Laptop power(?) issues

[ssam64]

Hey, I've had an Asus g73jh for the past couple years. I've had a few problems here and there but I took care of them easily enough. Recently, I started experiencing some lag and some battery/charger issues. At first, the battery just wouldn't charge (blinking amber light) but the laptop was running fine, then it seemed like the charger just wasn't working at all sometimes and I started removing the battery, putting it back in, or just leaving it out; unplugging the charger and plugging it back in, etc until I could get the laptop to run. These days I'm leaving the battery out and running on AC power and the charger seems to work well enough without serious problems, but I'm still experiencing a lot of lag in games and the laptop is running pretty hot but not dangerously so (I think), but nothing seems to be wrong with the rest of the hardware. Is there something wrong with the charger as well as the battery? Or was it just the charger the whole time? Is there potentially something wrong with the laptop internally with regards to power delivery to the processor etc?

Also, the laptop seems to run relatively well right after i start it up and gradually gets worse (and hotter) over 30 minutes or so.

EDIT: Lowering settings in-game doesn't seem to noticeably improve performance, which reaffirms my belief that it probably isn't a problem with other hardware, but I could obviously still be wrong.

I know it's rather long, but I appreciate any feedback you guys can give me. I know I could probably just send it in since I believe it's still under warranty, but I'd like to fix it myself and not wait 2 weeks.

 

[geofelt]

1) You may have a heat problem, causing throttling. I suspect that dust has accumulated inside in the cpu cooler. You need to take it apart and clean things.

2) It also sounds like the battery is gone. They don't last forever.

 

[ssam64]

1) Maybe. Could you possibly ballpark how long it would take for enough crap to accumulate to affect performance like this? I don't think it's been much more than 6 months since I RMA'd it after I was having obvious heat issues.

2) Yeah, I figured as much.

I also don't trust myself to take it apart without unintentionally breaking some small piece, so I might just have to see if I can send it in again.

 

[geofelt]

1) Maybe. Could you possibly ballpark how long it would take for enough crap to accumulate to affect performance like this? I don't think it's been much more than 6 months since I RMA'd it after I was having obvious heat issues.

2) Yeah, I figured as much.

I also don't trust myself to take it apart without unintentionally breaking some small piece, so I might just have to see if I can send it in again.

It would not surprise me if 6 months was long enough.
If you have cats or dust around, it could take less.

Possibly, the RMA process before did not fix the problem. You may also have to clean and reseat the cooler.
Possibly the fan is clogged or restricted.

 

[ssam64]

Alright, thanks a lot for the advice!

 

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