hotrod4x5 - 8:36 pm on Dec 10, 2009 (gmt 0)

This problem just started about 2 weeks ago. There are several symptoms, but they all are related as far as I can tell.

Videos no longer stream smoothly, if at all. I can hear the sound, but the video moves jerkily (if at all). When I type things, such as in this box, the letters sometimes do not appear right away, the cursor freezes, then the letters pop in a few seconds later after I have typed a whole string, they appear all at once.

Also, when I drag windows, they do not move right away, if at all. Or they move a few seconds after I have let go of the mouse button. And lastly, windows do not become active every time I select them in the task bar, or they take a few seconds, sometimes 10 or more, to become active.

What I have tried to solve this: The RAM door was very hot, so I got an external belkin fan thing to set this laptop on and this keeps the ram really cool. Didn't help.

I was due for a reinstall of XP Home, so I went ahead and did that, and that has not helped. I have downloaded all the critical updates as far as I know, and installed SP3.

The machine is a Dell Inspiron 9400 Core 2 Dupo T7200 2ghz with 2gb Ram, ATI Mobility Radeon with 256 MB ram, and I upgraded the hard drive to a 320gb.

I suppose this could be hardware related, but just not sure. About a year ago, Dell replaced the motherboard, memory and fans, trying to solve a fan problem that I had. At any rate, as I said this just started about two weeks ago.

Thanks for any help you can offer.