Laptop just suddenly TURNS OFF when playing intense gaming

Sharkadder

hey my laptop does this, i originally thought it was a problem with the cable and the wall socket and that it might run well on the battery, i dont get this.



I have a Gericom 3.06ghz pentium 4 processor and 512mb of RAM, ive only had it for like 4months and i play a game online called "americas army" this takes up approx 250mb of ram a big game yes, i never used to have this problem, i could play americas army anytime i wanted without turning off or anything and now all of a sudden i go to play it and the laptop turns off off, the same with a chat website i go on called "lycos chat" now you may think an internet chat? why does that shut down? well when you run it the chat takes up 50mb of ram and yes you have guessed it even that shuts the computer down, i went on the chat today with only the battery in(not the cable) and it worked fine no problems and im on it now wioth the cable plugged in.

If i went to play americas army now it would turn my laptop off, i can polay other games perfectly ok its just internet games like that, it did it with some games within half life 2 aswell(the ones which i tried out).



I like 1st person shooters but if thats all what happens then whats the point in me having them, ive tried to reinstall the software and nothing happens i get same problem. I thought it might of been something to do with an error or a virus or something but other day i reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled windows and still happens.



Both fans are working because i can feel air coming out, the laptop is very hot and now when i go to run something that takes up abit of memory the fans just kick in straight away even on little tasks(e.g over 10-20mb of ram needed to perform)



The fans never used to do this like kick in so much only once needed.



I have downloaded the following software and here are my results from a few tests:



Mobile Meter: Frequency 3.10ghz, temperature 75 degrees C, change rate 0.00w,HDD#0 55 degrees C



rightmark cpu clock utility: cpu core clock and throttle:1600, CPU load and OS load: 8%

cpu frequency id and voltage id(fid and vid): 23.0



somebody told me it might be a cpu problem but the fans are working ok, just they comes on more often than they used to, if anybody can help then let me know as im itching to play AA again :P

Leonardo

Mobile Meter: Frequency 3.10ghz, temperature 75 degrees C

If that is the actual temperature of the laptop's central processing unit (CPU) then probably your CPU is shutting down to protect itself, and that's a GOOD thing. 75*C as at the upper limit of safe operation for your CPU. You said you've had this computer for a few months but previously did not have the shutdown problem. I believe you. A few months ago the room in which you use the computer was probably quite a bit cooler. You also said that the fan(s) are coming on more frequently. Well yes, to cool the CPU. Here are a few things you can try to keep the CPU running cooler:

1) elevate the laptop above its resting platform to allow more room for air circulation. if the air intake vent is not on the bottom of the laptop's case, skip this step

2) using compressed air, blow out the intake and exhaust air vents to remove any dust or lint that might have accumulated

3) find a cooler are in which to use your laptop

4) consider purchasing a laptop cooler

We can't really take further diagnostic steps until we can rule out environmental heat as the culprit. It really sounds to me like your computer is functioning normal, just that the environment (area around your computer) is not conducive cool operation.

Sharkadder

well somebody had a simular problem and he had a toshiba laptop not a gericom but he sent his away and toshiba changed the CPU fan and regreasd it or something and he never got the problem again, i do not think its an overheating problem as i should of got this problem from the beginning shouldnt i.

I think something might have worn over time because this is a really big game, i have 512mb of RAM and this uses 250mb to run and shuts down after about 2minutes.

As for the laptop it is on the disk in my bedroom the bottom is real warm and it dont matter when i go to use it the problem occurs, say my laptop has been off overnight and i go to play "americas army" it will still shut off regardless.

And yes the fans do come on more now than they did before and the temperate i was refering to was the the following:

CPU clock
The temperature of CPU
Charge of battery and electric power consumption
The temperature of HDD

Leonardo

Regardless, your CPU is getting too hot. It could be also that your video chip or video card (I don't know that laptop) is also overheating. I am sure the problem is heat induced. I don't know what your hardware skills are, but you should consider downloading the service manual for the computer, to remove the components around the CPU heatsink. Laptops are notorious for easily overheating. The fact that the fans are coming on more frequently than before is a symptom of an overheating CPU.

Have you blown air through the vents yet?

Sharkadder

i think you could be reet yes,

I have just loaded my laptop up this morning, it has been off overnight for about 11 hours id say, its been on about 15minutes i have nothing loaded apart from msn messenger, this internet page and the wireless utility etc.

The fans are really working hard and it has only been on for like 15minutes, it never used to be this like noisey.

Yes it does to tent to get hot more quickly also but i dont think buying a cooling pad would make any difference, i think its an internal problem.

As for opening the laptop up i have done that before and theres wires going everywhere like my old packard bell used to be(except not that bad), so i scrwed it back up again and i darnt turn it on while the back is open but i think that the fans are working fine just like you say something is making them work faster than normal.

Say i just left the desktop on and left my laptop for an hour or so, when i come back the fans will still be sounding, before you could barely hear the fans once you left it idle, nothing is loading because the loading light isnt lit up so the computer isnt working hard at all.

Also regards to the tests i done, i managed to play americas army last night for about 40 minutes which was to my suprise before the laptop turned itself off. while doing this i monitored the CPU and the CPU usage was on 100% alot of the time mainly hanging around there but did drop down as low as 45% at times, once i came off it the usage hung around 15-20% as i had windows media player on also. The OS load was on about 30% at the time of playing the game.

the program i was using is righmark CPU clock utility, i have just checked now and the CPU load is on 14% and the OS load is on 0%, and yet the fans are still working quite hard.

The only other thing i am doing at the minute is charging the battery for the laptop, apart from that all i have open like i say is the normal windows stuff,the wireless network utility and msn messenger. Its saying internet explorer is taking up 41,000kb i dont think thats reet, i think it whould be alot less than that.

Hope this has mebbies narrowed the problem down a little for you.

Sharkadder

aust to say i have loaded my laptop up and all seem fine, theres a chat website that i use now and again which takes up approx 50mb of ram, yes a big website i know its because the chat uses .net.

Anyways yes the fans come on more frequently when using that like when using very intense gaming. The hot weather im thinking is the main reason for these issue BUT some breaking news i found just yesterday, which gets me a step further to the problem.

Ok as i mentioned before i have Rightmark CPU clock untility, now when i run the chat website i was refering to earlier and after a few mins i get a warning saying CPU throttle is on 100% and then the screen flickers and after another minute or so and turns itself off. when i get that message it switches between 98% and 100% frequently untill switch off, i have not tried it when playing intense games but now when that happens i unplug the laptop mains cable and run off the battery and then its fine, i no longer get the warning.

Do you think buying a cooling pad for about £7 off ebay will do the job? or at least help do the job?

Medlock

I'd recommend opening the laptop, finding the CPU/GPU or whatever's overheating and cleaning off the dust.

Sharkadder

I opened it up the other day and i didnt want to mess around as wires were going everywhere, i might open it up come the start of next week and get rid of all the dust if any is in but im guessing if thats not the problem its a hardware problem and i hope it isnt.

Anyways im going to buy a cooling pad because somebody who had a simular problem he said it worked for him so ill do that and see if problem still persists, the only thing is i dont want to damage the CPU by it turning off all the time so im trying to run minimal programs and things for now.

TheIcyKissOfDeath

well my friend had a desktop computer, and everytime we tried to produce a video or play an intensive game it would suddenly shut down.

they took the computer in to a shop and found out that cat hair had coated the hard drive. the goup from the oil dripping into a paste that screwed the thing.

so maybe that's it.

serhiy

i have a cooler like that bought it at bestbuy its not gonna help still turns off