[NicholasS]

Hello, I'm hoping someone will be able to help me. A few months ago, I down graded my laptop from Vista to Xp Pro. Since then If I watch a video, or play a game or do anything other than browse the web, my CPU usage spikes and the computer crashes. I upgraded the memory from 2gb to 4, but it didn't help. If anyone can help with this, I'd greatly appreciate it. I was fine with dealing with it before, but it's really starting to get irritating.


Nick

[aka Brett]

lets start by uninstalling anything you dont use.
It sounds like you have some bad software on there

[NicholasS]

OK, I'm going through and removing what I do not need. I forgot to mention, that when the computer does crash, I have to wait about 5 minutes to reboot otherwise it will continue to crash when it boots up over and over. On occasion it shows an error message, but it crashes too quickly for me to read it.



It just crashed again, I let it attempt to reboot itself a few times and caught part of an error message... lsass.exe application has failed to initialize, not sure what that is for, but thats what the error said.

[aka Brett]

is air coming out of the exhaust vent for your cpu

[NicholasS]

Yes, the fan is working fine.

[aka Brett]

If you are not watching video will the pc stay up a couple hours

[aka Brett]

Sometimes an error similar to that can be an infection.
is windows fully updated?
If the pc will stay up
go to this link

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

click on full service scan

if you have an infection,will need to be moved the the malware removal thread

[NicholasS]

Yes the computer will stay up for days if I dont watch a video, load a game, run my virus scan or anything like that.

I'm doing the scan now, I'll re post once its complete.

[aka Brett]

ok
it is sounding like overheating
when the scan is done.
Use battery conserving power plan....run it on battery...pound a game or what have you for a few minutes and see if the pc will stay up

[NicholasS]

OK I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to get through this scan, it crashed my computer at 7%. I'm going to leave it run over night and see what happens. My laptop does get extremely hot, but there should be proper ventilation, I have the back of the laptop propped up slightly, and the fan is generally always running.

[aka Brett]

A laptop moves just enough air to get by...when they clog a little they overheat.
Also the fan shouldnt be running all the time.

some of the celerons and semprons did cause alot of fan usage though.

This often happens because the power plan is set to high performance.
This keeps the cpu at it max clcok all the time..

Balanced will throttle down during low use and clock up when needed.

When you downgraded to xp did you install the chipset driver?

[NicholasS]

I've never messed with the factory settings, it's been running this way out of the box, and I clean the fan and vents every 2 weeks or so...

This is a Turion

And I don't exactly remember which drivers I installed, http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/downloads_gd.html
just went off the list from that site, I did the video, audio, and network drivers for sure, but not sure if they were the correct drivers since I downgraded...

acer extensa 5420

[aka Brett]

Originally Posted by NicholasS

I've never messed with the factory settings, it's been running this way out of the box, and I clean the fan and vents every 2 weeks or so...

This is a Turion

And I don't exactly remember which drivers I installed, http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/downloads_gd.html
just went off the list from that site, I did the video, audio, and network drivers for sure, but not sure if they were the correct drivers since I downgraded...

acer extensa 5420

the turions are efficient and dont generate to much heat...you fan shouldnt be running much while just surfing and the sort.

In the event it is overheating it has to be fixed fast.
An Intel will throttle back to save itself.
Some amds do some dont....some will toast the cpu and take the board with it.
I will look at your drivers link.....meanwhile go to your control panel
Power options ..and see if there is a selection that says balanced.
Also go to add and remove programs and look for a chipset driver

[NicholasS]

ATI Software utility, ATI catalyst control center, ATI display driver, Realtek HD audio driver, what would be the chipset driver? Im not sure what Im looking for to be honest. I set the battery usage to minimal, but its generally always plugged into the wall.

[aka Brett]

http://global-download.acer.com/GDFi...&Step3=Extensa 5420&OS=X02&LC=en&SC=EMEA_27