Warcraft 3, crashed comp URGENT

Hey guys.

Last night I installed WC3 and it runs smoothly on my X200M. I have all the settings maxed out and not one bit of lag. Though, I do have one problem that is really really worring me.

While I was playing all of sudden just out of the blue(in other words the game wasn't showing any irregularities except playing smoothly on my X200m which is an irregularity in itself but that's another story.) my comp crashes. I mean everything cut off. Not WC3 but everything. All my lights cut off and everything.

I tried to cut it back on but I got nothing, it was like it was completely dead. I had it plugged up to AC the entire time but it just wouldn't work. So I went to the bathroom, did a little praying and voila it comes back on next time I try it, though I did fool around with the AC adapter, I also took the battery pack off and had just ac on it. And it comes on.

So, I thought ok maybe the AC wasn't plugged in all the way and the battery died. So I didn't plug the battery back in instead I let it sit out and I went to bed (it was 4:30 can you blame me?) I got up this morning put the battery pack in and it's not low so I don't guess it was the battery pack.

I'm worried because was it WC3 that did it, if so will all games do it. Even worse if it's not related to the games then what could the problem be? I don't wanna lose my Lucy doctors! (Lucy is the name of my comp ).

Thanks and sorry for the long post.
Please tell me something ASAP.
Maybe not urgent lol... but it worries me.

 

Hey Odin,

First of all I feel sorry that your notebook has gone weird yesterday. I will try to help you and hopefully we will solve this problem.

Just a few things I want to know:

-Where were you gaming? Was your notebook on your desk or where you playing on your chest or at your bed? The reason I ask this is because blocking fans can lead to fall-out of computers, this is done automatically to prevent harm to the hardware. The reason it did not start for a few minutes can be that the notebook was still too hot or that God had mercy on you (I am religious too you see )

-Have you done a virus check/scan? I dont think that this is the main cause but scanning for any virusses guarantees that that is not your problem.

-Was there any storm last night? It may sound like a very silly question but it is possible that your voltage went to high and it caused your notebook to shut down.

I am not sure if these are the cause of your problem, but it is worth to check. Let us know if you have fixed it.

Charlie

 

Sounds like a overheating issue. The GPU in my Sager did that a few times (when it was on the desk) and a few months later, the GPU burned out.
clean out the fans if they have dust in them.

 

This sounds like overheating to me too. I have had the same experience with my old HP. When it overheats it shuts down with no warning. Then even if I pressed the power button it wouldnt start or atleast it would start but nothing would appear on the LCD. Then if I leave it for 10 minutes on a cool surface, and let it cool down it would start up normally again.

I wouldnt worry to much but think of investing in a notebook cooler.

 

Thats really weird because my x200 doesnt run WC3 smoothly with settings maxed out also setting everything high up requires more Gfx power - more energy = more HEAT. Id suggest gettin a laptop cooler and make sure that nothing blocks you vent holes.

 

my x1400 can't play wc3 at stock speed with everything maxed!!!

i oc it then it works, there is artifacts on it when playing it at maxed at stock speeds so i'm like WTF?!?!?!?!?!

there was like 1 thing i had to set to med when playing at stock speed or it artifacts.

anyways max setting in WC3 and low setting to me doesn't really make much of a difference, either way it looks kinda the same.


heat sounds like your problem, try undervolting your cpu and cleaning your fans

 

Well I've learned a couple things from this thread: First of all you guys are super smart , Hitman's believes in God and I've gained a newly found respect for my X200M .

-For starters now that you say it heat could be the problem . It was on my bed last night so the vents were probly blocked. My desk is like a foot away lol would that be better? I was thinking about getting a cooling pad a while back. Can you guys recommend one for me? It has to fit a 17". I would use my desk but I got a really uncomfortable chair lol.

-Secondly, have you guys tried a new install of the drivers? I suggest going to driverheaven.com/modtool it will tell you how to install the desktop catalyst driver on your x200m, besure to select the Express 200 series when you install .


So do you guys think it was just heat? I've grown attached to Lucy.

 

Getting a cooling pad is smart move. Id suggest Cooler Master or Akasa. You could use either of em on your bed without problems im staying with my default drivers since i wont see any performance increase.

 

OOO BTW!

I have all of my direct x settings down. I went to custon settings and put every on lowest except v-sync which is on "always-on, or application preference" just depends on how I feel that day, I've never seen a big different with those two.

BUT! I have seen quite a huge difference in turning down the DirectX settings.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834999336&PageStyle=#

How about that one? If anyone has any better ones please show me. I have a 17" notebook and this is only one I see that supports 17".

 

Deffenetly a heat issue. If you have a pentium M processor you can try undervolting it wth Notebook Hardware Control to bring the heat down.

For cooling pads, I recomend the Spire Pacific Breeze. Its deffenetly the best and will accomodate laptops of any size.

 

Sounds like your card is broken...I can underclock my X1400 to 220/200 and still run WC3 max.

 

Yea that one is perfect for you http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834999336&PageStyle=#

 

I just dled SpeedFan to see what my comp temps are and here they are.

HD0 - 104 F
Temp 1 - 127 F

I don't know what the normal temps are, how does that look? What are average Temps, and is it urgent that I get the cooling pad?

 

This temps are fine. Is that when you playing games? and is that on da bed ?

 

How high does the temp need to get before I worry about it?

Right now I'm just a tad bit higher but I just got finished watching a dvd... which didn't raise it much. My notebook (Lucy) is sitting on my desk now.


HD0- 106
Temp 1 - 127

RIght now I'm just surfing net, got IRC open, 3 webpages and it's on my desk. No game running or anything.

 

You should be fine up to about 55-60C on the hard drive. On the Processor, if its Intel Pentium M, can go up to 100C.

 

Hey Odin,

Thanks for the compliment. I own a notebook company with my brother, so I have some experiences with notebooks.

The temps of Lucy seem good to me. But actually posting temps while playing Warcraft 3 will be better for us so we can draw conclusions about overheating.

You may want to take a look at the Spire Pacific Breeze cooler, but I think that it is too small for your 17". The Bytecc looks good though, 17" support.

I do not know how long you have Lucy, but maybe getting canned air and cleaning vents will help you lower the temperatures. Dust is really a big performance killer after owning the notebook 6 months or so.

Hope we helped you

Charlie

 

The Spire works well on 17" laptops. A bunch of Sager 98x0/9750 owners use them on those monsters.

 

I went with the one from newegg purly our of fear. I saw the Spire connect to the back and I'm a clumsy person and somehow I'd figure out a way to knock it off the stand and it might break my AC adapter since it's connected at the back.

Purely paranoia lol. I'm hoping the Byztec will work ok.


Last night I played two games:
One called Cube
This game ran great it was little strain on my notebook averaging about 100 FPS. My heat rose to CPU: 69C HD0 stayed the same around 30-40 C.

Then I played another game.
Penumbra.
This is an OpenGL game my X200M hates OpenGL don't blame it I'm not fond of OpenGL myself lol. But this was a great looking game. My comp squeeled at the very sight of it. Very Very low FPS around 5-8. When I got done with this game my temp was at 76C CPU and same on HD0.

I havn't played Warcraft again... yet lol. Soon.

 

Haha, what are you playing, dota?

 

Well Odin your CPU looks a bit high. Have you cleaned your fans? I think it should make a lot of difference. Harddisk temperatures are great, 30-40 C is optimal.

So I recommend you to clean your fans. That should do the trick.

Charlie

 

I agree with that!

 

How do I clean the fans lol.

Should I leave my notebook off til I get the cooling pad?

 

WOWSER!

After looking at the pic of the Spire Pacific Breeze and talking to a friend of mine I got a little idea. I got my surround sound system remote ( surround sound burned out after playing Half-Life 2 on Xbox ) So I put the remote under my notebook in the back. The buttons are rubber so it makes it harder to fall out. Then I faced my fan towards my notebook and turned it on. In less than a minute my temp dropped 7 degrees.

My cpu is now idling 10 degrees less than it was before i started. It was at 57 now it's at 47 degrees !!! AND IT JUST DROPPED TO 46! lol how low does it need to go before I worry?

Another question the remote is under my battery pack, could this cause any problems? And this is actually very comfortable because with the angle it makes it easier to type .


45 DEGREES CELCEUS NOW!!!

 

To clean the fans you can either take a can of air and just blow through the vents. You could also disassemble the notebook and blow all the dust out of it.

If propping it up and using a fan like that works 10C cooler, imagine what will happen if you had ordered the spire

 

my temp went too low lol. Speed fan has a red arrow pointing up on the cpu section I guess that means the temp needs to rise lol.

I would've gotten the spire I was just really worried about it slipping off, same as I am now. I'm just doing this until the cooling pad gets here. I thank you all for the advice though . You've all been a lot of help.

 

How low is low? I've gotten my temperatures down to 27C before. My desktop is capable of going lower than that.

The Spire has rubber grips for your laptop so it wont fall off. Theres also rubber feet so it grips the table.

 

Do you not think the Byztec will do the job?

 

I'm sure it will. I've never seen one, but it seems to be a very nice high end cooler from all those awesome reviews of it.

 

Ok guys I just got finished playing Warcraft 3. I played long enough to make my butt sore so good enough test .

My temps while playing was around 58C now It's been off less than 2 minutes and my temp is now 47C. So just by playing War 3 my temp rises 11C and that's with the notebook elevated and a fan blowing under it sitting a desk. The exact opposite as the other night when I crashed.

Not elevated, actually a little buired so no air flow, sitting on bed . I don't know how high my temps got the other night though but it must've been pretty high for my notebook to cut off like it did.

Is this normal? Is my temp rising too high? I still havn't cleaned my fans because I don't have a can of air. I'll get one next time I go to Wally-World.

Thanks.

O and btw I don't know if this makes much of a difference but while I was playing Bittorrent was running. Not the night it crashed, but tonight. It was running as I was playing tonight.

 

What kind of fan do you mean? A notebook cooler or something else. If it is such a big thing used to cool down rooms etc. then your temps are still a bit high if you ask me.

Bittorent does not affect your performance much so it cannot increase your heat. Don't worry about it.

Charlie

 

Wally-World? Are you from Pennsylvania, by chance? Thats the only place I've heard that expression used in place of Wal-Mart

But your temps look fine.

 

Room fan was being used to cool it. I got my cooler today and it's a little loud but if it gets the job done I don't mind .

I'm from Mississippi lol.