[Itguy360]

Hi guys i am new to the forum and i have a bit of a puzzle.

I have recently brought Mass Effect 2 and have wanted to play on my Laptop, but it was too slow and thus i couldnt play even though my laptop meets and for some beat the requirements. i have turned off every unnecessary programs in order to try to smooth out the game and have also lower the game to the lowest possible requirements... all have failed... as a result i have even reformatted the machine in the hopes that a fresh machine will help... and in a way it did the game ran far smoother, however the game continues to jerks for a period of time every once in a while regularly and to a point where the game is virtually at a stand still for a moment and then continues functioning...
this happens without regard to the number of enemies on screen, and in fact the details on screen doesnt seem to effect the smoothness of the game at all... i mean that during these period when the game is slow there can be relatively little on screen in the game, while the next moment running smooth with 6+ enemies, biotic power and explosions going off everywhere.
I thought that this could be the game and the high demands that the game has on the system... To test this i use older games and borrowed other games from friends, these include: mass effect 1, Anno 1701, Sins of a solar empire, Fallout (all of them), Overlord 1 and 2 and Knights of the old republic 1 and 2, Which have all ran smoothly and perfectly before... but now suffers from the same problem, some games to a lesser extent.

I am not sure when the problem begun as i have not played games for a little while, about 2 - 3 months. and since i reformatted i would the problem would be gone but it has persisted, tho i have reinstalled some of essential programs like anti virus, advance system care (free version) etc and have also updated windows.

Please reply with ANY suggestions at all... no matter how trivial it might be... never know what solutions could help. and please tell me any info needed to help with the problem.

System spec
Windows Vista Home P SP2
Intel Core2Duo P8600 2.4GHz
4GB Ram
Nvidia 9200m GS

Thank you for your time

Itguy360

[Tanis]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Being a laptop, heat could be a contributing factor. Dust and dirt will build up inside it over a period of time and this acts as an insulator to internal components making them run hotter, this in turn will reduce overall performance.

You could try giving it a good blast out with canned air, paying attention to any air vents etc. Even taking panels off the back that provide access to RAM etc and going over that may help a little.

[Itguy360]

Thanks for suggestion... I will try using canned air as soon i can get hold of some... however i use a vacuum cleaner on the vents every once in a while... is that not really enough??? furthermore the underside of the machine doesnt seemed to be that hot... anyway i will give it a go and report back.

Thanks Tanis

[Tanis]

A vacuum cleaner can help to keep the levels down, that may not even be the problem it was just a thought

[Itguy360]

Yea i dont think that is the problem since i have done a major cleaning overhual of the system... basicly took the whole thing a part then back together... but it doesnt seemed to have help much... some of my friends have suggested that the problem could be with the graphic card... but i would think that... if it is an issue with the graphic card the games simply wouldnt run smooth at all... others have suggested that it could be a problem with the reformat since my laptop is a samsung and it uses a data restore system of their own, which they say basicly overwrites the previous system without a proper format??? but i dont know... not really sure that is the case since all data is deleted and a frest os put in its place...

So thanks for the suggestion and time in read my thread...

[Itguy360]

One more thing the CPU resource seems to be in use constantly to a level that i would not expect at least the task manager tell me one thing and the vista resource monitor tells me another... in task manager the processes tab shows the cpu usage by the different process but it doesnt match with the resource monitor in terms of cpu usage... it have been suggest that a virus could be the cause but after scaning the system nothing have showed up...
So if anyone has any idea feel free to suggest it.
Thanks for your time

[Tanis]

After doing the reinstall I assume you have updated all your drivers?

Did you update the drivers from the laptop manufacturers site only?
Are all the drivers Vista certified?
If you are using graphics drivers from the NVidia website (for example) I would suggest uninstalling them and try using the latest ones direct from the laptop manufacturers site. There can be problems with newer drivers but by getting them from the laptop manufacturer they should of been tested against your exact system setup. Try changing all yoru drivers to those certified by the laptop manufacturer and see if that makes a difference.

[Itguy360]

The restore process reinstalls all the standard driver and unfortunately samsung doesnt seemed to update their driver though i will give the original driver set up a go since i updated everything straight away... i will try it and get back to you...