Is my laptop dying?

[observatory]

How do I know? Or how do i know if its something else?

So recently i tried replaying portal 1. My laptop can more than handle this, I had already played this game twice the year before at max settings, good framerate. But when i played it last week, the computer crashed. Like, it turned off by itself. I re-tried it three times, and it did so again three times.

Today, I played a very low-spec game (I assume): minecraft. Same thing, same story. I should note that minecraft absolutely maxes both of my dual cores, for some reason.

Heres my laptop specs:

core 2 duo P8400 2.26 ghz
nvidia 9600m gt
4 gb
bought it sept 2008

oh and i should note that watching HD 1080p Youtube does not maxes out my CPU, and has never crashed my laptop. So far, it's been just games.

thanks for the help.

 

[denis280]

Do you have all drivers up to date.otherwise the video card is starting too go

 

[observatory]

so i just updated to the lastest drive...and it still does it.

now the question is: is it the GPU fault or the CPU? on the one hand, I had to RMA my laptop almost immediately after purchase because of that epic Nvidia screw up in late 2008. So there's that.

On the other hand, I played alot of TF2 and L4D2 and some other stuff, and each time I played them, either or both my CPU cores where maxed out.


I am just curious who I can blame! X( I thought laptops could go longer. Mine isnt even fully 3 years old...and I am hard pressed to spend for a new one :/

 

[Bartman39]

A bad battery can sometimes cause strange issues...? Have you tried playing games without it plugged in or do you leave it plugged in all the time...?

Also how long does the battery tend to last (up time...?)

 

[postaled]

Have you checked your cpu/gpu temps out?

I have had my laptop get so screwed up by lint and stuff that I couldn't even play flash video in 480p at a full frame rate.

 

[observatory]

I have almost never removed my battery. My battery, after almost 3 years, does not last too long, as watching 1080p vids in Youtube can drain it in less than an hour. That said...I cant see how the battery affects this? this never was a problem before....maybe I am ignorant

edit: ok so according to gpu-z, temp of gpu is from 68C jumped to 91C...which is normal right? i mean it's like this everytime i play a 3d game so...

 

[Fardringle]

I would definitely clean out all of the fans and heat sinks (and air vents) and make sure the fans are actually working. 68c idle and 90c load is hot even for a mobile GPU, which generally run hotter than their desktop versions.

 

[Puppies04]

I have had the same issue before, the older laptops get the less stress they can take without thermal shutdown. Open her up and clean her out.

 

[observatory]

ok i will try that as soon as i can wehn i get home. thanks for the help, will report the results. *fingers crossed*

 

[observatory]

so i think it is indeed temperature related prob, and i have cleaned up the fan area, which was indeed clogged up.

but as I watch speedfan while playing games, i see that my (new) idle is 57c and my (new) load is in the 80s into 91c-ish. and when it gets to the 90s, THATs when the game starts to stutter. And when I close the game, the GPU temp goes back to 73c-ish.

am i getting this right? lol im so new to this.