System extremely slow under light load

[Bartosz Fabianowski]

> Try Knoppix, or Ubuntu LiveCD.  I tend to use the former for rescue
> situations:

Thanks. I am aware of both - but neither boots from USB (and I have no 
CD-Rs at hand). I am running UNetbootin under Windows XP in VirtualBox 
right now to try and get Xubuntu 10.04 onto a USB key. It is really sad 
that almost all Linux distributions require this detour via a 
proprietary operating system.

> I'll be very surprised if Dell is of any assistance, as the last I
> checked they did not officially "support" FreeBSD (that's usually their
> statement).  I think testing Linux and/or Windows will overall act as a
> better confirmation.

Absolutely, they do not "support" FreeBSD. But if the laptop overheats 
during normal usage, to me, the hardware is broken and needs to be 
fixed. So far, Dell have been very cooperative, sent out technicians 
several times and in the end provided me with a completely new laptop. 
Going by this previous experience, I expect them to send out a 
technician again and attempt a repair. I am doubtful it will actually 
fix anything though.

> I wish I knew what else to recommend too, or what else to check.  :-(
> Folks familiar with ACPI tables might be able to shed some light on the
> situation, if it is indeed a problem there.

I will be able to provide a comparison with Linux soon. This may be helpful.

- Bartosz