RAM vs BIOS aaaaaarrrrgghhh! HELP!

[shellshock]

The bottleneck in my sytem is the shared video. I added RAM to help this. My computer still lags constantly. I ran SiSoftware Sandra to check the memory system. All of my memory showed on the check but the test said that it was only running at 50% of full bandwidth and the CPU was starving. My FSB is 400MHz with a max bandwidth of 2128 MB/s. It only tests at 1091 MB/s Int Buff. and 1071 MB/s Float Buff. My BIOS has no options for anything besides boot order.
Can I get a new BIOS on a laptop?
Or, is there a software fix? Should I just add more RAM? Any help is welcomed.

 

[ekÆsine]

i will hit you with a bunch of questions so i can understand your problem better.

when you say your system still lags constantly what do you mean? it is unusually large lag or are you trying to tweak every last bit of performance out of this system? is it smooth constant lag or is it jerky off and on?

if it is off and on, what are you doing at the time this happens? playing games or some application? what is your CPU make/ speed, and does the operating system detect the correct CPU speed?

 

[shellshock]

My processor is a laptop P4 1.4 GHz 512Kb L2 Cache. Power savers are all set to off. My computer came with 256Mb pc2100 DDR and 32Mb AGPx4 shared video. Normal web surfing or word processing was slow (mouse tracking, loading etc.)but adequate. It seemed that for a 1.4 P4, it was too slow. I added 256Mb more DDR and it performed OK even in Mechwarrior4. What the lag usually consists of is: the mouse is slow and then jumps around; when I am online or playing MW4 it is worse. I have Comcast CableNet but my ping is usually 100-200 and varies.

My system is tweaked to the extent of my knowledge: Powerstrip for vids doubled my pixel clock , End it All takes care of those background memory vampires, Tweak UI got rid of most unneeded effects and processes, Cacheman recovers RAM before I play MW4 online.

I have 512Mb of DDR that should be in a dual channel setup. My gameplay is always set to minimums on 1024x728 but still lags. My mouse bounces at times but is fine mostly. If I run more than one program at a time, my system slows to a crawl. My system benchmarked the same as a 1GHz Celeron with 256Kb L2 and 256Mb pc133 and 16Mb AGP ?

Any Suggestions? More RAM? Upgrade BIOS?

 

[ekÆsine]

no i don't think it is your bios or memory. i think you may have a problem with conflicting devices or conflicting software.

yes, you can get a new bios by looking on the manufacturer website. you are sure it is a pentium4 and not a celeron? you have already checked your power management settings? very slight chance you could have it on poer save mode which underclocks the processor i beleive.

if it is software conflict, gee it would be hard for you to find out which software is causing it. if it was me personally i would reinstall the barebones operating system without the other programs you have like cacheman to rule out a possible software problem. use the restore CD 1 of 2 that came with the laptop. backup your data if you decide to try that.

 

[shellshock]

Thanks ek, I added more RAM and am about to switch to WIN XP PRO. I went to a computer store and ran benchmarks on many laptops. HP laptops with the P4 processor all scored the same on the memory test. Toshiba and Sony both scored much higher. Hindsight is always 20-20. Guess I'll buy more careful next time.

PS-thanks for the help I'll let you know how it turns out.