Dell Latitude E6400 running slow

I was also ready to junk this machine, which Dell refused to fix in spite of my active support agreement. They said it was a software problem and wanted me to reinstall the os, which takes me about a week to complete.

I used the Arctic 5 Silver solution described above and my machine now operates at around 20% cpu capacity instead of 100%. GPU temperature, noted by Speedfan now runs 50-70, instead of 70-80.

Thanks for this great suggestion. I hope others find it too.

FYI, I believe it's the Nvidia GPU that overheats and causes the system to throttle back to protect itself. This is clearly a hw design problem in the orginal design and Dell should have stepped up to this.

Thank goodness for your post, Kelly!  Without it, JADO wouldn't have posted his brilliant, simple, CHEAP fix!  I was beginning to think the little D420 I had was a roaring PoS (despite the RAM upgrade and dumping all but a skeletal OS), but it gets so hot I can't take it with me anywhere or use it in the car; it overheats so fast it might as well be an old Lanier word processor (that dates me, right? lol!)

I will have a tube of $5 thermal wonder in my hands within 48 hours and am hoping to see the same striking results as JADO did - will update when I can.  I know the OPs post is old, but the machine is too usable to throw away, and even though the fix is for another model (D4600) the D420 can certainly benefit! (Relevance is everything!)

Back in the day, my VERY expensive Latitude laptop was one of the first real laptop computers I ever owned, and the ONLY computer I *ever* had meltdown on me, so I should've had a clue before now.  It actually got so hot the hard drive went molten and smoke came out of the case, but now I see it is an inherent design flaw in the older Dell laptops and notebooks (I've since become an HP fan, sad to say).  Had I known about the heat issue, I would likely still have that old laptop - it was top of the line back then! - and this little notebook/laptop/docking station will  be able to serve my burgeoning business well now since I've found out how to keep it healthy and COOL!

Thanks again JADO for the fix and y'all have a great week!  I'll be enjoying the cool weather that just got to S. Carolina, and the cool little computer even more! ;)

Rachetwench~

if you are using a 65w charger, you must replace it with a 90w charger.

Does the computer have a conventional hard drive or a solid state drive?

What operations are slow? Is it when you first start the computer or later?

What anti-virus software is installed?

Is the system free from error?

Event Viewer Reports

1. Normally when an error occurs on your computer looking in Event Viewer should be your starting point for finding a solution. Most system related errors are logged and getting an exact copy of the relevant report is important. Unfortunately understanding the reports is not easy and most computer users need help with their interpretation. I have more to say later on interpretation.
2. Event Viewer comprises three main Windows logs. These are Application, Security and System. For troubleshooting purposes System is by far the most important.
3. To access the System log select Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer, from the list in the left side of the window select Windows Logs and System. Place the cursor on System, right click and select Filter Current Log. Check the box before Error and click on OK and you see only Error reports. Click on the Date and Time Column Header to sort. You may need to click a second time to see the latest Report at the top.
4. A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double click on the error you want to copy. Click on the Copy button to place a copy on your Clipboard and close Event Viewer. Now start your message and paste into the body of the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from Event Viewer.
5. There are three types of Report, being Information, Warning and Error reports. In most situations it is Error Reports that offer the best information but occasionally Warning Reports provide useful clues.
6. All reports have date and time stamps and when troubleshooting it is important to concentrate on more recent reports. Study reports since the point when the computer was last booted and then check whether a similar report appeared in the previous session. If errors do not repeat investigation as to why they occurred is wasted effort.
7. Within individual reports the more important information is Event ID and Source as these help when looking for help on the internet. The description is equally important and copying the exact text for use as the search criteria greatly helps getting better results when using Google. Do not paraphrase descriptions when asking others for help.