Brand new laptop: Very slow and / or unresponsive....

[alex809]

So to be clear you are saying it is firefox? Your screenshot above looks OK - mostly system idle and GIF generation.

What version of firefox are you using? What happens if you use IE or Chrome instead?

I don't like IE, It's not secure enough. there's so many bloody exploits in that piece of garbage.... I'll never use that. Ever. I use it once on every PC to download firefox.

Chrome runs way too many background processes its a resource hog... and since I'm having enough resource problems i don't think I'm going to try running a resource intensive program..... On previous computers Chrome would just slow them down even worse so i don't see the point in trying that...

EDIT: I'm not saying it's firefox, It's the computer... I don't get where the problem is.
Every program can boost the CPU to 100%. It doesn't even have to be anything. If i run two programs the CPU will boost to 90-100% zone, If one is idle it'll drop but if i start using any program while im using another then the CPU boosts.

This system will NOT multitask without boosting to 90-100% CPU zone.... I don't get it. I've never had this problem until i got this computer.

So tempted to try a pirated copy of 7 to see how it performs on 7 but i gotta use this laptop for scchool as well and school starts today so it's kinda hard to wipe it and put 7 on it after setting it up for school....

 

[adamf]

Your last 2 screen prints didn't show much CPU usage but you said opening 2 Firefox tabs caused the problem. Testing other browsers could confirm this - then it may be a case of upgrading Firefox or looking at extensions.

You could try Chrome 64 bit as it is supposedly the most efficient just as a test https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/?platform=win64 if you don't like IE.

If not can you post again the CPU usage when it is high.

As for 7 personally I find 8 uses less resources (I have an 8 year old MacBook). Yours really should run either fine.

 

[alex809]

Your last 2 screen prints didn't show much CPU usage but you said opening 2 Firefox tabs caused the problem. Testing other browsers could confirm this - then it may be a case of upgrading Firefox or looking at extensions.

You could try Chrome 64 bit as it is supposedly the most efficient just as a test https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/?platform=win64 if you don't like IE.

If not can you post again the CPU usage when it is high.

As for 7 personally I find 8 uses less resources (I have an 8 year old MacBook). Yours really should run either fine.

Like i said... It's not even firefox. Like i said. It's been like this since the fist startup when i got it in the mail.
I have 1 Firefox extension ( Colorzilla ), I have the latest FF Version.

Yeah i realize it should run it fine. But it doesn't.. and i don't understand why. Damn Dell.... God i remember why i hate this manufacturer..... Took what i could get. I have had 1 previous windows 8 laptop and it ran perfect ( It was an Acer, But i wiped it and put 7 on it ) and had less specs than this i believe but it could also run Saints Row Three & Crysis 2 maximum edition. I can't get this to run Battlefield Play4Free and that game is built for old computers....


EDIT:
As well i have 4GB DDR3 Ram in this laptop and the laptop NEVER uses half a gig... It ALWAYS says 3.89GB useable ram but it never uses anything more.... 4GB and it never uses half of 1GB... I don't get it... I have all this RAM that's not being used.....

 

[Ztruker]

Like I said in my first reply, send it back! No way a new laptop should behave as it's doing.

You paid good money for it so make them fix it or refund your money so you can get a different one.

 

[alex809]

Like I said in my first reply, send it back! No way a new laptop should behave as it's doing.

You paid good money for it so make them fix it or refund your money so you can get a different one.

It seems to be ok now, I ran AVG PC Tuneup and it seems to be running really good now. It's not freezing but this isn't the only laptop with windows 8 that i've seen with the CPU issue staying between 90-100% all the time with no reason. This is actually the second or third laptop i've seen with this CPU issue.

 

[Ztruker]

Glad for you it's running better. I know it can be extremely frustrating when you get a new computer and have problems.

How does the CPU utilization look now?

 

[alex809]

Glad for you it's running better. I know it can be extremely frustrating when you get a new computer and have problems.

How does the CPU utilization look now?

Yeah it is lol
CPU utilization hasn't changed. It's still the same but i've seen it like this on multiple windows 8 laptops... Which is weird because i NEVER saw that issue with Windows 7.

 

[Daxter]

I know you solved your problem but, I just wanted to say, that ie11 isn't that bad.... While I still use Firefox as my default, Microsoft patched and is on a rapid release schedule. Btw if you do have anything bad with Firefox shoot me a PM. I'm a FF Contributor so I can help :3

 

[alex809]

I know you solved your problem but, I just wanted to say, that ie11 isn't that bad.... While I still use Firefox as my default, Microsoft patched and is on a rapid release schedule. Btw if you do have anything bad with Firefox shoot me a PM. I'm a FF Contributor so I can help :3

Alright good to know.

 

[alex809]

But even though that issue is solved i'm still wondering why my PC never uses 1GB of the 4GB ram i have...
It always says 3.89GB usable but it never uses anything more than what it says.....

What's up with that?
What can i do about that? I'm sure i'd have less trouble if it actually utilized all the memory that i have....

 

[Ztruker]

What does Task Manager, Performance tab look like? Post a screen shot.

I have 5GB Ram and mine looks like this, W7 Pro X64:

 

[alex809]

What does Task Manager, Performance tab look like? Post a screen shot.

I have 5GB Ram and mine looks like this, W7 Pro X64:

View attachment 50281

It was horrible lol
I got rid of 8. Last night around midnight it started giving me WiFi problems which continued throughout today until i just couldn't use the WiFi anymore. Reset the system back to factory and it started working again. Then i used 8 long enough to get 7.

Now i'm running 7. So far no problems like what i had with 8.
According to the performance tab on 7, It's at least using a lot more RAM than 8 was showing. 8 would never show anything more than 3.89GB useable. At least now i can see 7 is using usually between 1.whatever and 2.whatever GB of ram, But less than 3GB.

The CPU still bounces around even on 7 but whatever, It runs better than 8 did so far.

 

[Snuggles]

don´t use Dell Update utility, use driver genius 14 its allways accurate with the drivers for hardware i use it to and it never let me down

 

[Ztruker]

don´t use Dell Update utility, use driver genius 14 its allways accurate with the drivers for hardware i use it to and it never let me down

That's $30 for a program you don't need. Let Windows Update take care of your drivers. If, after all have been applied, you still have a problem, get the driver from the Dell site.

 

[Snuggles]

windows update does not update all your drivers

 

[adamf]

windows update does not update all your drivers

Hopefully not, no. You would never want that to happen and it is not how it works. You only want drivers that work with your hardware on your operating system. You do not want the latest linux drivers for ARM if you are running 8.1 on a Dell.

A better idea though is to take the MS drivers supplied through Windows update first and (as ZTrucker said) only update any missing or outdated ones from the manufacturers website if you need to.

If you want though you can send me (or someone else) $29.99 and details of your system and I'll download the missing ones from dell.com and forward them to you saving you $0.01.

 

[Ztruker]

windows update does not update all your drivers

Agreed, that's why I said " If, after all have been applied, you still have a problem, get the driver from the Dell site. "