Help i need counterstrike to live?

[Pip]

Hi... i have an INSPIRON 9100 Laptop with ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700 128mbit graphics... i have been running Games like counterstrike for about a year now with an average of 150-200 fps... but recently on CS its dropped down to 30-50 average.. and i have no idea why.. i reinstalled windows but it doesnt help.. any ideas on how to help? i am a uni student and need my games to help escape from the hard life of gettin drunk all the time.. thanks

 

[Vigilante]

Being that you reloaded Windows, I assume a full format, have you made sure to install all the LATEST drivers for everything? Starting with the motherboard chipset drivers, to you video, to your extra cards and devices, and then doing all your windows updates and patches.
Then shutdown your Windows firewall in case it's interferring. And turn off any other "scanners" while you play, they may be trying to scan while you play.

It's a start anyway.

 

[Pip]

whoaaa that reply was faster than expected.. appreciate it... but youll have to bare with me mate i know very little about computers.. wheres a good place to download the drivers i need..?

 

[Akifuddin]

Google it ya mor...-er...friend of the good world.

 

[Vigilante]

Being that you have a laptop, I'll first ask in what manor did you reload Windows? That is, did you have a Dell recovery CD? Dell usually has like a brown CD for XP, and blue CDs for drivers and programs. If you used these disks, you should have the original configuration.

Otherwise, start here: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?~ck=mn
Type in your code or model and see what kind of downloads Dell gives you. At least download video and chipset if they are there and run those.

Also about your reload, did you format when you did it? As in, ERASE and destroy all data. Or, when the reload was done, did you still have some of your old programs and files still on there?

 

[Pip]

Yeh i deleted all the old data.. and installed xp from the CD.. any programs to keep i saved to external hard drive the drivers i downloaded and installed from ATI.. i think they were up to date i jus d/l what the website recommended...

 

[Vigilante]

Right-click the desktop and choose Properties, then the Screen Saver tab. Then click the "Power" button towards the bottom. Then set the Power Scheme to "Home/Office Desk" or always on. If it's on power saver or laptop anything, or battery saver, that isn't good. Once you change the scheme, set the various options to what you like. And click OK.
The reason is, on a lot of Dell's, having the power save scheme causes it to slow your CPU to save power or keep it cooler. Changing the scheme should allow full speed. Make sure there aren't any programs that are meant to do this type of thing, power management, battery save, etc...

Next, of course you want to change the quality settings of the game itself. Try lowering things and see if it plays better. But if you're NOT playing Source, it shouldn't matter. The original should play fine at default settings.

good luck