Help please! Having extreme fps issues with my Dell XPS m1210

I don't know why, but my fps has been consistently horrible with my laptop. The game I'm playing is World of Warcraft, and I consistently get an average fps of 15-16, with very frequent and often permanent drops to 7 fps and below.

Why is this happening?! Sometimes the fps will shoot up to as much as 60 or 70, but it always drops back down.

I have a NVidia Geforce 7400, but I know my friends with older and less powerful video cards get MUCH better frames than me.

Even when I turn all settings to low, I still get crappy fps.

I've called Dell and we've gone from updating drivers, installing an older version of the drivers and updating my BIOS settings, but it's the same no matter what.

Does anyone else experience similar fps problems with their m1210, and what can I finally do to solve this?

Dell resolved it as a compatibility issue, but that really doesn't convince me.

It's Windows XP. Give me one moment and I'll put up some diaxdag info.

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_qfe.070227-2300)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: MXC062
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A07
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2046MB RAM


Card name: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce Go 7400
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_01D8&SUBSYS_01D71028&REV_A1
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.8429 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 3/21/2006 20:03:00, 3968512 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys
Mini VDD Date: 3/21/2006 20:03:00, 3652128 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4298-11CF-7553-DD2100C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x01D8
SubSys ID: 0x01D71028
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_B ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D ModeWMV9_B ModeWMV9_A
Deinterlace Caps: {212DC724-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{212DC724-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{212DC724-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{212DC724-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

Okay, I tried that and I get the message that it cannot copy nvdispsr.dll during the installation. What's that all about?

EDIT: I just said "No" to continuing without copying the file and it completed.

My fps still dropped to 28.6 as soon as I started moving, and if I played a bit longer, I'm sure it would drop to red as usual (or if there's lots of action on the screen)

and my settings are still practically medium.

Okay, my battery wasn't set to always on, but there's really no improvement. As soon as I put the settings back to high, I dropped to red.

I know this card should be able to hand WoW, and I get bad fps all over the place.

UPDATE: There does seem to be a minor improvement in my fps after changing the power options of my battery, but not a significant change. I still hover around 16-28 fps.

Something new happened.

All the terrain in-game has completely disappeared. Yep. It's just...a bunch of empty spaces and characters running around, and my fps is a whopping 2.2

I'm thinking of either replacing this laptop for a different one or moving up a model...I just had to call Dell to fix faulty RAM in this machine and now this.

And they tested the computer for overheating back then and determined that wasn't the problem

The CPU temp is 66 degrees Celsius
The HD tempt is 44 degrees Celsius

What's also weird is that it says my CPU Clock is 998 Mhz...even though it's supposed to be 2.00Ghz

UPDATE: I think over-heating IS the problem after all. my CPU temperature occasionally spikes to 80 degrees, and when this happens my fps drops to terribly low numbers (2-3 fps).

So I called Dell today and told them that was the problem...and after running various system tests, the technician said it wasn't an over-heating issue since no actual errors with the hardware components occurred during the testing.

He determined it was a bad installation of Windows and that I needed to re-install it.

I seriously don't want to do that if Windows isn't the problem, so what do you guys think?

How do I activate the stress test?

I clicked on it, and I believe the test ran, but I never saw my temperatures go above 48-49 degrees C.

Correction: Turns out I wasn't initiating the test right. My temps peaked at around 67-68 degrees.