My Dell Latitude 5590 has 16GB of DDR4 RAM, an 8th-generation Intel Core i7, a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, and Windows 11. It worked well for everyday use and light to moderate gaming, but about a week ago it suddenly became extremely sluggish. File Explorer can take 30 seconds to open, and some applications take several minutes. I checked for malware, looked for unusually high resource usage, updated drivers, removed temporary and unnecessary files, replaced the thermal paste, cleaned the fans and vents, and even performed a factory reset, but the problem remains. One unusual detail is that the AC adapter has started buzzing whenever I turn the laptop on. Could a faulty or underpowered charger be forcing the processor to run slowly, and what should I test or replace?
1 Answer
Check the processor speed in Task Manager while the laptop is slow. Some Dell systems throttle the CPU to a very low frequency when the charger, charging port, or power-delivery circuitry isn’t providing the expected power. Try a known-good, compatible Dell charger with the correct wattage and see whether the clock speed returns to normal. A buzzing adapter is also a good reason to stop using it and replace it rather than continuing to test with it.
The CPU is showing about 0.4 GHz, even though it should be able to run around 2.1 GHz or higher. Does that mean replacing the charger is likely to fix it, or could the laptop itself be at fault?