Think you can figure out whats wrong with my Latitude? Overheating may be the culprit:

Warning-this thread might take some patience getting through...

I have been on these forums complaining about various issues with my Latitude 6400 for about four months now. I am on my second Latitude; the first I gave back after one month in October of 2008 b/c of the relentless fan.
This one has the following specs:
-Dual Core T9400
-Nvidia 160 GPU
-4gbs of ram
-Seagate 250gb-hd at 7200rpm
-Vista Business
*the above sits in a E-port replicator/dock with two external drives roughly 75% of the time.

So heres the problem: aside from a relentless fan that never seems to turn off (which I have just resigned to), I have a serious CPU dilemma. For some reason, at odd intervals during the day, it will jump up to 50-60-% and stay there. It actually idles at about 25%. Mind you, I use ONLY Outlook, Itunes, and internet access.
This CPU usage will steadily climb until it hits 100%, at which point I cant do anything but restart the computer.
Heres the strange part: when I look at my Task Manager in this situation, it seems that EVERYTHING is jumping around and contributing to the CPU usage. The usual, more active culprits are the Search Index and Filter and the "Host Processes". Also, various aspects of Symantec seems to bog things down as well. Whats weird is that if I end one of the processes, another random process will start to use the CPU percentage that I just shut down! It doesnt matter what I do, the computer will "find" a way to use up 100%! For example-today the "Search Filter and Index were using almost 60% of my CPU so I shut the whole Index down. My computer ran at about 5-10% for an hour and then magically found other stuff to bog it down. By the end of the day, I was back up to 75% usage again.

Also, for some reason, Task manager itself usually takes up 30-40% of the CPU (which I dont understand at all).

-->What seems to be spiking the CPU is video. Every time I open a video, the CPU jumps dramatically. And, the larger I make the viewing screen the worst it gets. Also, I notice a significant difference in the TIME it takes to get the CPU overloaded when UNDOCKED. It can take up to twice as long.

My theory: the internal environment has been too hot for too long now and its damaged my hardware (i.e. motherboard). The combo of the Nvidia card (which is like a small suana), the 9400 and the strain form the poorly designed, minimal airflow dock has done the job over time. When I use the lappy undocked, the fan does come on at the ridiculously low 40c but it takes a much longer time to get there.

What ive done to remedy this problem?
1) returned the first 6400 I had within 3 weeks thinking it was a lemon
2) reinstalled Vista four times
3) have updated all drivers numerous times; have tried using a variety of configurations of older drivers as well.
4) eliminated ALL bloatware on the computer
5) dropped windows sidebar, aero scheme and anything else that requires alot of the cpu
6) have tested the computer in multiple environments under varied stresses; it always eventually heats up and the problems occur.
7) have spoken to dell on numerous occasions, they are stumped and just want to send me anew one (which I refused).
8) have tried most of the suggestions made on this forum

Conclusion?
I either a) have terrible luck and have received two consecutive duds
b) have some sort of variable that I am simply missing which is causing all these problems
c) am onto something with this heat dissipation problem.

I sincerely believe this laptop, with the Nvidia GPU, simply runs too hot (almost hot to the touch). Furthermore, the dock takes the heat issue to the next level. I think DELL knows about this which is why they have set the Latitude fans to sit at 4800 RPMS once the GPU reaches 40 degrees.
I could be completely wrong here and I admit that, but heat seems to keep coming up as the culprit. Also, ive had this laptop since it was released, so combined with all my dock use, I wouldnt be surprised if Im one of the first to notice this degredation (assuming heat is the issue).

DELL has offered a new one, but I dont want it.
This has easily been the worst computer experience I have ever had and I have been using laptops for a long time.
They will only send me a replacement with the exact same specs.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

I am not a big fan of Symantec, to bloated for my taste. Have you tried uninstalling Symantec and seeing if that helps.

If that does not work try installing a fresh copy of windows, then without installing any drivers or even going to windows update, dock your E6400 and see what happens. If it's running better install each driver one at a time until the problem starts surfacing again. This way maybe you can narrow it down to a specific driver or piece of software you have installed.

 

I actually ran the computer without any anti-virus for two days to see if there was a difference. There was none. (is there any free anti-virus that I should consider using?)
As for your second suggestion, I tried that as well and I couldnt figure it out.
You see, other than Office and Itunes, I dont use ANY other software.

It just makes no sense.

I wish DELL would just refund my money so I could buy another Latitude but this time around, id be alot more "heat conscious" (p8600, cooler hard drive, Intel graphics, etc.)

 

have you tried flashing your bios? I'm using the m4400 and i've found the A12 bios to be quite good. All the bios after A03 and before A12 were very aggressive on the fan.

The CPU going to 100%. I had a problem with the Audio driver where the CPU process would go up and stay there. But after I used the newest one (A05 i believe) it's been fixed.

Also when I run it docked on the Eport, I switch off the Laptops monitor and run on external only. When the notebook's display is on, the fan runs insane.

 

Im on a12 right now and ironically, with regard to the audio-I had to drop down to an older audio driver because version 5 went nuts on my machine. The audio kept on turning off.

With my eport, I couldnt use it opened if I wanted to because I have a 19" monitor overhead which prevents me from docking with the screen open.

 

My recommendation for antivirus would be,
AVG free
or
NOD32, not free but the best if your willing to pay a little bit.

Your problem is strange. So you still have the same problem with a fresh install of windows without any drivers, Dell software or office or Itunes installed?

If so than something must be wrong with your hardware somewhere. Are you getting any bsod's?

If the fan is kicking in at only 40c what happens then? Do the temps keep climbing? Or do the temps stay cool?

 

What are bsods?
The fan kicks in and the temps do climb, but generally stay in the 45-55 range. Im thinking the fan at 4800 rpms does not do an ample job of keeping things cool when im using multiple screens, have a coupld of programs open and am watching video. Music tends to have a similar effect albeit it takes a longer period of time to get the CPU up to full load.

I really know nothing about anti-virus software but ill try anything at this point. Would you use AVG or NOD over Symantec?

 

Hi i stopped running with my notebook closed as I noticed it got hotter than if opened. I know you've mentioned that you have your 19" monitor above but maybe could you try to get it like half or quarter open to reduce the heat?

I have also noticed the audio stopping on A05

 

BSOD

45c-50c should not be hot enough to cause the problems your having. My thinking is something is causing the cpu usage, but its hard to say what it could be without systematically testing each driver and piece of software you have installed, one at a time.

Yes I would use either AVG free or Nod32 over Symantec.

 

What happens if you remove iTunes? I would be highly suspicious of a product made by a rival computer manufacturer.

You can get a clearer idea of what is using the CPU by enabling the CPU Time column on the processes page of Task Manager.

Have you tried more than one video player? Rescaling a video to play in a bigger window does involve more processing (I don't know if this would be by the CPU or GPU).

John