dell laptop gone lethargic.. keeps crashing... not happy !!

pennymakespounds

dell insipron 5160 laptop + windows xp +aol broadband 516.... machine has ewido..adaware...spybot....avast and ccleaner .. all run daily . Rarely a problem.


went from aol dial to b/b about 2 months ago .. certainly notice a differrence .. but

last couple of weeks everything seems to be slowing down ,... pages not closing quick as they should ... pages closing down " in blocks/sections ." ( make sense?)

just generally lethargic and lazy ... certainly opening /closing pages / documents / website pages etc , it's as though the machine can't action it as quick as my actions.

Only thing that's differrent and a bit coincidental....

1) every few days get a "crash" ... white writing on the whole blue screen saying there's been a windows problem and it's crashed . suggesting i close down and start again . Unfortunately as it freezes i can 't print the words .
( will write them down for you next time if you can't help me with just the clues i'm giving here !)

it does mention "problem with usb hub " ..... and also says we should undo anything new or differrent recently done to machine

which ties in with

2) the only differrent thing is a few weeks ago .... as only have 2 usb ports on the machine .. and i have ... mouse...printer... modem... and just got a digi camera ... i bought and am using a "Belkin 2.0 USB thumb hub"

machine crashed again earlier ... i have just re booted and taken out hub and just plugged in modem only to do this .. does seem better ....

anyone any thought /ideas ??

help and advice much appreciated as always

Browntoa

I suspect the probelm is because you are using two many USB items via the on board ports (all the power comes from the laptop)

I would have suggested a mains powered hub to take the load off the laptop, this sort of thing

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?lang=&product_id=1536&menu=&submenu=&

pennymakespounds

browntoa .. may be not .. the plot thickens ! .. just come back onto this post .. i was going to add " last 15 minutes actually it doesn't seem any better" .. but as i loaded this page and started reading your reply .... .. the mouse pointer turned into the "letter I type" . and everything froze .
Couldn't do anything other than use on/off button and start again.

Browntoa

what you got plugged in the USB at the moment ??

my old Win98 PC locks as soon as ANYTHING else was put in the USB ports apart from the modem

pennymakespounds

modem and mouse only

pennymakespounds

machine always used to be 100% happy .. when had mouse and printer in the 2 x usb ports .. because was on dial up so there was a differrent lead for the phone ie not a usb thing ....

remember now .... when went onto broadband couple of months ago and needed usb number 3 for the modem . so then bought the hub .. digi camera a few weeks later but hardly used/had that plugged in yet.

these new issues are coincidental over last few weeks

Browntoa

take it we are talking about this

BELKIN USB 2.0 4-PORT THUMB HUB

pennymakespounds

yup .
exactly the one.

machine seems to be getting more and more "tired" .. everything just seems to be so slow loading /closing.

Browntoa

hot day today, heat may also cause shut downs

does this hub not come with a mains adapter ?? have you got it powered from the mains

pennymakespounds

no, hub exactly as you show it.

no mains on it

pennymakespounds

i also get this little "balloon" occassionally appearing from taskbar ..

"local area connection 2 disconnected"

... whilst i'm online ?? just come on now . Clicked it and it just went away !