Games on laptops

[punisher071665]

I've been asking this question around, but nobody can seem to give me an answer. I just got a nice shiney new HP laptop.

• P4 1.4
• 256meg ddr ram.
• Ali chipset,
• Savage pro ddr video chipset,
• win xp of course.

My problem is that some of my games run, well, erratically. It seems like the mouse stops working at erratic intervals. Occasionally when running half life it seems like the game gets locked on the last input, and won't respond to any new inputs for a period of seconds. Occasionally, the light on the mouse goes off when this happens (its an optical mouse, logitech to be exact).

I've updated drivers, updated windows, asked sierra and id software, and hp, with no resolution. I can't tell you just how annoying this gets after a while. BTW, laptop uses insyde software bios. So, if anyone has any ideas, I'd sure appreciate hearing them......


(*edited by mod)

 

[StormBringer]

maybe it is a power problem, I've seen this with usb optical mice in desktops with too little power to the USB port but not specifically on a laptop. Does this happen if you use a power adapter or just with a battery? Being you are having other problems as well, I'd think this may not be the case and the problem lies elsewhere, possibly video drivers. Are you using the latest? If so try going to an older set and see if it still happens.

 

[punisher071665]

Yep. happens plugged in. Have buddy with similar hp laptop who has same problem with optical mouse. Puter has interesting BiOS, new company I never heard of, Insyde software.

 

[Cryo]

Sounds like it could possible be a couple of things.

(1). Video Ram. You mention that it has a Savage pro ddr video chipset, but how much ram is avaliable on the card? I reciently just bought a laptop and found that many brands like HP, Compaq and Gateway stick mainly to 8 and 16MB graphics even on some of their higher end models. And to top it off sometimes this is shared memory (i.e. the video card doesn't have its own onboard ram it's actually using the system ram). If you have 8 or 16MB of video ram that could be causing the problem

(2). Cache/Swap/pagefile. Call it what you will, I know that when I'm playing games on laptop every once in a while something will cache onto the hard disk rather than into ram and it will jump for a second. Although it doesn't sound as bad as what happens with you so I doubt this is it, but it might be looking into how your pagefile is setup.

(3). Heat. If your laptop is set to cycle down the CPU when it gets hot, as many are setup to do to save power and solve heat problems, this could be an issue. When you are playing games, you're probably using the CD-ROM, Hard drive, and video card, quite extensivly more than when you are at your desktop. This kind of stress will create heat which in turn will cycle down your CPU speeds. Its really a viscious cycle if you think about it... the more you play, the slower it goes.... ;-)

(4). Lastly and most simply, It could just be the mouse drivers/setup. If its a USB mouse they can sometimes cause issues if not setup just right since some laptop motherboards have quirky USB setups.

Let me know if any of this helps.

 

[punisher071665]

Well, system is switchable between 8/16/32 meg video ram, shared, of course, with system ram. My last HP had a fixed 4mb video ram, which was fine for h/l, but faltered on q3. I've been running most of the games at 16 bit color using 32 meg shared, ram, also tried 16 meg at 16bit, in case I was robbing the system of too many resources. No joy either way.
I also haven't noticed any changes dependent on how long I play. That notebook gets HOT! after a while, but from when I first start it up, to after an hour, still no difference.
I did notice while playing Mech Commander 2 that I was hearing Windows chimes in the background, but I don't know how to check and see what other program is trying to run.
HP suggested I shut off all the services with MSconfig, except the microsoft services, but no difference. I've also run hardware diagnostics, no problems found.
This laptop uses BIOS from Insyde software, have never heard of them before.
Also, problems occur with built in touchpad, as well.

Thanks for suggestions and help.....

 

[bedlam_4]

I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!!

Ocaisionally I also have had the same problem. Have you ever had your primary attack go off also? Of course you have when your palm brushes against the left click pad below your keyboard.
Well that is what happens to your mouse. Inadvertantly you brush agaist the mouse input pad on your notebook. It takes a couple of seconds for the computer to reorient itself to input from your peripheral device.

 

[punisher071665]

I wish it were that simple..... HP computers have a button (at least the last two I have owned do) that turns off the touchpad... I got bit by that in the past and now make sure the touchpad is off when gaming..... and the problems happen with the touchpad, as well..... even with no mouse connected.

Thanks....