Crashes... Possible cooling issue?

Hey guys, I've been getting random computer crashes for a little while now, only when running full screen games. Every time I crash my computer feels pretty hot and I thought maybe it could be that. I looked up precedents and someone told the person with issues to download CPUID HWMonitor to check the temperatures and such. This is a screenshot of what my computer is like running a not so intensive game minimized (Heroes of Newerth):

[IMG=http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/2505/hwmonitorw.png][/IMG]


At the moment my computer feels like its at a normal kind of temperature for what it's normally like. It usually feels hotter than this when it crashes. Any thoughts or suggestions as to what it could be, potential solutions or whatnot? Thanks

EDIT: Just ran the game full screen for 5min and my 9400 is almost 80 and the cores are at almost 60.

Vincent.

 

Why are you not using dedicated graphics?

It's been a while, but from what I remember, my 9400 only ever got to around 70-75°C under full load, though I'm not sure what the thermal threshold is for those chips.

 

The 9400M and the CPU share the same heatsink.
There's a thermal pad between the heatsink and the 9400M. Replace that and you'll be fine.
It measures 20mm x 20mm and it's 1mm thick.
Or you can disable it in BIOS all together, no need for it while gaming.
Don't forget to disable PCIe Gen2 too in the same sub menu (Advanced > Graphic Settings)

 

Ok I've disabled PCIe Gen2 but where do I disable the theemal pad? I didnt see the option in BIOS. Thank you for your help so far

 

the thermal pad is a physical pad sitting ontop your nvidia chip. he meant disabling the 9400m all together

 

Thank you, Slick, that is what I meant.
Where you disabled PCIe Gen2, set integrated graphics to Disable, now your 9400M won't bother you anymore or until you start your laptop on battery..

Do the above as a temporary action until you find a piece of thermal pad and get that cooled down.

 

To disable integrated graphics I have to also disable Hybrid graphics. Doesn't that mean that I wont really be able to run games for the mean time?

 

If you don't have (at least) a dedicated graphics card such as GTX 260M, 280M or ATi 4870 then the iGP (9400M) is all you have and basically you won't be able to turn it off.

 

Ahh okay. Yes, im still crashing so I shall look into a thermal pad. Is it difficult to replace by myself? I've never replaced parts before.

 

Follow the disassembly, and it's under the system heatsink, under the CPU and a little to the left.
It should be gray if it was never changed with the sizes I posted above.