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Sudden dramatic performance drop (Windows 11 Alienware)

Anonymous
2023-01-09T00:39:40+00:00

Hello all. These past couple of days have been really hard with my laptop. I use an Alienware M15 R4 that's supposed to run smoothly. Yesterday, January 7th, I started noticing very dramatic performance drops including significant drops in FPS, and a big increase in underperformance. This is the only time this has happened, and I don't know why. I've tried doing recovery, deleting unwanted apps, and performing a clean boot. All of which were unsuccessful. I've also tried changing graphics settings in my games, which were unsuccessful. The windows apps I open are very slow, along with the settings and Microsoft edge.

Device specs:

Device name GI-M15-R4

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10870H CPU @ 2.20GHz 2.20 GHz

Graphics Driver NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU

Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

Windows specs:

Edition Windows 11 Home

Version 22H2

Installed on ‎10/‎5/‎2022

OS build 22621.963

Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22638.1000.0

Again, this has never happened in the past, and I would like to avoid taking it to a shop, but right now it seems like a last resort. I would love some help on this.
Thanks!!

  • Greyson Isaacs
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-01-09T03:22:21+00:00

    So unfortunate that I have to do this. All in all thank you so much for your help. I sincerely appreciate it.

    • Greyson

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2023-01-09T01:32:15+00:00

    Hi Nicole.
    The last time I cleaned my laptop was yesterday. I was removing dust from my GPU fans. Other than that, I dont know what else to do. I dont have thermal paste, and if I need to, I dont know where to get my laptop serviced at. I haven't really checked if my computer gets hot when my performance drops, but like I said, this has been more than a 24 hour thing. I can't even play games without my laptop underperforming.

    Let me know what I should do.

    • Greyson

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2023-01-09T03:18:00+00:00

    Hi again Nicole. I have some results.
    The SFC scan found corrupted files. Unfortunately after restarting, my laptop is still underperforming. As well as method 2 and 3.
    If you have anything else, please recommend something.. I would really not want to have to send this off to a service center. Last time I did that, they never shipped my old laptop back, so I had to get a new one.

    If you have anything else, please let me know.

    • Greyson
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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-09T01:34:41+00:00

    Thank you for the response.

    You can try to do this system check to isolate the issue.

    Method 1. Run system file checker.

    On Powershell(admin), copy, paste and enter each command below:

    sfc /scannow

    Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

    Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

    DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

    Once done restart the PC and check.

    Method 2. Do clean boot:

    A “clean boot” starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs so that you can determine whether a background program is interfering with your game or program.

    • In the search box on the taskbar, type msconfig and select System Configuration from the results.
    • On the Services tab of System Configuration, select Hide all Microsoft services, and then select Disable all.
    • On the Startup tab of System Configuration, select Open Task Manager.
    • Under Startup in Task Manager, for each startup item, select the item and then select Disable.
    • Close Task Manager.
    • On the Startup tab of System Configuration, select OK. When you restart the computer, it's in a clean boot environment.

    troubleshooting reference: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-t...

    Method 3. Run memory diagnostic tool: The memory diagnostic tool is a RAM test to check if there are any issues with RAM.

    • Press Windows key + R then type in mdsched.exe hit OK then restart the device.

    Report back the results here afterward.

    Note: Incase you need service for your laptop, you need to contact Dell support so they can provide a safe and legit service center for your device.

    Thank you.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-01-09T01:22:44+00:00

    Hi, I’m Nicole, I’ll be happy to help you out today.

    When were the last time you have your laptop serviced and the inside of the laptop cleaned?

    Also, do the thermal pastes inside the laptop been checked and changed if needed?

    How hot is the laptop when the performance drops?

    Update me on this issue.

    Thank you.

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