format your HD and just install XP with SP3 hehe :D

You really need more ram with Vista. Think XP but double all ram requirements.

The designation and capability of laptop graphic cards are very different from the designations & capabilty of stand alone graphic cards. The M designation is a dead give away.

You can build a great gaming cpu for just 400 usd or maybe even less in this economy.

Well the computer's still getting really hot, but after using compressed air, updating the bios, and setting the computer in power saver mode, the game seems to be working fine now.  Thanks everyone.

 The PC overheating is a serious issue and you may want to consider taking it to be worked on or give it back to whomever you got it from and let them know of the issue.

 The performance issue you have been speaking of could be a result of the overheating like was suggested, or if you are in a wireless enviroment ?  It can also cause the "lag" and performance degredation.

  The specs of the laptop are decent to run that specific game, but the issues could be caused from anything like outdated drivers, and I do know that the specific chipset you are using most likely does not have appropriate updated drivers.

  If you are not sure about the Whql certified drivers reg'd on your hardware you can run a dxdiag from the start>run and type in dxdiag, it will list the hardware and the driver dates. Also when reinstalling or getting a new driver for that chipset, be sure and uninstall the previous driver before installing the new one, Nvidia seems to have a few files that will not uninstall sometimes or be overwritten during a driver update process which will cause issues also.

 If you are runing AVG or any virus detection or worm detection software be sure that it is also not causing an issue with the game .. I have seen AVG just about crash a game during certain times and others run just fine, also , Nortons, and a few other 3rd party programs will get the same results.

 You can make sure regular file Maint. is run, defrag, clean up unwanted files and also disable anything in your startup, but be cautious if you are not familiar with the process. Click on Start>Run> Type in MSCONFIG and hit enter, under the STARTUP tab, you can select diable all, and it will remove the checkmarks from the apps that are starting with windows.

 You can also, select Under windows performance settings to set to BEST PERFORMANCE and this will ease up resources also, and BTW, if you are running Vista Sidebar, turn it off, it loves resources..

 Other that these things, the hardware could be faulty and a tech needs to open it up and make sure everything is in working order..... Good Luck..

Originally posted by Nwizard2

I do have SP1, Windows is fully updated, and single player games perform really badly too.

Then there's two options.

A) You have a virus, which is the simple in and out option.

B) You're computer needs to be upgraded. I agree more with option B. Most people (all people) tend to agree that ANY gaming on Vista, be it Diablo or Crysis, requires 3GB of RAM. Or, in a game like Crysis' case, it requires 1GB more than listed of the box. And at least 3GB. Mabinogi, requires very little, although the specs they give seem to be to get the game to start up and run as something little more than a slideshow.

If I were you, I'd do the following:

Download Avast AntiVirus, Avira AntiVir, Panda Cloud (three different, highly praised virus scanners) , and SpyBot. Do a full, thorough scan with each of them.

Download CCleaner, let it run.

Clear up your hard disk space, make sure you have about 5GB left at least. Personally, I leave 10% of my drive open (30GB out of a 300GB for example).

Update your all of your drivers, this is a horrible process but worthwhile. You probably will want to look on the site of your laptop manufacturer before anything. Specifically, look for these drivers:

Sound Card

Video Card

Wireless Modem/Normal Modem

Motherboard

You can find the Brand and Model for these by hitting your Windows Start Orb, typing dxdiag and hitting enter. Click the Orb and typing MSINFO32 and hitting enter will give you information also. If you are still having trouble finding a part, such as the mainboard (motherboard) download and CPUZ and use it.

After that is complete, if games are still running slowly, pick up more RAM, it should help you out if only a little bit.

And if the games are still running slowly, either format your drive or have it looked at by a professional computer technician. Very good ones can be found locally, large stores, such as Best Buy, may contain techs who are sub-par.

Thank You, I hope I helped,

 - Eric

EDIT: About the overheating, laptops tend to get quite warm, although remember try not to keep it on a desk, it's best to buy a laptop cooling unit if your system is used heavily. I would suggest not looking specifically for one with fans, rather for one with a grill-like surface, to allow good airflow. Also, remember never to keep it on all the time. The same goes for desktops, it will result in a quicker death for the computer and it doesn't allow temporary folders and caches to properly dump

Because it is a laptop I presume it has a virus checker as it is used on several networks... this will usually overwork a laptop, and a virus checker may need to be turned off during gameplay.

As a gamer on a laptop I highly recommend a fan cooled stand, there are several cheap ones that are highly efficient from Coolermaster.

Do not get one of those heat conductive pads, make sure it has fans. Some laptops dont work well with pads/fin types ones because after an hour or two the air has not moved much, a fan solves this problem. I can play for a very long time and my laptop stays very cool.