Curse

Cheezit · Mar 29, 2010, 05:19 PM // 17:19

Alright, so lately I've been noticing that I will randomly start lagging. Whenever I start my computer up and play Guild Wars, I usually get a smooth 30-40 FPS. Then randomly it goes down to about 6-10 FPS. I will close out of the game and restart, and it seems to run fine untill a little bit later when it begins to lag again. I dont know if its me, but I notice that every time I restart Guild Wars, the time untill it starts lagging gets shorter. I have tried quite a few things to fix this, but I am not sure that I can pinpoint the problem.

I use my HP Pavilion dv6500 laptop and here are the specs (Just looking at the System Properties):

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit Operating System)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-55 1.80GHz
Memory: 1919 MB
32-bit Operating System

xMinimalism · Mar 29, 2010, 06:23 PM // 18:23

Your problem is right there - Vista.

...Not really, I had a fine run with Vista, but it is a resource hog. If you can, upgrade to Windows 7.

Back on topic:

-Are you running any background programs?
If yes, disable them.
-Are all of your drivers updated?
If no, update them.
-How long has this been happening?
-Has this ever happened before?
-Have you tried dusting your laptop out?
A can of air blown carefully into the fans should do fine.

Try this: when you start Guild Wars, open your Task Manager. (ALT+CTRL+DELETE, Start Task Manager) and go to "Processes". Find "Gw.exe" (Could also be "Gw.exe *32"). Take a look at how much Memory it's using up. (Right now, it's at 80K for me).

When it starts lagging, take a look at it again. If it's far above what you started with, there's a likely chance you have a memory leak.

If that's not the case, try contacting support or contact Gaile Gray for further/more in-depth support.

Good luck.

End · Mar 29, 2010, 06:33 PM // 18:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by xMinimalism

-Have you tried dusting your laptop out?
A can of air blown carefully into the fans should do fine.

+1 to this
To me the fps dropping after playing for a bit...seems like a heat issue...especially since if you log out for a sec it has a chance to cool down but not all the way...which would explain why it comes back faster the second time...

and of course it's a laptop...which means everything is heats fault...

I could be wrong of course...this would just be my first guess...

Cheezit · Mar 29, 2010, 07:10 PM // 19:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by xMinimalism

Your problem is right there - Vista.

...Not really, I had a fine run with Vista, but it is a resource hog. If you can, upgrade to Windows 7.

Back on topic:

-Are you running any background programs?
If yes, disable them.
-Are all of your drivers updated?
If no, update them.
-How long has this been happening?
-Has this ever happened before?
-Have you tried dusting your laptop out?
A can of air blown carefully into the fans should do fine.

Try this: when you start Guild Wars, open your Task Manager. (ALT+CTRL+DELETE, Start Task Manager) and go to "Processes". Find "Gw.exe" (Could also be "Gw.exe *32"). Take a look at how much Memory it's using up. (Right now, it's at 80K for me).

When it starts lagging, take a look at it again. If it's far above what you started with, there's a likely chance you have a memory leak.

If that's not the case, try contacting support or contact Gaile Gray for further/more in-depth support.

Good luck.

I figure I should upgrade to Win7 anyway, is there really that much difference? I friend of mine suggested making a partition with XP on it, but I would be more inclined to just upgrade to a more recent OS.

And as far as how much memory its using, When I started it up and everything was running fine, it was using about 400K. When it started lagging I was at 580K.

So if it's a memory leak, what is my best plan of action. Should I just get new RAM?

Bob Slydell · Mar 29, 2010, 07:12 PM // 19:12

Sounds like a classic overheating issue. Like others said, try and blow it out gently with some compressed air and see if that helps.

Cheezit · Mar 29, 2010, 07:14 PM // 19:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Slydell

Sounds like a classic overheating issue. Like others said, try and blow it out gently with some compressed air and see if that helps.

Alrighty, I'll give that a try too

xMinimalism · Mar 29, 2010, 07:22 PM // 19:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheezit

I figure I should upgrade to Win7 anyway, is there really that much difference?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yyyyyyeeeeeeessssss... Vista was proven to have used up almost twice as many resources than Windows 7, due to bad coding. (Which is why on boxed requirements, it says something like: "Required RAM: 1GB, 2GB for Vista."

As for a memory leak, I don't think it is. Normally memory leaks would spike to over 400%. Yours is less than 50%. You do not need to get new RAM.

Cheezit · Mar 29, 2010, 07:33 PM // 19:33

Alright, thanks. I'm actually sorting out getting Windows 7 at the moment. I'll have to wait for a while on the compressed air, as its not my Compressor. But hopefully this does the trick.

End · Mar 29, 2010, 08:12 PM // 20:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheezit

Alright, thanks. I'm actually sorting out getting Windows 7 at the moment. I'll have to wait for a while on the compressed air, as its not my Compressor. But hopefully this does the trick.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-003-_-Product

of course not from newegg as you'll end up paying more for shipping then the item itself...but any store that sell computer crap should have some (my local kmart even does)

On a side note...ya looking at 64 or 32 bit windows 7? ....solely out of curiosity and I certainly don't have a copy of windows 7 32 bit home premium system builders edition I am looking to sell *cough*

Elder III · Mar 29, 2010, 08:14 PM // 20:14

Don't use an air compressor - buy a thing of Canned Air from Wal-Mart, Staples, Best Buy etc... can be had as cheap as $5 and you will only need a few puffs of it.

Cheezit · Mar 29, 2010, 08:22 PM // 20:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by End

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-003-_-Product

of course not from newegg as you'll end up paying more for shipping then the item itself...but any store that sell computer crap should have some (my local kmart even does)

On a side note...ya looking at 64 or 32 bit windows 7? ....solely out of curiosity and I certainly don't have a copy of windows 7 32 bit home premium system builders edition I am looking to sell *cough*

I dont entirely know the difference between 64 and 32 bit. I figure I'd just get 32 bit

End · Mar 29, 2010, 08:25 PM // 20:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheezit

I dont entirely know the difference between 64 and 32 bit.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946765 while it is written with vista in mind I find it explains it fairly well...

xMinimalism · Mar 29, 2010, 09:02 PM // 21:02

If you're going to purchase a version of Windows 7, you'll want to stick with what you have already with Vista - 32 bit.

On a side note of 32/64 - since you have a little less than 2GB of RAM, a 64 bit OS will be useless to you; it won't run properly. You'll also need a 64 bit processor, which I don't think you have.

Either way - I do hope this helps. If not, contact Support/Gaile Gray.

Cheezit · Mar 29, 2010, 09:18 PM // 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by xMinimalism

If you're going to purchase a version of Windows 7, you'll want to stick with what you have already with Vista - 32 bit.

On a side note of 32/64 - since you have a little less than 2GB of RAM, a 64 bit OS will be useless to you; it won't run properly. You'll also need a 64 bit processor, which I don't think you have.

Either way - I do hope this helps. If not, contact Support/Gaile Gray.

Yeah, this is what I figured.

When I upgrade, will I still have all my files and such?

End · Mar 29, 2010, 09:20 PM // 21:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheezit

Yeah, this is what I figured.

When I upgrade, will I still have all my files and such?

umm....upgrade packages I don't know...but I know when I did a fresh install all my files were moved to a folder called...windows_old (not sure about the name)... however this shouldn't be counted on and you should backup anything you absolutely need before installing...you will also need to reinstall any programs you has....

Elder III · Mar 29, 2010, 11:39 PM // 23:39

Before buying anything read this:

http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/win...derations.aspx

64bit is the future, buying 32bit is a shame really. :/

Yes you have a 64 bit processor, it's been ages since AMD released a non 64bit CPU (esp. if it has "64" in title)

Cheezit · Mar 29, 2010, 11:58 PM // 23:58

Alright, thanks. But my RAM is just under the minimum, so I dont know how well that would work.

Update: I got quite a bit of dust out of my laptop, and later I updated windows. So far I've been able to play GW fine. I think I've solved it. I wanna thank everyone for the advice. So thanks