Windows Vista Need to know if this is HW or OS prob plz

Her CPU's are spiking clear up n the 90's and are very erratic, its scary, I turned it off! lol
Gateway ML3109
ATI Radeon Xpress 200M
Celeron M
I found a bunch of games on there that she hadnt chk the requirements for but was still playing em...does that matter? lol I mean I think they would n I wouldnt do that...but she aint me...lol
I did a reliability and performance check and there are warnings popping up everywhere...Page File is toooo high , un due stress, load to high.....all sorts of things, I cant figure out a way to open the report. It saved as an html but everythings stalling on it...
What shud I do?

 

Hi,
After startup look in Ctrl + Alt + Del -> Task Manager. CPU usage should be low 0-2%. You can see individual listings for CPU usage on the Processes tab. If it starts low check as each program is started and which one is causing the high usage.

[Something I am investigating at the moment is why one particular website I visit is causing the usage on my dual-core processor to run at over 25%, when 30 other webpages open only use 2%. The website is reputable, but has popups that I block and lots of flashing advertisements.]

Games...if they were not made for Vista, try the Compatibity Wizard. See Help and Support.

If it is high when you boot to a blank desktop, investigate startup programs and updating the main drivers.

Matt

 

Task mngr is how I knew it was spiking.
I did a recovery and went back to factory defaults...
This was new for me being a Laptop and being Vista also...
It did everything on its own!...
Vey weird...just put it the admins pass n name, and its working things up I guess...
By the time I turned it off last night tho, there was definetly some HEAT comming from the air vent on the side....
But Now i have desktop, suppossedley everything shud be fine and I am still spiking n task mngr and the page file is still very high
how do i lower these?

 

Spiking is not "bad ", it is just showing that the CPU is doing it's work. What is happening when it is not "spiking ". What level does it drop to? When I am doing nothing my CPU usage is around 2-4%. What is your CPU usage when you are "doing nothing "?

If it is spiking when you are doing nothing, something running in the background is using the CPU. You should be able to find out what is using the CPU by going to the Processes tab.

What is the general usage? What does it drop to when you just sit and watch the usage? If I ran relatively large program, I would not be concerned for the CPU monitor to "spike" at 100% quite a lot. Staying at 90 to 100% constantly, even when I was doing nothing, would concern me.

Matt

 

thats y i am concerned
it rareley stays below 20 - 30 percent
spiking clear up n2 the 90's usually the whole time the machine is on
It has Vista with only 512 ram is that gunna do that to it?
if i just add a memory stick will i b ok?no duo processer either, does that matter on a laptop....
I know they make them w/o them i just meant Vista....

 

Here are the system requirements for Vista:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/systemrequirements.mspx

512MB of RAM is suggested as minimum. Your laptop will have shared RAM with the graphics, so the whole 512MB will not be available. You can look at the information in Control Panel -> Performance Information and Tools, read "Learn how you can improve your computer's performance ". You can reduce the appearance to improve the performance.

I expect the CPU is well over the 1.0Ghz as suggested.

You should check the graphics specifications though, using minimal graphics to run some of the interface features of Vista could tie up the CPU a LOT.

You haven't said you have checked under the Processes tab in Task Manager to see what is causing the CPU usage. As I said, for my system, I have found that if I visit a certain website, it causes the usage to go from 2-4% to 25-30% and I have a fairly powerful processor. If I close the webpage my usage returns to normal.

If your laptop was not "made for Vista ", which it seems it was not, you will need check for specific drivers for Vista. Check in Device Manager that there are no problems listed, but that still does not mean that the "correct" drivers are installed. If it is an older system, main drivers, like the motherboard/chipset drivers may have been updated for Vista, but some hardware may be running on "standard" drivers (not actual hardware-specific drivers).

At the Start Search bar, type in and run dxdiag. It can tell you some information about the hardware (check for the correct model of the hardware). The Performance Information may be a better guide though.

You can increase the RAM (check at the laptop manufacturer's website for suggested compatible types or try to get the same brand that is installed now), but if you are running minimal graphics (with 32 MB of RAM), you may need to reduce all the graphics features to cope.

Pumping up one area may not help if another area is still running at minimum.

Matt