G73Jh Shutdown(overheating?) in Diablo 3, need some advice.

Me and my girlfriend have one ASUS G73Jh each.
My laptop has no problems anymore.
But her ASUS G73Jh is getting shutdown after 15 minutes to 1 or 2 hours of gameplay. Then it won't turn on for a while probably because the laptop is so hot.

Now I have used AirCan twice on her laptop, yesterday and today.
Seem to work for a brief moment, I mean we thought the issue was solved but it was not, just happen bit later after 1-2 hours of gameplay.

Now it puzzles me that she has this problen and not me as we have exactly the same laptop with the same lapdesk giving the laptop room to breath.

But I'll get into the details here:
We have both ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870
With BIOS Version: 012.020.000.032.038352
But I have 8.881.0.0 (Catalyst 11.8) and she has 8. *something older* (Cataclyst 11.2)

So as you can see, I've forgot to update her driver for the ATI card but everything else has been updated as I've done with my laptop that is working without shutdown.

But could this small difference of driver version be the cause, really? I don't think so, at least.
So I came here to seek some advice, hope there is some advice that is possible to do right away. Thank you for checking this topic.

( By the way, I've not updated my driver version for a long time because it was a pretty damn long path for me to get my laptop fixed from getting shutdowns (overheating) by just playing World of Warcraft and it doesn't happen with that game anymore or Battlefield 3 for that matter but for her, only Diablo 3 seem to has this effect on her laptop but mine is cool, working without shutdown.)

And excuse my bad english!

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Problem Solved
We only had to reduce the max frame rates limit in Diablo 3 from 150 down to 45 Don't really notice any difference except no shutdowns now.
Also, we did update the graphic driver to Catalyst 12.4

 

Monitor the temperatures with a utility, see the sticky.

When the laptop overheats and powers off, remove the battery and AC adapter, wait a minute, and plug it back in. It should then power on.

Without knowing the load and idle temps, it's hard to know what to recommend.

 

I have already monitored the temperatures for months.
I already know the temps go way up but why only her and not mine when we have the same configuration except she has bit older software drivers for the graphic card?

They go way up beyond 90, poff, turn off. The more important question is why her laptop and not mine when they are exactly alike? Isn't there any better questions you could ask me?

I've already done much to both her and mine so she and I could play World of Warcraft without these overheating, shutdowns.
But now, with Diablo 3 - her fails and not mine, why exactly that? I already know WHY but.. why HERS? And not MINE? When there is the same configuration, drivers, etc.

 

There isn't really a better question - we're talking about thermal shutdown so you should post exact temperatures, or if you already are positive it's overheating and/or don't want to talk about it, just go repaste the GPU and CPU and be done with it. There are repasting guides in the sticky. Saying 'over 90C' isn't enough to say that it is definitely a thermal shutdown. The CPU will throttle at 105C and the GPU will trip a thermal shutdown at or above 110C. Besides temperature, it could be a problem with the AC adapter (since you have two G73 units, have you tried swapping AC adapters?) or a hardware problem, like a faulty motherboard for example.

 

mine is doing the same thing.

i have setup warnings when my system reaches a certain temp, and they never go off. also, i can play other games past those temperatures and be fine.

there are a few other threads popping up about g73 and diablo 3 crashes, noone seems sure whats happening.

 

Mine is also doing this. I'll run a log now and post it shortly.

 

I'm playing on the lowest reso and low settings and still overheats. Something is wrong with Diablo 3.

 

If the issues are due to overheating, this will happen in any game that is even remotely intensive it will shutdown. The shutdown temp for the GPU is ~110C by the way. Without knowing your temps we can't say if the issue is related to overheating or not. You can use GPU-Z to log your temps.

 

Diablo 3 is not intensive lol

 

If a more intensive game runs flawlessly, you can also exclude overheating, this is what i meant.

My point still stands though, temps or no confirmation on overheating and what is overheating or you could blow the vents and see if that fixes it, that would be confirmation too.

 

I unscrewed the bottom and have a cooling pad blowing on it now. Went from 99C-87C. Will play a bit longer to see if the temp is stable like this.

 

Have you tried blowing compressed air thru the back vents? it seems to clear some dust. It shaved off 5~10C for my laptop.

Check this.

 

An other way to reduce the heat, in the settings of Diablo 3 set the maximum FPS to something like 45. That will reduce the frames the card needs to render and thus reduce the temperature a great deal. You could even try 30, as most people accept that as still fluent (Cinema is 24-25 FPS).

 

GPU Core Clock 405.0 MHz
GPU Memory Clock 1000.0 MHz
GPU Temperature 71.0 Celcius (idle)
Fan Speed 30%
GPU Load 0%
Fan Speed -- RPM
GPU Temp #1 69.0 C
GPU Temp #2 71.0 C
GPU Temp #3 71.0 C

 

Core clock should be 700 unless you underclocked for some reason.

 

I'm not sure I understand, but I just wanted to say, with the 71 C on idle and all that. We started Diablo 3 ( after I patched up with newest Catalyst driver) and then I followed the advice that was given here from someone, by setting Diablo 3 framerate on 45 max insted of 150 that was the standard highest limit framerate.

Played for 1-2 hour or so..
So for now, no crash yet. But this requires more testing to see if the problem was really solved or not with the newest driver patch and setting a much lower limit on the framerate from 150 down to 45.

 

What were the max temps when playing D3. I mean 70C is pretty brutal for idle temps. Even if you live in a hot area, it shouldn't be that hot at idle.

 

mine was hovering around 87-91C with peaks around 94C while playing on maxed out settings (not sure what AA was set at). I had issues playing at first with the same crashing as op, but was able to play for 2.5-3 hours before bed last night. however, i did crash (complete power shut down/black screen) right before i was about to log off, so i just went to bed.

I can play other games fine, and have even had higher temps doing other things and no issues. Only D3 is causing the headache for me.

edit: just to add, there are several threads on the d3 forums (us & eu) of people with the same issue. most have asus laptops or ati graphics cards, but there are other models of pc and nvidia cards too. oddly enough, those that got into the d3 beta claim that it was working fine then.

 

New update: After turning down the max framerate down to 45 and updating to the newest Catalyst driver, the laptop seem to be stable and not having (overheat) shutdowns anymore.

I really hope this won't change...

 

The Asus G73JH's existence is a double edged sword.

 

If you have the latest vBIOS core clock on idle is 405, and steps up to 700 under load.

Also, as other posts stated, 70c idle is way too high (unless ambient is 40c!).

No matter how intensive the game is you would hope the GPU core sensor doesn't go much above 80c is you have a good paste job. With the latest vBIOS the fan ramps up when 78c or so is hit, so running Furmark the core usually stabilises at 79c or so, if the paste job is good. Note the core temp is different to the memory, which can be up to 10c higher.

There are a few mega pasting threads, I'd have a read and think about it. Especially if the computer is over a year and a half old. My temp crept up from stock, was really glad when I finally pasted it and got it down lower than original.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...titys-thoughts-repasting-read-here-first.html

 

Guys, it's okey now.

I found the solution to the problem, just had to update drivers and turn down the frame rates in Diablo 3 down from 150 to 45 max.

 

Just get a total clean of the inside, especially the fan blades and grills, do a repaste and you're done.

I just did that a month ago, before I was getting 102oC and I had to close D3 beta, but after I did what I mentioned above, D3 beta maxed out at 85oC having a 35oC ambient temp, without notebook cooler and sitting only on a desk without elevation.

 

I'm getting FPS loss on my G73JH with Radeon M5870 when too much mobs and spells are on screen on D3.

First time I'm regretting buying this notebook =(

 

First off, Decessus don't blame the laptop. It's a work of art. For being around 2 1/2 years old I'd say one of the best investments into computing I've ever made,and still going strong. With that said, I have my diablo 3 maxed out in 1080 and the frames studder here and there my FPS varies greatly from 30 to 120 fps, I have yet to crash out but for the sanctity of my eyes I lowered the max fps to 60 because that constant variation drives me nuts . The engine is NOT optomized for mobile cards in any way.

 

Try unscrewing the bottom panel of the labtop. It helped me reduce the heat.

 

If you are having to do anything (removing back panels, setting max fps to anything less than 60 imo[aka refresh rate]) to stop overheating issues from shutting down the laptop... I hate to break this to you, but you are, most likely, in need of a thermal repaste.

Heck I live in Phoenix AZ and with ambient temps outside being 40ish C right now depending on the day and inside my apartment it being around 27C give or take whether it's just after getting home from work, or after a few hours of my A/C being on; I don't ever go higher than 88ish C overclocked.

 

Well try cleaning the vents first for those that haven't done that, but bluewolf is right, if you need to limit fps to avoid overheating, you have a heat problem and what you're doing is just a temporary stopgap.

 

Get an MSI GT70. The double edged sword of the G73JH was pulverized long ago. It had it's time (and the Asus G series as a whole), now the MSI GT70 and Samsung NP700G7C deserve to have theirs.

 

Put the max FPS to 60, if you don't have a 120Hz screen. Every second frame is otherwise wasted That way you can actually save power without loosing any quality

 

I beg to differ, at the absolute highest settings, its running 100% util (no overclocking) and bringing my ICD pasted G73 up to 88C (granted an ambient of 29C)

EDIT: My bad, just realized that was on the first page and you guys are on the 3/4 lol

 

Blasphemy!

This happened to me for the first time last night after no problems of long play sessions since launch. I haven't been monitoring my temps but will start today. I just wanted to mention I can remember I had tons of problems with shutting down awhile back with the final boss sequence in Crysis, and it was related to something the newer GPU drivers did. So once I found drivers that worked with all my games well (11.9 atm) I refused to update.

Just curious if anyone else thinks more modern drivers are really the quick solution? I'll be honest my frames never get near 150 with any setting.

 

Ok. Played for a bit with GPUZ up. It was at 90-95C for most of the time. When I got near the end of Act3 (going down the spiral staircases) it bumped up to 105C. When I made it to act4 it went back to 90-95C again. Guess rendering the monsters on other levels below and particle effects from lava and what not really take its toll.

It didn't crash on me or anything but given someone said 110C is the cut off I should keep monitoring. I'll at least have to get a can of air to blow it out. Re-test and maybe use my old laptop cooler if i can find it.

See if it helps. Also I had foreground FPS set to default 150 at first when it did crash. I dropped to 60 as mention earlier during my initial temp test though.

 

Hmm yours is clearly to hot. Some 90° should normaly top with clean vents/fans and a medium good paste.

 

I have no thermal issues on my G73JH while I play D3 and it might be important to mention here that my G73 is now over 2 years old and uses the original thermal paste. I clean the coolers monthly with compressed air though.

 

Which is the reason why you got no issue, there was probably one batch of JH where the paste went bad, but aside from that while not optimal, the stock TIM does the job as long as you keep those heatsinks clean.

 

No can of air yet but I did find my laptop cooler. The temp in the same play area was better. It stayed just below 100 and jumped up to 104 for a minute once. So better but still not ideal.

Yep, I'm bad about cleaning my laptop, but most are. No news there. Sorry I haven't tested yet and reported back. I've been a bit busy with other things. Besides, someone hacked my account anyway and robbed my D3 characters.

I've been waiting patiently now for 3 days for Blizzard to roll me back, but I must say, I'm starting to lose that patience.

 

Wow.

I feel dumb. Blew it out with air and the max I hit running act3 was 87C without a laptop cooler, but stayed mostly at 82C. When I blew it out a nice dust storm came out too. I didn't disassembled just blew into the cracks and exhaust fans.

I may update my drivers finally and see if it changes anything as well. D3 runs well, but not as well as I imagined. Although their servers and have been all over the place lately I could be confusing stuttering fps with latency.

 

That's good news
I also have a little stuttering from time to time, but it's not fps related (ctrl+r shows them ingame). So it's probably little lag on Blizzard side.

 

I doubt that, my GTX 675M still can't run it at 60FPS at stock clock at max in game setting when there are more than 8 mobs on the screen, consider it's almost twice as powerful than a GTX 460M, 70-80% more powerful than a HD 5870M.

70C is the load temp for my G73JW's GTX 460M, idle is 43C... 78C is the load temp for my P150EM GTX 675M after placing a few ramsinks on the pipelines and the copper plate, idle is around 45C. I think idle at 70C is running way too hot to be honest, must have been a bad paste or plenty of dust stuck on the vent.

Edit: Forgot to mention that 85C is the load temp without ramsink on the GTX 675M.

 

My laptop ran fine with D3. Once I installed a new HDD and used the newest drivers I've had this issue since. Contrary to what people are saying, it's not a heat issue, it's a driver issue most likely from ATI.

Try using older drivers. I'm going to try this as well.

 

I'm fairly positive the 5870m runs games better than the 460m, because I remember when researching the G73JH and G73SW which to buy many forums and reviews claimed the 5870m did better with games, but the SW's faster (sandy bridge) processor helped make up the difference. I would assume D3 is a much more processor intensive game though anyway. I can't really speculate on the 675m as I've read nothing on mobile GPU's since I purchased this G73JH over a year ago.

Still happy with it BTW (after upgrading the screen).

Possibly. Since D3's past few patches and me cleaning my exhaust I've had no issues. I never did update my drivers either. I'm still using:

Driver Version 8.892.0.0 (Catalyst 11.9)
Bios Version 012.020.000.032.038352