Major Problems With System Shutting Down! - -srry if i posted in wrong place

i think this might be a hardware problem....but i suppose it could be a software problem or possibly an os problem...idk its been pissin me off a lot lately...

i love to play games (doesnt everyone ) but when i go to play a game (any game doesnt matter what kind, system requirements, or how big of a game) it will shut down my computer (force shutdown....doesnt bring up shutdown option and show me that it is shutting down) after exactly five mins of play time (i have actually timed this...several times ) it has actually done this before...but i didnt pay much attention to it because it only happened with three of my games...but then my backlight went out on my lcd display (its a laptop not a desktop - compaq presario 2190us ) and i had to take it in to get it fixed (im not to good with laptops yet - trial and error learning you know...i would like to keep the error part out with this laptop ) but after it got fixed the problem was gone....now about two months after that...the problem came back...just outa nowhere...it is annoying me and i have talked to a tech guy about this....he told me to mess around with the windows configuration so that it doesnt force restart....well that didnt do anything...just as i had figured...

do any of you know how this can be fixed...i want to get back to playing my games...

 

 

 

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A friend of mine has got the same problem, but his problem came from poor power supply. He had to upgrade to more powerfull one and only then it went well. But as you say it shows you something, so I'm not sure if it's power supply or not. Because when his PC was shutting down it didn't show anything.
Anyway, check out with some specialist if your power supply is strong enough

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no...mine doesnt show anything either (srry i thought i pointed that out in my post) but its a laptop as well...and i havent upgraded anything major that would take up more power (last thing i upgraded after the backlight was replaced was my ram - i upgraded from 256 to 512) but that wouldnt drain the power...

i have never heard of any else having this same problem, and aparently niether have any of the tech guys i know / have talked to

oh and also my specs for the laptop are:

• compaq presario 2190us (laptop)
• 2.4ghz intel celeron processor
• 512mb ram (64mb shared video memory)
• it has windows 2003 professional on it right now, but had windows xp professional (but like i said - i had installed all the games on all the operating systems and it still the problem wasnt fixed - so i know it isnt the os or the game)
• it has a 40gig hard drive (but that is irralavent)

ummm....what else....

oh yeah..i suppose this might be of some importance...but probably not. i have it set up for remote desktop connection to my nobilis (little dinky 450mhz computer with windows 2003) just for the extra hard drive space, file sharing, and so that i can use the floppy drive and zip drive i have in it (because i dont have either for my laptop). the nobilis is always running and connected to my computer (and i have drives shared on it through the remoted desktop as well) even when i play games - but that really wouldnt do anything much would it ? cept maybe slow computer down

 

 

 

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Hey ebb,

Is it only within the games?

What games are we talking, just to see what issues could be had.

It could be a driver issue with graphics/monitor, also wouldn't rule out DirectX until the games are posted.

Since laptop makers actually incorporate their own video driver for laptops, it's not quite generic and most likely won't work on different laptops nor is it easy finding a driver that will work other than from the laptop vendor. This could be a problem if it's poorly designed.

OpenGL games also could have this result, but this is due to the video drivers not working correctly with OpenGL instructions.

I wouldn't rule out a driver problem.

There are probably other issues related, including heat, processing and power but you're quite limited with fixing these issues on laptops.

Cheers,


MC

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This happened to me playing Return To Castle Wolfenstein (OpenGL). After a few minutes the whole computer would shut down without a warning. I got a new hard drive, did a fresh install of XP Pro, installed all of my software, updated the OS and all of my drivers along the way, then installed RTCW. I never had the problem again.

Either the OS and registry were getting buggy over time or I had a conflict with the drivers (and configuration) that I couldn't pinpoint. The fresh install on the exact same hardware and almost identical hard drive took care of it.

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I believe your major proble is HEAT. I have seen many laptops and even a few desktop systems that have had heat related issues that result in a shutdown. Laptops are in particular prone to this problem, mostly because they are ment to a portable computer and not ment for high end computing or gamming. Laptops have build in circuitry that will allow them to shut down in a simi-controlled manner when an over heat occurs. This can make it harder to diagnose a heat problem.

Try this. Prop your laptop on a couple of books to allow air to flow under the unit. Make sure you don't block the CPU fan with the books. Start up the laptop and play your games. If you can get even a few more mins of gameplay compared to the non-ventalated version you are most likely the victim of over heating.

If overheating is the problem then you might want to consider one of the products listed below.

http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/coo...devices/bytecc/

http://www.extensiontech.net/reviews/hj/jetart/np5000/

http://www.coolerguys.com/840556058199.html

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well...i reinstalled windows (this time windows 2003 server because windows xp professional was giving me some minor problems with vpc - works better with windows 2003 server for some reason) and i updated all my drivers and installed direct x 9.0c (would that matter even tho my vid card isnt direct x 9.0 compatible ? would that be it ?) but installed all my games again and played them, it still does it tho, but this time it is about 8 mins (i only tested it with two games tho - sims2 and soldier of fortune platinum edition)

about the heat thing, i installed cpu cool on my system and i have temps of 52 and 78 (yeah...i know...bad bad bad bad...) so that is most likely the problem here isn't it....

so now the question is what do i do! those cooling items mentioned are good but will they actually get rid of my problem (or should i just buy a new laptop - since ive been thinkin of doin that ne ways - here is the laptop that i have actually been looking at for a while now, it is an emachines with a 64 bit amd with hyper transport)

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my pc is very bad

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i once got this problem too. It turn out that one of my cpu fan was not working properly. not sure is this ur problem too

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nah...i got problem solved...sold laptop

but it was only in games: hl2, nfsu2, doom3, and a few others

only games that didnt support the radeon igp 340m vid card was hl2 and possibly doom 3...but like i said, i sold the laptop so im good...thnks for all the help

i now have a desktop (gonna buy my new laptop sumtime next month when i get paid) desktop has p4 2.8ghz with some crap vid card that i tossed in there quick and has 256mb ddr ....

the new laptop i am getting is an emachine

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