Calling out for a Computer Whiz

[Iulianx 90]

Hello my dear Wurmians,

 

I have encountered a really annyong technical problem after reinstalling Windows and after spending more than 24 hours trying to fix it I have yet to find a solution and I was wondering if anybody here can help me.

 

I have a Samsing NP300A5 Notebook:

OS: Windows 7 64x

CPU: Intel i3 2.10GHz

RAM: 4GB

GPU: Intel HD 3000 + nVidia GeForce GT 520MX (With Optimus)

 

My problem is that all my games are now unplayable (i get about ~1fps) if I use my nVidia GPU. If I only use the integrated GPU I can play the games it can run just fine. If I install the drivers for the nVidia GPU I am unable to play even games that would normally run smooth on the integrated GPU.

Now I had my problems running Wurm first time I bought this laptop but it was a quick fix, I just had to overide Optimus and force it to run javaws with with the dedicated GPU but this problem exceeds solving ability.

 

I have tried different nVidia Drivers from the one supplied by my Notebook manufacturer to the latest drivers, I used varous driver combinations for the chipset and the integrated gpu but with no success either.

 

 

 

 

 

[stonecutter1995 33]

Did you changed the Graphics settings of those games?

 

You have installed java? You can play wurm? You get low fps? Tried changing Advanced graphics to extremely sparse or Sparse?

 

 

We need more information for this problem

Edited January 12, 2015 by stonecutter1995

[Iulianx 90]

I tried not to scare people with a wall of text containing everything I tried but here it goes:

 

In Dota2 I set everything to the lowest possible settings and the peformance did not improve at all. Its hard to explain, there are periods from 1 minute to 5 seconds when the game runs almost smoothly then i get severe fps drops and it becomes unplayable.

I even used Halo: Combat Evolved to test my performance and I had the same behavior on the nVidia GPU even trough it ran smoothly when the drivers for it where absent.

 

I just installed wurm and had a go, the result was shocking:

Edit: Everything went haywire and i couldnt even move...

Edited January 12, 2015 by Iulianx

[Wurmhole 3,650]

"After reinstalling Windows..."

 

Why did you do a reinstall?  Is it the exact same version of Windows you had before reinstalling?  Did you change any BIOS settings?  Have you run any of the built in system tests, to see if your hardware is all checking out ok?  Do other applications run fine on the nvidia and it is only games that are bad?

[pisingas 454]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

[Iulianx 90]

I have an SSD and I was running low on space on C: there was a lot of clutter there and i had a lot of programs installed everywhere, etc, I just needed to start out new. I had no performance issue whatsoever, everything was running fine before reinstalling. After reinstalling windows I had good desktop performance, I did notice a few hangs (less than a second) here and there but nothing that would cause problems. When i tried playing games is when i noticed something was seriously wrong.

This rules out in my opinion any hardware failure of some sort.

[Iulianx 90]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

 

That was about all the free support I got when I contacted Windows

 

Edit to avoid triplepost: I will gladly do any diagnostic you guys can suggest, please tell me what software I can use and i will have a go, I know my way around computers in general, but this problem simply comes out from nowhere.

Edited January 12, 2015 by Iulianx

[Eyesgood 2,121]

Some general thoughts:

 

1.  It sounds like you have both an integrated video chip (Intel?) and a non-integrated nVidia card.  If that is the case, you should turn off the integrated video chip in the BIOS.  That way Windows and thus the games will only see one device.

 

2.  Did you install the same OS you had before?  Was it the one that came with the laptop?  If not, you may need to update the laptop BIOS to support the OS you are now using.

 

3.  I would get the latest video drivers from nVidia and not the manufacturer.  The one from the manufacturer will be outdated.

 

4.  Always check to make sure you do not have ANY detected hardware issues.  Go to the Control Panel and check your device list for issues.

 

5.  Make sure to update Java to the latest version and make sure you use the correct version for your OS.  Also, you may have to run the 32 bit version on your 64 bit OS.  Java can be picky.

 

Hope you get this fixed!

[Wurmhole 3,650]

I have an SSD and I was running low on space on C: there was a lot of clutter there and i had a lot of programs installed everywhere, etc, I just needed to start out new. I had no performance issue whatsoever, everything was running fine before reinstalling. After reinstalling windows I had good desktop performance, I did notice a few hangs (less than a second) here and there but nothing that would cause problems. When i tried playing games is when i noticed something was seriously wrong.

This rules out in my opinion any hardware failure of some sort.

Did you do a complete wipe of the drives or reformat them before the reinstall?  Have you reinstalled all the original samsung drivers - or at least all the current versions of those you were running before this reinstall?

 

Still, I urge you to run the system tests, that check ram, GPU, CPU, storage, etc.  Never assume all your hardware is fine, just because something else is working "sort of ok", as you describe with windows.  Try running a lot of other programs.  How is web browsing?  What about graphics programs that aren't games?  Try it all on dedicated GPU. 

 

I would also stick to only the Nvidia drivers from Samsung, at least until this is resolved  I've had many cases of the latest from Nvidia not working properly with the laptop manufacturer.

[Sklo:D 2,210]

1. Are you really sure that you have your dedicated GPU turned on?

2. Install the latest Driver for all components(no beta ones)

3. reinstall java(install an older version)

4. Scan for any viruses, maybe your pc is used for coin mining(try a differnt anti virus programm too)

5. run a hardware test, that checks for any issius

6.reinstall windows

7.turn in your pc

 

 

Try it step by step, but I am sure it is either 1 or 4.

[Onyr 185]

I second this fantastic recommendation.  Make sure your PC can only see, and only use one or the other graphics processing.

Some general thoughts:

 

1.  It sounds like you have both an integrated video chip (Intel?) and a non-integrated nVidia card.  If that is the case, you should turn off the integrated video chip in the BIOS.  That way Windows and thus the games will only see one device.

 

Good luck!

[Ulost 144]

Im not a Whiz but all bloatware (useless pre-installed software) has been also reinstalled now to your computer and you are running 70+ processes 100% CPU usage? Happened to me with my laptop.

[Iulianx 90]

I think i have found the problem, It seems I had a few drivers/programs missing that where somewhat involved with everything.

Using da-drivers.com <-- I really do not trust sites like this but I was desperate enough to do it this time I found out that I was missing the following installs:

 - Intel Rapid Storage Technology

 - Intel management Engine interface

 

This is annoying since it is clearly my fault for not being trough enough. The manufacturer site had about 40 itmes for download for my notebook, I skipped quite a few stuff thinking they where additional useless utilities and gadgets that the manufacturers usually slip by with your drivers. Also the Intel update utility did not detect that these drivers/stuffs where missing or outdated.

 

Thank you all for your ideas and suggestions on this matter, they kept me going since I was about to give up >.>

Edited January 13, 2015 by Iulianx