CS:S FPS drop

[Element118]

Hey guys, I know it's off topic (hence in the off topic forum), but I need some help with CS:S and most of my other games I think. I've got a DELL Inspiron E1750 with the following Specs:
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS
2Gigs of ram
Genuine Intel CPU Duel Core processors T2500 @ 2.00GHz

My problem is, about a month ago, while palying CS:S, my fps just dropped to 10. I usually get anywhere b/w 60-100fps in a game, and about 115fps average on the "Stress Test". Even on lowest settings it does it. I checked it on DOD:S and it was really jumpy there (didn't get an fps so could've been the server lagging). Also, when I play STALKER, it is choppy every once in a while (however, that game is supposed to be played on higher end systems i think, so that might explain it). I tried everything short of reformatting my lappy. I tried downloading new drivers for my video card, updating windows, deleting the cache file in CS:S folder, doing weird console commands I found on forums, but nothing worked. I've found forums that show other people having this problem, but no one's come up with a solution yet.

So I was hoping someone here might know whats going on. I mean, I know my computer can run CS:S smoothly because 1.) it's done it before and 2.) I can play prey smoothly on high settings. And, I'm sure you all have guessed my fear, that if this continues, I don't want it to affect my Left4Dead. Especially with all the zombies on the screen. Let me know if you guys can help out. Thanks ahead of time.

[Teknobry]

Have you ran anti spyware & virus scanned your laptop?

Sounds like another program is sapping your CPU bandwidth.

[Element118]

I have done both, but I'll do them again in case. Nothing showed up the first time I did them. And yea, I suspected something sapping my CPU memory as well, but when I brought of the task window, nothing seemed to be taking more than it usually does. I'm starting to think I'm going to have to reformat. And if that doesnt fix it, I don't know what will. I'd rather not reformat though. Such a long and tedious task. So if anyone's got any ideas, let me know. Thanks for the reply Teknobry.

[A DUCK]

my fps just dropped to 10. I usually get anywhere b/w 60-100fps in a game, and about 115fps average

i usually get an average of 10 - 20 :(

[PoplarSantiago]

yes, I know this sounds wierd, but I used to get a problem just like this, and it happened to be steam homepage thing that opens up when you first boot up steam. All of the popups and moving screens on that thing can really mess up your fps, make sure it is closed before starting to play!

[frogopus]

Reformatting isn't so bad, just turn it on and walk away. The big chore would be if you went so far as to reinstall Windows, which I find myself doing every year or so just to clear out any needless garbage we tend to accumulate.

Poplar raises a good point, do check on that.