G73J crashing from Skyrim

So today I downloaded Skyrim on steam and noticed that after 5 minutes of play time the screen either goes white and you still hear the game running or the whole system crashes. I would normally just return the game but steam doesn't offer refunds.

I'm assuming that it might be due to the notebook overheating since when it shuts down if i try to power it up it refuses to power on for about a minute. I mainly play SC2 on this and handles it no problem but now that I think of it the last real graphically intensive game I played was BF BC2 and did run into a similar type of crashing but was only once in a while and not like this.

Is there anything I can do to solve this so I can actually play games on my gaming notebook? lol

 

Well:

As you seem to already think its temps, why not use HWiNFO32 or GPUz to tell us what they actually are? lol

And second, have you updated your bios/vbios/drivers??

 

I have the same thing like every 2 hours... maybe you hsould wait for a new patch

 

I am a bit of a noob so havent heard of those so will download those programs and see if thats the case. I do have the latest ATI driver that came out yesterday.

Never updated my bior or vbios though. would that help? If so where can I update them?

 

As suggested get a program that will actually tell you the temps to see if that is causing the problem. HWMonitor is also a good one to use and its free download. It's easier to install then Skyrim is
If temps are high and are the cause of the system problems consider repasting the GPU/CPU with better thermal compound. Doing so will Void your warranty so depending on how long you've had your G73J you might wait. At the very least clean out any accumilated dust. I'd guess you have probably had your computer at least a year if not more. Over that time dust have built up in your vents and on your fans internally. Get a can of compressed air, open up the bottom of the computer and blow out all the dust thats built up over time. If you've never done this you'll be surprised as how much is in there and it will help with your temps.

 

I originally pre-ordered it so Ive had it since April of last year. I was able to play BC2 no problem for quite some time then started to shut down after a while of play time. I will update the Vbios and Bios aswell as clean it out like suggested and see if that does the trick,

As far as repasting a thermal compound is it simple enough to do by reading an online step by step or a youtube video on how to do it on the G73J or should I get the thermal paste i want and bring it to best buy for Geek Squad to do it (eek!)

 

oh so installed HWMonitor and all 4 cores aswell as the Radeon were all idling at desktop at about 80c and I fired up skyrim and after 90 seconds of playing I quit the game to prevent the system from crashing but managed to get the Radeon to max out at 100c in that short of time. The cores all maxed at about 90c.

Does it sound like this is the problem that the temp rose that much in 1 or 2 minutes time playing?

 

80C on idle is a problem, that should be your temps under load. Idle temps should be 35-45C on the G73J. You're having overheating issues for sure.

Application of thermal compound can by easy or difficult depending on you really. You can probably find some good how to out there. Watch them and see if you're comfortable doing it. If not have someone experienced do it

 

Well I just wanted to thank you guys.

Today I made a big project out of it and bought some compressed air and Arctic Silver 5 from RadioShack and kept my noob fingers crossed and took this thing completely apart. Repasted it with the AS5 and now after about an hour in Skyrim max temp on the GPU is 66c. So HUGE drop in temp from a cleaning and repaste.

Thanks again guys for the help!

 

works fine on My PC, are you sure you have a G73J ? maybe its g73J B edition ?

 

Thats great you got it so much lower! From 80C idle to 66C under load is impressive.