whenever I start portal, it crashes from the blurred loading screen to a black screen, where it resets the pointer to the centre of the screen.

my new specs:

Operating System: Windows Vista? Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.090302-1506)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: DIXONSXP
System Model: F71IX1
BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T3400 @ 2.16GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 2936MB RAM
Page File: 1850MB used, 4256MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

    Card name: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
 Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
    Chip type: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
     DAC type: Internal
   Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2A42&SUBSYS_99501019&REV_07

Display Memory: 1340 MB
Dedicated Memory: 128 MB
Shared Memory: 1212 MB
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor

(please, useful comments only. and yes, it may be bad. but it was the best affordable laptop there)

so, anyone know?

Card name: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip type: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
DAC type: Internal
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2A42&SUBSYS_99501019&REV_07
Display Memory: 1340 MB
Dedicated Memory: 128 MB
Shared Memory: 1212 MB
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor

Not to grief or troll you, but your most likely not going to be able to run portal with that. I've tryed on two different laptops with the same graphics core, and it just doesn't work. Some crash out at random, some crash out as soon as I look at a portal.

Advice: Look for updated drivers for the card.

wait a minute...
it has no content for sound (content english GCF)
wtf? where is it? O.o

ok, it's there now (reset the language to english)
anyway, is that the only way? to get a new laptop?

ok. got it.

my whole game was going extremely well, aside from the occasional lag here and there.

then I met GLaDOS

I swear, my computers have never been more laggy! at some parts, it was nice. but for other, much longer periods, I couldn't move. the first part went like this:

"well you found me, con onononononononononononononononon gragragragragragragragragra tultultultultultultultultul lations"

any ideas on how to stop it?

Upgrade.

Make sure that you got the very latest drivers. Especially for the core components (motherboard and chipset) and the graphics card.
Don't rely on Windows Update for these, get them at the web site of the manufacturer.

Oh hey look, msleeper is back.

Intel VGA's are baaaaad. You'd be better off with a 10 year old Nvidia or Radeon than a recent Intel.

Siiig wrote:
Oh hey look, msleeper is back.

Welcome to like 3 weeks ago.