Laptop randomly shuts itslef down every 10 min?

[Bon243]

Hello, i am a pretty heavy gamer (20 hours a week) and have an i7 asus laptop. It has been functioning fine today, until it shut itself down while i was in a game. now it shuts it self down every 10 min or so, but so far its only shut itslef off in game. I got a messsage from my antivirus program saying that their recently downloaded update may have cause this. Help please!

[Reverend Jim]

If it is only shutting down while you are gaming then I'm thinking it is an overheating problem. Quick and dirty test - fill a plastic bag with snow (good time of year for this to happen), put a thin towel on the bag and put the laptop on the towel. Try gaming for a while and see if it still shuts down. I don't know offhand if there is any free software out there for checking the temperature of your machine. You might want to have a look into that. We had a temperature related problem a few years ago at work. When the laptops were opened up they found that the heat-conducting paste between the cpu and the heat sink had crumbled and was no longer effectively cooling the cpu.

You might check "Locations and Other Sensors" in the control panel to see if your computer has sensors that can be enabled (assuming Windows 7)

[jholland1964]

What anti-virus program told you this?

Sounds like an overheating problem to me also but frankly, I would avoid the snow on the laptop.
Here is a free program to test the temperature of the laptop

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

[Reverend Jim]

That's why I suggested the plastic bag and the towel. It keeps the moisture away from the computer. Also, with the whole gravity thing, the water tends to stay contained. Could also cool it with a can of compressed air inverted. Incidentally, I've also used that method to supercool a failing hard drive.

Thanks for the link to the freebie.

[jholland1964]

I still would avoid putting anything liquid or anything that will soon become liquid, whether in a plastic bag and towel or not. Too risky if you ask me.

[Reverend Jim]

Personal preference. The OP has been warned.

[crunchie]

To the original poster. The first thing you should do is determine with software (as suggested by Jholland) whether or not the system is overheating.
Don't even think about putting a conductive liquid anywhere near electronic devices. To do so would be a little stupid. To suggest it, is even more stupid, in my opinion.

[Reverend Jim]

For the record, I did not suggest putting a conductive liquid on his laptop. I believe I was quite clear in explaining that the substance (snow, not water) was to be separated from the laptop by both a layer of plastic and a towel. I don't think we need to resort to name calling.

[crunchie]

No name calling that I can see.

[Reverend Jim]

Did I mention that the suggestion for cooling was made to me by a certified IBM repair technician? It was a valid technique that, if done carefully, can quickly indicate the source of the problem (overheating). The OP was free to follow the suggestion or not. To reply with "I don't recommend you follow this suggestion" is one way to respond. To say "this is a stupid idea" is quite another.

I don't see how

To suggest it, is even more stupid

can be interpreted as anything other than name calling and I believe that goes against the principles of this forum. The member rules state in part

Do not post insults or personal attacks aimed at another member

[crunchie]

I know the rules, but thank you anyway :).

One can do idiotic things, but that does not necessarily make one an idiot :).

[peter_budo]

While you are bickering about some lousy snow solution you failed to notice that OP did not come back with anything new. So take a break, wait for reply and then respond on topic instead of previous nonsense

[Reverend Jim]

Agreed

[RTFMID10T]

if its rebooting due to heat it would show in the BIOS logs. I would check for updated video drivers and what antivirus is giving messages?

[crunchie]

Where would the BIOS logs be?

[RTFMID10T]

just do an image search for BIOS event or system log. any power failure, overheating, bad battery (for laptops obviously), and keyboard failures show there.