I have a Vostro 1500 that I got from my uncle a year or so back. He isn't the most techy person, mostly using the laptop to search the internet and keep pictures from his job (as medical personnel). Since then, I've wiped the computer, and placed Windows XP on it for a while, upgrading to 7, then dual booting 7 with 8. It worked quite well for a month or so, but now I've been having issues with the CPU not running to its full capacity according to Task Manager. At first it would run only to 43%, never going any higher. I tried a couple ways to get it to run above that, prime95, opening most of my 99 facebook notifications in seperate tabs (yes, I get that many. I'm not on it all day people. ;-) ), but had no luck. The computer would open all the tabs I opened (albeit, at a much, much slower rate then it used to). Since then, I've looked online for a solution, with little luck. The only one I found to be similar was a problem with the thermal paste being too dry. I've cleaned and replaced it with the Arctic Silver 5 paste (cleaning out the fan in the process), but the only "improvement" I've seen since the application has been that Task Manager says it will go up to 85% maximum and it is still no faster since before the paste application. Another thing I've noticed (I don't know if they have any relevance) is that the laptop will no longer charge from either of the PA-10 or PA-12 adapters that would charge it before. I've listed the main components the Vostro has. 4 gb of RAM T5270 processor, 128 mb video card (at the time of the problem), 250gb drive seperated into three partitions (two for the two operating systems I dual boot, one that I use between the two), a CD/DVD player/writer I can find out more if this isn't enough information. I've narrowed it down to a hardware problem since the issue will not go away while I'm in other operating systems (both my dual boot and my linux USB boot). (Since then, its gone back down to 65%.)
Is it repairable or is the computer just dying? (I've been suspecting that its been getting beyond its years. It is about 7 years old.)
Repairing laptops is quite hard. CPU was launched 2007 so that is about 7 years old. Even if repairing would be possible, it's not worth it unless you do it yourself. For laptops, 6 years is quite a lot.
That's what I've heard. I've already taken it apart completely and put it back together (I'm typing up this message on the laptop so I didn't destroy it ) so I do have a little laptop hardware experience (not much though :-/ ). I'll take a look into it and see if there's anything I can replace. Thanks for your help!
