What's wrong with my laptop?

gnolan

(Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Si1848 XPPro)

So I have a peculiar problem with my laptop, have had it for some time.

The problem seems to occur when playing video, either streaming or playing localized video as far as i can tell. I begin playing the video and the CPU fan slowly begins to wind up getting faster and faster. This is where it gets a little strange - this is often followed by my wireless connection disconnecting. It sometimes will reconnect, sometimes will still stick on "acquiring network address".

Sometimes the wireless network icon will disappear completely and i'll have to reboot to get the internet back. When the wireless network icon disappeared before i have tried to go device manager and enable/disable the device - the screen simply hung.

So i'm left wondering whether the problem is:

1. my CPU
2. my wireless network card
3. my graphics card
4. something else

Would appreciate some help.

chin_grin

http://ie.ts.fujitsu.com/products/mobile/index.html

First off download the hardware diagnostics tool from the support site (find your particular model pretty sure you can just enter the service tag) and let it run. If it doesn't then you'll need to focus on the software side of things.

gnolan

chin_grin wrote: »

http://ie.ts.fujitsu.com/products/mobile/index.html

First off download the hardware diagnostics tool from the support site (find your particular model pretty sure you can just enter the service tag) and let it run. If it doesn't then you'll need to focus on the software side of things.

To be honest i don't know where the hardware diagnostics tool is on that site. I have typed in my serial number and got various options for driver updates. My drivers are already up to date.

LoGiE

It's pretty normal for the CPU fan to ramp up while playing video files as it can be processor intensive. On some laptops windows has the fan on constantly when it's attached to AC power so does the behaviour change running from the battery?.

The wifi disconnects on the other hand do seem strange but may be worth checking your power saving settings as again they can be set to go to low power mode which will disconnect you when the link is not being used and reconnect when you input a web address etc.

Your laptop may have pre-boot diagnostics which may indicate temperature problems in which case you may need a fan replaced.

dilallio

Hi gnolan.
Your laptop could also be overheating due to a clogged fan. This could cause your wireless card to overheat and fail.

You can check this easy by installing a free application called Coretemp from
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

which will allow you to monitor the core temperature of your CPUs. If it gets above 80 degrees c, then you will need to sort it out.

chin_grin

If you want to try a few of these "tools" (I use quote marks because they mention google!).

http://lifehacker.com/5551188/best-computer-diagnostic-tools

gnolan

Ok, say i downloaded that CPU temp monitor. The laptop seems to idle around 50 degrees and goes up to around 57-61 when playing video. Does this seem reasonable?

@chin_grin: It looks like that SIW program might the most suitable from that page, but by the sounds of it, i'm not sure whether i will be able to decipher from the results whether there is a problem.

Overheal

gnolan wrote: »

Ok, say i downloaded that CPU temp monitor. The laptop seems to idle around 50 degrees and goes up to around 57-61 when playing video. Does this seem reasonable?

Mine idles around 30-35, up to 45 on Netflix.

It's a normal jump in temperature, though your idle seems high to start with. Have you ever properly taken the thing apart and dusted the innards out?

How long have you been having this video issue? And is it only with Hi Definition video?

gnolan

Overheal wrote: »

Mine idles around 30-35, up to 45 on Netflix.

It's a normal jump in temperature, though your idle seems high to start with. Have you ever properly taken the thing apart and dusted the innards out?

How long have you been having this video issue? And is it only with Hi Definition video?

I have taken the bottom off the laptop and removed some dust, but i'm not sure how to do it properly; ie. taking off the fan, maybe adding some new thermal paste. I don't have any kind of compressed air either. Would you advise removing the fan?

Honestly i've been having this issue for around 18 months - it's taken me that long to narrow it down to video - and it seems to be any kind of video, not only HD. Even then, i'm not 100% sure that it occurs only because of video, but i'm almost certain it is the main culprit. I've had the RAM and hard drive replaced quite recently so i know they are not the problem.

Even though it's a pretty old laptop, i'm tempted to replace the cpu, network card and anything else i can. Is there anyway to find out compatiable parts for my laptop, or will i have to replace the parts with the exact same model?

For example, my CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo T5500. Will i need to replace it with this exact model or is it possible to upgrade the CPU if i was to find another Socket M CPU?

Overheal

It would be more cost effective to buy a new one at this stage, rather than replace CPUs and Network cards.

gnolan

I think i've finally zeroed in on my problem, which seems to be the gfx card.

In the display properties>settings>advanced>troubleshoot>hardware acceleration, i moved the slider all the way down to the second option, "Disable all but basic accelerations. Use this setting to correct more sever problems".

The computer hasn't crashed since and the wireless connection doesn't disconnect. The video is noticeably poorer as expected but the reliability outweighs this inconvenience.

This is really the only problem i have with the laptop, and as old as it is, i really can't afford to go changing it at the moment. I've searched around, but can't find any info about possibly replacing this gfx card (ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 in a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Si 1848). Would it be possible to buy a gfx card that installs in the PCMCIA card slot in the laptop?