I recently tried to play Valorant after not using my laptop for a week, and now it's really laggy with a low frame rate. The settings app won't open; it just closes immediately. The start menu button doesn't do anything either, and when I click the icons in the bottom bar (like for Bluetooth or WiFi), it just loads with a spinning blue circle without opening anything. I'm pretty frustrated and could use some help!
2 Answers
Wow, that must be frustrating! It could be that a Windows update didn't complete, which might have caused these issues. If you determine your settings are working again, it’s wise to reinstall the graphics driver later to ensure everything runs smoothly. Just let me know your laptop model and GPU, and I can help with that too!
Got it! I would check for the latest drivers specific to your model after fixing your settings. Just keep everything backed up in case!
It sounds like you might have some corrupted files or an issue with Windows Explorer. First thing to try is restarting Windows Explorer. You can do this by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc to bring up the Task Manager, finding "Windows Explorer" in the list, right-clicking it, and selecting 'Restart'. If that doesn't solve the problem, try running a command to check for any broken system files: open Task Manager, go to File > Run new task, type 'cmd', make sure to check 'run as admin', and then type in 'sfc /scannow'. Let it finish and restart your laptop after that.
Thanks for the tips! I’ve already tried restarting Windows Explorer and the error checking commands, but I'll retry once I get home. Is DISM something I need to do after SFC?
Yes, if you want to run DISM, do it before SFC. DISM helps repair any issues with the Windows Component Store which SFC uses to fix files. It’s a good idea to check your system health this way!
I’ve got an Inspiron 15. I didn’t change any hardware, so it should still be the default setup.