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[JB]

My son has this Compac laptop, it slows down after 20- 30 minutes use and becomes unusable after an hour or so, i've removed the battery which gets hot !

The memory is 3Gb, I may try to increase this if possible? and replace the battery, it works fine on mains power.

It looks tricky to remove the memory and wondered if anyone has experience of the job?

Any advice?

TIA

Photo here.. I hope!

JaB.

[canabus]

Hi JaB
There are two small tabs, one each side, move these away from the memory stick an the memory stick will pop up a bit.
Pull the memory stick out.
The back memory is 2G so you can up grade the front one to 2G.

Cleaning out the temp and old files is very easy by using a free download program called CCleaner.
This also fixes the register in windows system.
It ask do you wish to backup the files (NO).
I have been using this program for about 10 years and at first I backup as ask, but, I do not use it now.
The program has not kill my computer!!
I fixed computers as a part time job, including building to dam things.

Canabus

Canabus

[JB]

Hello canabus

That sounds easy enough. i'll have a go later today when i've woken up...if i do wake up later, been up since 2am...personal break if you get my drift

couldn't go back to sleep so got myself organised for today...ha, yeah right...feel asleep in the lounge chair watching 'shed and buried' a british TV programme about two guys travelling around the country searching for old motorcycles to buy off the owners, very good i my view (no pun!).

I'll post the result good or bad later (much later prob) photo as well if I can still remember how to do it.

cheers

JaB.

[barriew]

Before buying new memory its worth checking that the processor can use more than 3 Gb. Not all processors can.


Barrie

[malcolmfrary]

Or is it a CQ56?
Over time, the CPU fan clogs itself leading to overheating and a slowdown.  There are Youtube vids showing how to get to it to clean it.  The design of the CQ56 had both the main CPU and the graphics chip on the same heat sink, so when the fan loses effectiveness due to too much fluff, both heat each other up.  There are programs out there that monitor things like CPU temperature, one of them might show overheating.
Upgrading memory is one of the easiest jobs, it will take up to 4GB, Go to a site like Crucial Memory an use ther scanner.  it will look at your machine and tell you what you can do and how much it will cost if you buy from them.  You are then free to shop around.
If the battery has got old and tired, a new one will help.
My software tuneup consists of running ADWCleaner to remove some of the messware (recently taken over by Malwarebytes), then CCleaner,  using both the clean tool and the registry cleaner then use the Windows disc clean up app using the opening level, then choosing the "system files" then using the "remove old restore points" option under advanced.  The tidy things by running Auslogics Defragmenter, and save an image of the now tidy disc using Aomei Backupper.  All the programs mentioned are freeware.

[JB]

you should have another email Malcolm, i think some of mine between another forum member went missing a day or two ago.

John.

[grendel]

one of the best tricks for upgrading an old slow computer I have found is to replace the hard drive with a SSD hard drive (solid state hard drive), this can be done to any sata connected hard drive (not ide) and you simply put the new drive into an external housing and clone your existing hard drive to the new one, then swap the hard drives. after which you boot up, job done. the machine will run faster, quieter and cooler. one laptop I did this to now boots up in less than 10 seconds.

[malcolmfrary]

While an SSD will speed things up enormously, it doesn't tackle the immediate probable problem of the clogged cooling fan.  Due to the basic design of the mainboard in the CQ56, if the fan is not doing its thing properly, the CPU and graphics chip are mutually heating each other to the point where failure can happen.  An SSD reduces overall power consumption and thus heat generated by the entire system, but doesn't cause the two ICs that give the heating problem to run cooler, and its them wots focusing the problem.
Despite advances, SSDs are still limited in capacity compared with traditional hard drives, and, depending on what is on the machine, might not be big enough.  The best first action must be to clean the accumulated muck out of the fan, then decide whether its worth money to upgrade to a SSD and the extra storage and whatever it will take to move from W7 should that wind up being needed.  A CQ56, with the best will in the world, was never intended to be a top performer, rather a workhorse.

[JB]

While an SSD will speed things up enormously, it doesn't tackle the immediate probable problem of the clogged cooling fan.  Due to the basic design of the mainboard in the CQ56, if the fan is not doing its thing properly, the CPU and graphics chip are mutually heating each other to the point where failure can happen.  An SSD reduces overall power consumption and thus heat generated by the entire system, but doesn't cause the two ICs that give the heating problem to run cooler, and its them wots focusing the problem.
Despite advances, SSDs are still limited in capacity compared with traditional hard drives, and, depending on what is on the machine, might not be big enough.  The best first action must be to clean the accumulated muck out of the fan, then decide whether its worth money to upgrade to a SSD and the extra storage and whatever it will take to move from W7 should that wind up being needed.  A CQ56, with the best will in the world, was never intended to be a top performer, rather a workhorse.

Hi Maolcolm

I have sent you an email

John.

[JB]

Hi Maolcolm

I have sent you an email

John.

Apologies for the extra 'o' in your name Malcolm, I hadn't noticed 

An example of the Logitech mini keyboard's drawbacks, it's far to small for my fingers and they are not that fat! quite slim even if I say so myself, takes age's to go back and correct everything 3 times  I can hit 3 keys at the same time 

John.