Power supply problem

We just bought a Gateway p7809u notebook. We installed World of Warcraft and we noticed that after a few minutes of playing time it would freeze the computer and need a hard boot to get it going again.

1) Today I booted the computer battery only - worked fine.
2) Checked websites, played some youtubes, played WOW - worked fine.
3) Plugged in wireless mouse, did the above - worked fine.
4) Plugged in AC adaptor, browsed internet and played youtubes - worked fine.
5) Launched WOW and within 10 seconds of loading my character the computer froze and required a hard boot.
6) Repeated several times - no change- freezes a few seconds after getting into World of Warcraft.
7) Removed battery to run on AC alone - still crashed.

So - on straight battery there are no problems -works beautifully. As soon as the AC is introduced WOW cannot run - the whole thing freezes. This does not happen with other usage of the computer that I've found.

The AC adaptor light is on. No pins are loose that I can tell. The AC appears to be charging the battery fine.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance for your help!

 

it sound like a problem with the gpu and not the power supply. what you could do right now to make sure it is the gpu is disable the powermizer on the gpu. the reason i say this is because on battery with powermizer on the gpu runs at half clocks max. on the ac adapter the gpu runs at full clock speed which could be causing overheating. to disable the powermizer give google a flex and youll find a guide right away for it. you could try using the powermizer switch program also. before you do this though make sure that the vents and fan are free of clogs and dust. make sure the fan actually turns also. dust can cause it to stop rotating. although since you just bought it i doubt its dust.

 

Thanks for the speedy reply.

I did all the research and tried to use the tips posted about disabling powermizer; however, Vista does not list powermizer entries in the regedit nor does the nvidia control panel have the option there (as it apparently does with other operating systems.

I tried the 3322 value in what I could change with no success. I then tried the 2222 value, and again no success.

Not sure what to do next except just game off the battery until I can upgrade to Windows 7. Any other thoughts?
Tks!

 

give the powermizer switch v1.2 program a shot

 

Will do - I'll let you know!