m1730 Keeps crashing 10 mins into games even after reinstalling OS!

Hi

Unreal Tournament 3 and Lost Via Domus would crash 10 mins in. Would run smooth as knife through warm butter until a little less than 10 mins in and slow right down to a complete stop.

I formatted and reinstalled Vista and drivers from the CDs. Except the 8700 graphics driver wouldn't install because:

"The NVIDIA Setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware. Setup will now exit"

So I thought, fair enough i got 8800 card so I downloaded the driver from Dell's m1730 support site and installed that fine.

I installed UT3 and it still crashes 10 mins into it. Processer goes to 100% according to the LCD until i hold down the power button to turn the laptop off.

Please help!

Thanks


XPS m1730
x7900 2.8ghz
8800 gtx sli
4 gig ram
300g raid 0
Had since middle of March

 

Please, anyone.

 

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Are you running on battery when you're playing games? My guess is that your CPU/GPU (probably GPU) is underclocking itself for power or thermal reasons.

 

Hi

Running on mains.

Crysis works fine without a hitch.
Certain games seem to push my computer over the edge.

My computer did shut down due to thermal overheating two days ago... When I loaded up UT3 to try it out again. Was on menu screen for a minute and my computer zapped out to the thermal overheating grey screen.

 

contact Dell... bad ram, overheating(heat sink not working/properly connected)

 

Certain games push your computer over the edge but not crysis? Forgive me if I'm wrong (I'm not a huge gamer) but isn't crysis the most GPU/CPU demanding game available on the market (when maxed out, of course).

 

but crysis wont crash your laptop, u'll just see 10fps if u push the settings/quality high

 

please visit the NBR Cooling Central.

And read my famous post:
________________________

If you are overheating... usually any temp over 90C degrees is bad.

when was the last time that you cleaned out the fans and vents thoroughly...?

if never, then thats why.

1) remove battery
2) remove/unscrew the panels on the bottom of the notebook to get to fans and vents (if possible)
3) use flashlight to look through vents for the dust (if you cant see the light on the other end, then the vents are clogged up)
4) go outside, get some compressed air (cans or compressor @ 50 PSI) and give the vents a good airing out all directions ( concentrating on the vents)
.... you might want to brace the fan blade(s) when airing it out (with a toothpick or paperclip to prevent it from spinning out too much)
.... or use short bursts (1-2 secs) of air instead of bracing the fans.
5) go get some Q-tips and swab the fan blades and the area around it
6) then go do a second airing with compressed air (all directions again focusing on the fans and vents) to push out the dust that was dislodged from the Q-tips

7*) Now go use the flashlight again and look through the vents (shine the flashlight from the fan, you look through the other end) for anymore dust clogs.

8) Then start up the notebook... and let the fans cycle up (use the Fan Toggle at max speed if your system has it) to push out any other dust that might have been stuck.

If all goes well you should be able to close up the notebook and...

you're done.

*repeat this step until its cleaned out.

Thats pretty much it.

Just make sure to do this every two-three months... it should take about 15-20min per cleaning if you want to be thorough.

________________________

Gaming notebooks are a new thing, you must realize that you have to take some extra care of them over typical use notebooks:

1) Battery: to maintain the longevity of any rechargeable battery
- you must NEVER overcharge it [especially for long durations of time] by keeping it plugged into AC
- when it reaches 100% you should unplug it and let it discharge to 5-15%, then plug it back to power
- OR you can just charge it to 50%+ and remove the battery and store in cool place.. not the fridge [remember to use it occasionally 3-4 time a year to charge and discharge it].

2.) Heat: to prevent a healthy notebook from overheating
- ALWAYS use the notebook on a clean, hard & flat surface
- RECOMMENDED to be used on a notebook cooler... namely the Zalman ZM-NC1000 or ZM-NC2000
- check your fans underneath occasionally (at least once a month or two) for any dust clogs [clean them out with Q-tips and air cans/compressors]
- ALWAYS monitor the temps (CPU, GPU, HDD, etc..) to watch for fluctuations, which would indicate overheating by dust usually
(for Clevo notebooks) use the Fan Toggle to switch all fans to Max Speed when gaming and such.
(for other notebooks) use a software fan control if you can

By doing these simple things, your entire system will easily last for more than 3 years.

 

The OP doesn't need to do that now, since you've repeated it in your post anyway