Curse

dumimare · Aug 06, 2010, 06:35 PM // 18:35

I have a HP Pavilion laptop and usually after 1-2+ hours of gameplay it suddenly and instantly powers of. It's not the regular shutdown procedure... it goes off in 2 secons flat. And it's not terribly hot even...

The machine is pretty powerful... I play with max settings and AA2x at 1440x900 and a framerate of 30-60.

jonnieboi05 · Aug 06, 2010, 07:09 PM // 19:09

Do you think it's shutting down due to overheating? Just an idea.

Hsiv · Aug 06, 2010, 07:16 PM // 19:16

Do you have it set on High Performance, without it being plugged in? I know that causes some serious battery drain on my HP laptop, to the point where it basically just runs out of power in a couple hours. Not much of a warning on HP laptops as to when it's dying, besides the little battery meter on the task bar, which can easily be missed. It just kinda shuts off like how you described.

jonnieboi05 · Aug 06, 2010, 07:30 PM // 19:30

Hsiv makes a valid point. Do you use your laptop with or without the power cable being plugged in? My fiancé's laptop is a heavy duty gaming laptop and without it being plugged into the wall it will die in an hour or so (from max battery to dead).

dumimare · Aug 06, 2010, 07:41 PM // 19:41

It's always plugged in.

It could be due to overheating...

Benderama · Aug 06, 2010, 08:19 PM // 20:19

probably due to overheating, my laptop had pretty serious overheating issues due to junk applications running at startup. only felt hot on the touchpad, which i never used. try using speedfan to check? or it mgiht be something else?

tijo · Aug 06, 2010, 09:17 PM // 21:17

My money is also overheating. When i see HP, laptop and shutdown on the same sentence i think overheating

(yeah bad experiences with HP, but that's only me).

Anyways to verify if it's overheating download HWmonitor, HWiNFO32 or Everest Ultimate and ask the program to keep a log file of so when the computer shuts down you can see your temps or simply wait an hour or an hour and a half and check your temps. I'd option #2 instead of waiting for the shutdown.

These 3 programs will monitor CPU, GPU and HDD temperatures.

Since it's a notebook dangerous temps are usually as follow:
CPU: ~80C
GPU: 90-95C
HDD: ~60C depending on the HDD

For a lot more information: http://forum.notebookreview.com/note...worry-you.html

EDIT: posted my GPU temperatures, all effects at max, 4x AA, post processing and best texture filtering.

Temp on my G73Jh with a MR HD5870, 1920x1080res: ~70C

Temp on my N50Vn with a 9650M GT, 1440x900 res: ~62C after 20 mins in spamadan. I expect it will get hotter by a couple of degrees after an hour or two of gaming.

Ambient temp at 24C

vamp08 · Aug 06, 2010, 09:44 PM // 21:44

Laptops? Overheating? Nahhhhhhh....pics or it never happened.

loopysnoopy · Aug 06, 2010, 09:48 PM // 21:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by vamp08

Laptops? Overheating? Nahhhhhhh....pics or it never happened.

i think you need a new lappy :P

but hey thats wot cool boards r for 2 fans to help cooling

helloworld · Aug 06, 2010, 10:07 PM // 22:07

It has 95% chance to be due to overheating.
As tijo said install Everest Ultimate and run it, it will give you the temperature of your laptop.
If they are to high open your laptop and clean dust (don't be scared).

If the temperature is normal it can be a bad coded virus (very rare)
Run a Hijackthis scan , send log.

Bob Slydell · Aug 07, 2010, 01:50 AM // 01:50

I'd bet it's over heating. Hell, I had an HP tower PC turn off randomly in GW before when I used to use it... oldschool... anyways it fans would go to 100% for 5 mins and then... the entire machine would power off instantly.

mathiastemplar · Aug 07, 2010, 11:22 AM // 11:22

I'm sure it's overheating...
My bro has a HP lappy, and even though it doesn't feel too hot, it really is...

If you've had it for long, open it up and remove the dirt in the cooling area.

Good luck!

xInitialz_ · Aug 07, 2010, 01:23 PM // 13:23

this is why i'd never buy a lappy to game on

they always get heat problems

tijo · Aug 07, 2010, 02:07 PM // 14:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by xInitialz_

this is why i'd never buy a lappy to game on

they always get heat problems

That is just a generalization. True they are more susceptible to heat problems due to everything being cramped, but if you take care of them and buy one with a good thermal design it will last you for a long time.

The same goes for a desktop, if you don't clean it and cooling gets insufficient as a result of dust clogged fans and heatsinks it will still overheat.

Any laptop that can't handle it's GPU right out of the box is simply poorly designed.

Notebook components also tend to be a bit less powerful in order to generate less heat and reduce power consumption.

To OP, keep us informed of what you find out. Also one more question, how old is your laptop?

EDIT: To clarify a few thing about laptops and overheating

The most common causes of overheating in laptops are:

Improper use. (using it on bed sheets, couch etc. while gaming will restrict airflow and cause problems, yes i've seen at least one person doing that).
Bad thermal design. Yep it happens and the manufacturer is at fault there.
Faulty unit, every model has it's lemons and some are just poorly designed.
Unit full of dust. Mostly due to lack of cleaning the laptop, use in dusty environments.

Been gaming on laptops since 2005 and never had a single problem related to heat and i gamed the hell out of my first laptop for four years (that laptop is still alive and kicking btw). Never had a problem with my newer ones either.

Sorry for the rant...

cebalrai · Aug 07, 2010, 05:02 PM // 17:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by dumimare

I have a HP Pavilion laptop and usually after 1-2+ hours of gameplay it suddenly and instantly powers of. It's not the regular shutdown procedure... it goes off in 2 secons flat. And it's not terribly hot even...

The machine is pretty powerful... I play with max settings and AA2x at 1440x900 and a framerate of 30-60.

Have you cleaned the dust out of your vents lately? And you're not using it on a surface where the vents on the bottom are blocked, right?

cebalrai · Aug 07, 2010, 05:03 PM // 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by xInitialz_

this is why i'd never buy a lappy to game on

they always get heat problems

I've been gaming on laptops for years and never had one single heat issue.

End · Aug 07, 2010, 06:12 PM // 18:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by cebalrai

I've been gaming on laptops for years and never had one single heat issue.

I was gaming on a laptop for about a month before it caught fire...

cebalrai · Aug 07, 2010, 10:19 PM // 22:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by End

I was gaming on a laptop for about a month before it caught fire...

What part caught fire?

End · Aug 08, 2010, 04:08 AM // 04:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by cebalrai

What part caught fire?

back left If I remember right....not really sure what happened...just started smoking and I unpluged it and put it outside and a couple seconds there was a small flame coming from between the keys O.O

Elder III · Aug 08, 2010, 01:45 PM // 13:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by End

back left If I remember right....not really sure what happened...just started smoking and I unpluged it and put it outside and a couple seconds there was a small flame coming from between the keys O.O

to quote the indomitable Inspector Gadget "Wowzers!" --- That must have been some intense gaming action you had going on there....