Help with laptop shutting down

[Unixistent]

Hi there, new member here.

I have a P173X-FX gateway with the Geforce 8800M GTS installed. I recently updated to Nvidia's most recent driver release for the graphics card, and soon after was getting random complete laptop shutdowns while gaming or using intense graphical applications. I switched over to the forceware on this site, and also used Dox's, but am still having the same issue. I am not sure what card I was using before these shutdowns started, but it was an older forceware card for the 8800m gts.

I have cleaned the laptop of dust (without going deep inside however), and checked temperatures as well. Core temps have not gone higher than 64C, while GPU temp topped out at 80 while running the laptop on full performance. It is commonly in the high 60s to 70s however.

My question is, for any of you currently using this card/setup, or anyone who is knowledgeable on the subject, could you point me to a card that might resolve this issues? Or is it simply hardware related, and I should send it in for a look? Thank you!

Edited May 22, 2009 by Unixistent

[Andrew55]

Well, it doesn't seem to have heat issues since you already check for that. Have you used the latest (185.85) Dox drivers. If not, give them a shot. Also,does this problem occur during all gpu intense applications or a select few?

[Unixistent]

I only play two games, so haven't really had a lot to test it on -- Age of Conan and Lord of the Rings Online. The problem has occurred once while not running anything at all, just fiddling with notepad and running on internet explorer. I tried the most recent dox driver, and I still had a shutdown after awhile. I'm currently testing out Dox's 182.86 drivers, and so far after a few hours of running, no problems, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I will update as necessary.

Is the low 80s Celcius too hot for GPU temperature in a laptop? After a long time of running an intense graphical application such as one of those games, it seems to even out at roughly that point, 80 - 82C degrees.

I appreciate your reply, thank you.

[Andrew55]

Those temps seem normal. If that problem occurs while nothing is occurring it isn't necessarily the gpu. Be sure to tell if you get any further problems.

[Unixistent]

Update:

Left the computer running the game since my last post while I went away. Occasionally monitored temperatures, and it seemed the longer it was running the higher the temp was slowly steadily rising. A few minutes before the laptop shut off, the GPU temp was listed at 91C. A lot higher than previously seen, and I wonder if this is perhaps the case for previous shutdowns, where the temperature simply jumped higher when I was not monitoring it. I've got a cooling pad resting under the laptop, and it is elevated, i'm not sure what options I have at this point. Do any of the 8800m forceware drivers help with fan control, or have lower temps?

Edit: Additionally, not sure if this is important, but whenever alt tabbing out of the game, the GPU temperature will start to drop noticeably.

Thank you.

Edited May 23, 2009 by Unixistent

[zipper]

Internal cleaning seems to be the next trick to do, your temperatures have probably been the culprit. Downclocking the driver and monitoring the temperatures more exactly may give additional info.

[Unixistent]

Thanks.

I've cleaned the fan and removed what dust I saw. Interestingly enough, and not sure if this is normal, but my core temps are all fine, it's only the gpu temp that was steadily rising while running a game. Would running the power setting on full performance (while plugged into the wall) help with more persistent fan control? I'm currently running on balanced.

Monitoring the system now, definitely seems to be a heating issue. After cleaning out the inside, and undervolting, it seems to have alleviated the temperature somewhat, but will continue checking.