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westsussexspur · Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 48 Location: West Sussex

Hi,
I have a laptop for general internet use, and my son uses it for games etc. Recently, when playing some games, we have noticed that after about 15 mins the laptop just switches off, mid game!! It is very frustrating!! Any ideas ??
Thankyou

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4419 Location: Bath

Is it powered by the mains when it goes out or on the battery.

We have a cool guy that knows everything but you must give him some details, make, model etc

NickAskew · Moderator Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Thirsk

Hi

As TheScruff says, we need more info from you before we can offer any real advice, ideally:

Laptop Make and Model, i.e. Compaq nc6120, Dell XPS, Toshiba Satellite D3.
Game(s) titles that cause the issue.

Are the games that you play graphicly intensive games? (examples include: Rome Total War/Doom/Other First Person Shooters)
Have the games that now make it crash worked successfully in the past?
If so, have you:
Updated the graphic card drivers recently?
Updated *any* laptop drivers recently?
Added any new hardware to your laptop recently? (like RAM or External HD or Digital TV card or Printer or another USB device)
Started using the Laptop in a different location recently?

Problems like this could be caused by your laptop overheating, which could be caused by a number of factors (the inlet for the fan is usually located directly underneath your laptop)

If you use it on your knee, the material on your legs could block the inlet, so could using it on a bed or other soft surface.
If you have it located near a radiator which is turned on, the air it sucks in is already warm so it is less effective at cooling your laptop (this one used to cause me hell on my desktop pc, I eventually tracked the pattern of overheating down to 30 minutes after my central heating kicked in!)
Dust/Fur, just like your vacuum, over time the inlet sucks in a load of dust and this can clog the fan inlet or coat the components inside your laptop acting like a blanket which restricts the effects of the cooling fan etc. Compressed air can be purchased in aerosol cans that you can fire into the fan OUTLET (usually located on one edge of the laptop), this usually ejects a good deal of dust and can improve the cooling efficiency of the fan.

Also, does it always shut down exactly after 15 minutes of playing the game, or 15 minutes after being switched on, is it exactly or approximately 15 minutes?

Also, if you could enter your computers BIOS (when you first switch on your laptop you will quite possibly be given a hint on the screen that you can press a key (like DEL or F2) to 'enter the bios' - within here you may have an option that allows you to set a maximum temperature your laptop is allowed to get to before it shuts down (this option is frequently disabled) and it will issue a message on your laptop screen when it gets to that temperature rather than just crashing. The ideal temperature to choose as maximum varies depending on the processor and processor speed you have in your laptop.

Any other relevant information would be good too, i.e. I dropped it last week or I spilt coffee on it (I'm not accusing you of being dim, its just always good to check these things!)

Cheers

Nick

westsussexspur · Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 48 Location: West Sussex

Bloody Hell Nick!!! Where shall I start!!
(I can't beleive scruff is in on this - he is my hero plumber!!!)
OK
Laptop is a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo. The games that crash it are nearly all our games on disc. Downloaded free games seem to be OK, altho my son (8 yrs old) reliably informs me that Runescape causes it to turn off too.
I play Toca Race Driver 3, which was fine until a few months ago. Now it crashes without warning just as I am about to win a race!!!
My hard disk was replaced last year.
I haven't spilt coffee on it.
I haven't timed how long it is before it shuts down.
Some games won't even load now - Football Manager, but I think that may be because my 3yr old daughter got hold of the disc - a little scratched now!!!!!
I haven't done any updates lately.
I do not know how to update the graphics card
The laptop sits on a desk and is happy being switched on all day. Does playing a game make it hotter? It never just switches off unless a game is being played.
Will have a look at the bios thing - if I increase the shut down temp, is that dangerous??!!
Thanks for your help, I really am not a hardware techy, more an internet bod!!
Thanks again

NickAskew · Moderator Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Thirsk

It was a bit of a mouthful wasn't it Shocked

Ok, I can't direct you how to use your BIOS because there are a few different models of the Amilo range of Fujitsu notebooks (S, X, P and L Series, and then within those ranges are specific models ex: AMILO Xi 1554 and AMILO Xa 1526 feature in the 'X' range of notebooks).
In my previous post I meant to say you should switch on the temperature shut down option in the BIOS if it exists, that way your PC shuts down gracefully rather than shutting down because it can't live at that temperature.

Yes, Games are very CPU intensive, the more your CPU is being utilised the more power it is drawing from the power supply so the hotter it gets. The games you mention use fairly intensive graphics and if your laptop doesn't have a very good graphics card in it (which is usually the case in laptops) then your CPU is also being used to calculate the images to draw on the screen as well as working out what position you currently in going around the track.

I have listed a few things for you to try below, in the order I would suggest you try them (easiest first!):

1) Prop up the back of the laptop so that the laptop is no longer flat on the table, using an object that is not too combustable that is around 1 to 2 inches high (2.5 to 5cm's) - 2 VHS tapes on top of each other would be fairly stable and around this height (Betamax would also be around this height, but please don't tell us which you end up using because the last thing we need on this board is a heated video tape format debate.. everyone knows Betamax was far superior.. Razz

)

Play some games, see if it crashes as often as it has been doing - if it is fairly stable then your problem is heat, propping up the back of the laptop gives your fan inlet more air to pull through your computer - permanent solution might involve blowing out any dust with an 'air' aerosol or purchasing a relatively inexpensive laptop stand that is designed to provide a good air supply around your laptop (from PC World - I believe I got one for £15), if it still crashes then go to point 2.

2) Update the drivers on your laptop, the URL below takes you to the fujitsu support page, there is a link on the right called 'Deskupdate' which says it can update all the drivers on your laptop - the drivers that were installed after you replaced the hard disk might be causing a problem with CPU intensive games.
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.co.uk/support/index.html

Play some games, if it still crashes then go to point 3.

3) I would be tempted to test the RAM in your laptop if problems still persist, you can use a microsoft tool to do this available from here http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp. There are two ways to use the program you can get from here, either from a floppy disk (if you have one on your laptop?) or by burning an ISO (which is a fancy name for a file containing the contents of a CD which you then need to burn to an actual CD using your favourite CD burning software package) to a CD and then booting your laptop from it - why? Well, windows doesn't handle bad memory very well, usually it senses a serious hardware fault and then shuts your computer down.. the above process creates a non windows operating system (either on your floppy disk or cd) and then runs the memory test from within it, this non windows operating system is far better at recovering from memory hardware faults and more likely to be able to tell you that a memory hardware fault is the reason your laptop is unstable (sorry, can't think of an easier way to say this!)

If you get this far and your laptop is still shutting down even though the memory test passed, then give us another go and we'll start with point 4+
Surprised

Good Luck!

Nick

westsussexspur · Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 48 Location: West Sussex

Thanks, I think................
Will get back to you in a day or two!!! Shocked

westsussexspur · Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 48 Location: West Sussex

Right..
Have propped up the back of the laptop and blown a load of dust out of the fan.
Fujitsu site says I have all the latest drivers...
Now I'm going to play before trying the micsrosoft burning cd type thing!! Confused

westsussexspur · Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 48 Location: West Sussex

Hi again,
Am pleased to report that since blowing the dust out and propping the back of the laptop up, the games seem to be running longer. I haven't played for a long period of time, but when I have played, the laptop hasn't switched off Very Happy

Such a simple solution to a really aggravating problem - Thankyou!
And to think I could have paid a computer shop to do some checks and be none the wiser!!!
Off to do some racing now!!

NickAskew · Moderator Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Thirsk

Great news Very Happy

Thanks for keeping us updated.

westsussexspur · Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 48 Location: West Sussex

Now worries, I am sure it is nice to hear back when you have helped someone, and that your advice is appreciated.
Are you a blue or an aggrieved red then? Or are you not into football?
As you have probably sussed I am a big Spurs fan!!

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4419 Location: Bath

NickAskew · Moderator Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Thirsk

Glad to report I fit into the usual stereotype of more likely to find me at a frag fest than a football ground Laughing

- Though I have to admit I do prefer one of the teams over the other (though I'm not sure which..) because I live opposite a pub and the football results bring either love and laughter or foul language and brawls, I will have to pay more attention to the tv to find out who I should be cheering!

westsussexspur · Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 48 Location: West Sussex

Hmmmm
A frag fest Shocked

I have no idea what it is and not sure I want to
And Scruff - a Seagull - I thought only people from Crawley supported them! Well, I suppose you have been to wemberley once! Aaah - Steve Foster - now that was a look Rolling Eyes

We are on our way to the Champions League, and as a shareholder, I am rubbing my hands Very Happy

Thanks again for all your help guys, and I am sure I will be back on the board soon - Buying another flat soon, so there is bound to be problems - I'm a magnet for problems.

ps - wish I could help on the forum, but I ain't an expert at anything yet, but am learning the buy-to-let curve pretty quickly, albeit the hard way!
Good luck, and prosper, as they say somewhere