left of my laptop where my GPU and (not sure) my CPU is. It sounds like a boiler when it's just started to boil but not very loud and sometimes it clicks. RAM usage is normal. Can anyone please help me? I will try to contact Dell again for the last time since my warranty ends these days.I am too scared to restart the laptop to see if that maybe fixes the problem for fear it will give me all the errors it gave me before. Is it maybe CPU failure or HDD failure? Even with 5 chrome tabs open my CPU usage is below 10% so I suspect the CPU to be the problem. Any help is appreciated and sorry for the long post, I am really desperate and scared.
 
Solution
Hi,

The lags and slowness of your PC may be related to a hardware problem. Do try loading the laptop in Safe Mode and see if the same problem will persist.

Here's a guide on how to load the laptop into Safe Mode: https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1008250

If the laptop will work normally in Safe Mode with Networking, do try doing a clean install of the graphics card driver first.
- Go to Device Manager and uninstall the AMD graphics card driver.
- Next is to open Programs and Features then uninstall anything related to AMD.
- Download and install the latest driver once completely uninstalled.
- Here's the link: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
- Reboot the laptop once the latest driver has been installed.
- If all these will not...
Hi,

The lags and slowness of your PC may be related to a hardware problem. Do try loading the laptop in Safe Mode and see if the same problem will persist.

Here's a guide on how to load the laptop into Safe Mode: https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1008250

If the laptop will work normally in Safe Mode with Networking, do try doing a clean install of the graphics card driver first.
- Go to Device Manager and uninstall the AMD graphics card driver.
- Next is to open Programs and Features then uninstall anything related to AMD.
- Download and install the latest driver once completely uninstalled.
- Here's the link: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
- Reboot the laptop once the latest driver has been installed.
- If all these will not work do reinstall Windows 8.
 
Solution

UnReeaL

Commendable
May 4, 2016
16
0
1,560


HI,
Thanks for taking the time to help, I fixed a big part of the slowness by using system restore which was probably caused by something with the OS,still no idea what, but the pc is still very slow, everything just crashes randomly and the cpu usage even with 4-5 chrome tabs which normally bring the cpu to 60-70% is still under 10-15%, so I guess that is a hardware issue, and there might be a hardware issue with my GPU as well, because CCC still won't start and the installer and uninstaller crashes when installing/uninstalling catalyst control manager with the same drivers I've used for the last few years, or maybe it crashes because the CPU just doesn't provide enough power to finish the installation, I really don't know. Unfortunately, I still have to use Dell's outdated drivers, since there are no 100% compatible drivers in the AMD site (I tried to use them once and got BSoD every so often so I went back to the old ones just to be safe). I will contact dell first thing tomorrow. I will update if they find a way to fix the CPU or maybe replace it. Quite ironic that Dell is supposed to be well known for reliability and then my laptop is the most unreliable thing I've ever used. Wish I could just ask for my money back or for a replacement but that will probably not happen. Sad situation.
 

UnReeaL

Commendable
May 4, 2016
16
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13148314_476519449225206_911777166_o.png
By the way, here is an image on task manager showing the cpu usage. you can see how many programs and chrome tabs are open and 24% with this much stuff open isn't normal.
 

Ryan Carter

Estimable
Jan 15, 2015
5
0
4,510
Download CPU-7 and gpu-7 see what temps and fan speeds your getting. Test at idle and when it seems to be crashing if that seems fine look for a check disk function like hdzune as my second guess would be a poor HDD
 

UnReeaL

Commendable
May 4, 2016
16
0
1,560

I contacted dell and they said it's probably an HDD issue, since i reinstalled my OS and apart from some lag it still runs at 5-10% cpu with 5-6 chrome tabs open which would bring the CPU usage to 60-70% before the issue and they are going to replace my HDD with a new one. In their words, CPUs don't malfunction easily, so I hope after the replacement everything will be fixed, but they said the technician will check for any errors in the CPU so here's hoping its the HDD. (not sure if related, but I've had a lot of HDD problems with this laptop, this is the 4th HDD that's about to be changed in the span of only 2 years.)
 

Ryan Carter

Estimable
Jan 15, 2015
5
0
4,510


That sounds like a good course of action, out of interest how much of that 500gb are you using? As going through 4 drives in 2 years is a bit mad, could be down to the HDD being overwhelmed by game file sizes?

On a second note the HDzune program I suggested might help in future, scans for bad sectors. I use it at work when testing laptops people want to trade in to us
 

UnReeaL

Commendable
May 4, 2016
16
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1,560


I don't think it has to do with the file size, right before the failure I had 150 gb free, which is more than enough, but from day 1 I was noticing that the HDD was either at 0% or at 100% and more often than not it was at 100% while seemingly doing nothing. Also, all the HDDs Dell has sent me are very very noisy, I am wearing headphones and can still pick up the sound they make which is pretty weird, I get that they are louder now because the laptop is thin and, as a result, the HDD is closer to the surface and more loud but I don't think this amount of noise is normal. I'll check out the program you sent after I get the new HDD, but I am not holding my breath about this one either, unfortunately my warranty just expired so in about 5-6 months when this one starts failing as well I'll have to pay for a new one, but I don't think I will bother, this laptop is not worth the trouble it has caused me.
 

Ryan Carter

Estimable
Jan 15, 2015
5
0
4,510


That would be because they are refurbished parts btw, Dell don't send new parts for warranty which is ridiculous
 

UnReeaL

Commendable
May 4, 2016
16
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Yeah, it makes sense that they do that, the HDDs are supposed to start failing after a while, but 4 in 2 years is ridiculous. I wish I could have asked for my money back, this laptop is the worst piece of electronic I've ever had. Despite the fact that their tech support is friendly and helpful, this particular product is enough for me to stay as far away from Dell products as I can and never recommend any of Dell's products to any of my friends.
 

UnReeaL

Commendable
May 4, 2016
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Well, Dell sent a technician to replace my HDD and for now everything is working pretty well, so I'd say this issue is fixed. I guess it was the HDD's fault as some of you suggested. Thanks everyone for helping me.