Laptop shuts off during AH

[Hoarach]

I had run AH during the summer and last year no problems on my laptop.  I run AH on high res and full details except the self shadowings.  Figure during winter break I might as well eat up break time with some AH.  Reinstall AH and go into the arena.  Well now my laptop either turns off in the first couple minutes or after 1 flight give or take. 

My laptop has:
AMD dual core 1.8 GHZ
2 GB RAM
7600 GO 256 vid card I believe or 512 RAM
Vista Home Premium

The drivers I have right now are 100.65.  Im not sure if its the drivers because I updated my drivers since the summer and used 179.45.  The crashing started and I tried 100.65.  I dont remember which drivers I used before hand which is the problem but not sure if drivers would be causing this.

Thanks in advance for the help if at all that can be provided.

Ive never had this problem before and I dont believe its heat as I also use a laptop cooler and Ive check the bottom to see if its hot after a crash and the laptop is actually pretty  cold.  Even the vents on the back are merely warm.

[HAMMERR]

Does this happen during any other games or applications or just AH? 

Try downloading a free app like 3dmark and seeing if the laptop can pass it. 

My suspicion is that the laptop isnt well ventilated and is overheating when it tries to run AH.  Vaccum out any fan inlets and see if you cant get more air under the laptop, (sometimes I'll just tip mine up with my iphone under it to give it an extra few cm.

[Hoarach]

Like I mentioned above, I had no problem running it in the summer or last year with this laptop.

I am using a laptop cooler and the laptop on the bottom is cold and the vents on the back are warm not hot.

[The Fugitive]

if you have crud built up inside the laptop it will over heat quick with the game. Pet dander is great for clogging them up. Grab on of those free cpu temp programs and see how yours is running.

Are you sure you didn't change anything else? Check the Dxdiag just to be sure.

[Hoarach]

Ill clean the inside, but I did download speed fan and my internal temps are as follows:

GPU temp: 56 C
CPU temp: 52 C

Those temps dont seem to be too hot for the components right?

[The Fugitive]

I don't think thats bad, is that with the game running or not?

[Hoarach]

When game isnt running.

[Skuzzy]

That is pretty hot for an idle/noload condition.  That is very hot as a matter of fact.

[Knite]

Heya Hoarach,

I believe the temp for that GPU, while looking pretty high just on a sheer number standpoint, actually isn't bad. I think (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) that you really should be good up until a hair over 70C UNDER LOAD (i.e. while doing something 3D)

However, that processor temp seems a bit suspect for me. Without knowing the exact model of the processor (Athlon X2? Turion?) it's tough to know the proper thermal limits of it, but that does "feel" a bit high to me via the highly tuned "gut check". =P

I'd recomment checking any and all vents for dusts and stuff. You'd be suprised how much dust can accumulate in a laptop, and how little dust can affect the temperatures in it. I had a laptop once that was shutting down like yours, and just by cleaning out the cooling fan and aluminum vents (by taking the keyboard out and blowing compressed air from the inside of the case out, the processor temperature lowered by a good 10C which was enough to make it stable again.

[The Fugitive]

Hooch, my desktop runs in the low 30's idle, I think Skuzzys right your is high. Add to that the extra work running the game is and your going to have some real high temps.

[Hoarach]

Yea Knite the AMD Turion X2s.

Well I dusted her out and now the inside temp which I guess what speedfan refers to by Temp1 is mid 30s, HD temp is mid 20s, and the core and GPU temps are mid 40s.

[Knite]

Those sound a LOT better to me. HD should usually sit below 50C during usage (max for most HDs before worrying is 55C, some 60C, at those higher temps, you're talking shorter life HD), GPU and CPU at idle at mid 40s for a laptop doesn't sound too bad at all.
From what I've heard, those Turions will sit around the 40s at Idle, and at full load will normally hit 50-60C. I think for most models it's supposed to be safe up until about 70C, but thermal protection will shut the machine down after that.

There's a program out there called Prime95 that will SEVERELY stress out your CPU, but is quite useful for maxing your CPU usage while you run SpeedFan or CoreTemp to give you a good listing of your "under load" speed.

Best way to tell though, is now that your machine is cleaned out and running a good 10C cooler, is she still crashing? =)

[Hoarach]

So ran memtest...memory is good.

Now I am clueless.  Its time I think that it goes to my local computer shop next week. 

Ive cleaned the sucker out, pulled out the clumps of dust, and Im clueless.

Up for other suggestions.

[Denholm]

Have you recently run Windows Update? There's a possibility one of the updates doesn't enjoy your current configuration. Also, check the Event Viewer (if accessible) after such a crash to see if there's any information which might pertain to the issue.

[Hoarach]

Well just thought I would mention to what has actually happened to my laptop.

I thank everyone for trying to help but ended up being something that couldnt be fixed by my means or imagine happening in my books.  I ended up contacting the retailer, cyberpowerpc, and they actually think the video card went bad on me and told me that I would have to send it to the manufacturer, MSI.  The reason they think the video card went bad was because the game only shuts down when it starts getting pushed due to gaming.  They out ruled heat when I said that the heat of the machine doesnt exceed 55 celsius.   

I was surprised when the last time I sent the laptop in under warranty because my stupid self ripped out the headphone jack by accident lol.  They actually pretty much replaced most of the inside of the system including RAM, network card, etc.  The only thing they didnt touch they said was the CPU and vid card.

Thanks all for trying to help though.