Sudden dramatic performance drop (Windows 11 Alienware)

Hi, I’m Nicole, I’ll be happy to help you out today.

When were the last time you have your laptop serviced and the inside of the laptop cleaned?

Also, do the thermal pastes inside the laptop been checked and changed if needed?

How hot is the laptop when the performance drops?


Update me on this issue.

Thank you.

Hi Nicole.
The last time I cleaned my laptop was yesterday. I was removing dust from my GPU fans. Other than that, I dont know what else to do. I dont have thermal paste, and if I need to, I dont know where to get my laptop serviced at. I haven't really checked if my computer gets hot when my performance drops, but like I said, this has been more than a 24 hour thing. I can't even play games without my laptop underperforming.

Let me know what I should do.

- Greyson

Thank you for the response.

You can try to do this system check to isolate the issue.

Method 1. Run system file checker.

On Powershell(admin), copy, paste and enter each command below:

sfc /scannow

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Once done restart the PC and check.


Method 2. Do clean boot:
A “clean boot” starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs so that you can determine whether a background program is interfering with your game or program.

- In the search box on the taskbar, type msconfig and select System Configuration from the results.

- On the Services tab of System Configuration, select Hide all Microsoft services, and then select Disable all.

- On the Startup tab of System Configuration, select Open Task Manager.

- Under Startup in Task Manager, for each startup item, select the item and then select Disable.

- Close Task Manager.

- On the Startup tab of System Configuration, select OK. When you restart the computer, it's in a clean boot environment.

troubleshooting reference: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-t...

Method 3. Run memory diagnostic tool: The memory diagnostic tool is a RAM test to check if there are any issues with RAM.

- Press Windows key + R then type in mdsched.exe hit OK then restart the device.

Report back the results here afterward.


Note: Incase you need service for your laptop, you need to contact Dell support so they can provide a safe and legit service center for your device.


Thank you.

Hi again Nicole. I have some results.
The SFC scan found corrupted files. Unfortunately after restarting, my laptop is still underperforming. As well as method 2 and 3.
If you have anything else, please recommend something.. I would really not want to have to send this off to a service center. Last time I did that, they never shipped my old laptop back, so I had to get a new one.

If you have anything else, please let me know.

- Greyson

You can do a factory reset on the system to refresh it. You can keep your files on the reset since there is an option for that but you may need to reinstall your applications.

Note: Use cloud download on the reset so Windows will download a fresh copy of Windows 11 to be used on the reset instead of the local copy which might be corrupted already. Follow this link for the guide.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/giv...

Thank you.

So unfortunate that I have to do this. All in all thank you so much for your help. I sincerely appreciate it.

- Greyson

My pleasure to assist you.

I know it is such a hassle to do this but you need to so you can use again your system to its full potential.


Best of luck and regards.

Stay safe always.