Really strange GPU (?) issue w/M860TU

I've had my Clevo M860TU for about 7 or so months ago, initially running XP and about 3 months ago the strangest problem started happening. Whenever playing a graphic intensive 3d rendered game, like GTA 4 or even Halflife or something like that, after about 5-10 minutes of gameplay, my system will just grind almost to a halt. Normal FPS will be 50-70, but then randomly it just slows down to 5-10.

This happened completely out of the blue - no driver upgrade, no new programs installed, nothing like that, so I'm completely at a loss. I figured maybe I just had some strange virus or maybe I'd forgotten about a driver I'd downloaded or who knows, so I formatted and installed Windows 7, hoping that would fix the problem. Initially, NVIDIA hadn't posted legitimate drivers for Win7x64, and the problem persisted, so I just figured it might still be a driver thing. Anyways, I just now installed the new legit 9800m win7x64 drivers, and it's STILL doing it. Silky smooth gameplay for about 5 minutes, then lag hell, no matter what game I play.

Anyone experienced something like this? I want to say it's like my system throttling itself because it is overheating or something like that, but I can't imagine that would be the case. It never did that for the first 4 months I owned the laptop, so....

I sent a mail to NVIDIA tech support who were amazzzzingly unhelpful, not suprisingly.

 

Temperature?

 

yup. sounds like over heating... causing the GPU to downclock itself to cool it self down.

please visit the NBR Cooling Central
... and go here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81852

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, if not its okay.. skip step 5)
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 while it still be in use] by keeping it plugged into AC
- remember to give a full charge cycle (discharge it under 50% and charge it back to full) once a week if you constantly leave it plugged in.
- OR you can just charge it to 50%+ and remove the battery and store in cool dry 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
- NEVER use on soft surfaces (laps, beds, couch, etc.) that can block the fans on the bottom
- RECOMMENDED to be used on a notebook cooler... like 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

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

 

jesus christ, I just opened CPUID and ran a game.

TZ0 (what is this?) is pretty spastically jumping between 87-103

CPU is jumping EVERY second between 81-94

GPU at 85
HDD at 73


why would the temperature alternate between second to second? would this cause my system to throttle itself? my fans are going nuts, and they seem to do that quite randomly. sometimes I'll just be listening to mp3s and my system gets hot as and fans go nuts. I just assumed this was normal for the Clevos, as I read quite a lot about how hot they got before I bought one.

 

clean out your vents and fans..... and maybe even re-apply thermal compound would help as well.

and NEVER use it on a soft surface (bed, couch, pillow, etc...)

 

yeah, I've never opened up the machine - thanks for the reply. I can't see what else it would be other than heat myself. I'll clean it up and report back. ( have defenitely used it many times on beds, as well.)

 

Try HWMonitor first from WWW.CPUID.COM

 

I never use a laptop on a bed unless it has a NC2000 cooling pad underneath it. Using a powerful gaming laptop like your one on a bed is asking for trouble

 

Your notebook cooler should be off. otherwise it causes your notebook cooler to either jam or blow more dust up into your system

 

One thing some of you might really take into consideration, and I'm not sure how much of a problem it can be...

But every once in a while (when not drooling at your awesome gaming specs) run a thorough virus scan and spyware scan. Many newer spyware/virus programs are learning to us more and more processing power to do their work and clog the tubes of the interwebs.

Your amazing juggernaut of a machine might be on the axis of e-evil. While you are gaming, you definitely aren't watching your task manager to see what else is running and using up your CPU cycles.

OH... and clean out your vents!

 

those are BAD temps. That's about tops for the gpu, HDD is way over what it should be, and CPU is sky high, I think my cpu in the m860tu maxes about 70C lol (with no cooler)

 

Clean out your vents and fan blades very thoroughly. Use Q-tips for the fan blades.

 

Are you in silent mode? I accidentally left silent mode on once while playing PR, a BF2 mod. After ~15 min the thing dropped to like 5 fps and I couldn't figure out was going on. I alt-tabbed out and saw my CPU and GPU up near 100*C!! I realized the fan wasn't on and I quickly hit the silent mode button. The fan screamed to life and just about burned my hand with the air coming out of the back. I haven't seen any ill effects, but it's certainly not something I'd like to have happen regularly.

EDIT - just read the thread more carefully and saw that your fan is revving, which means not in silent mode. I guess I'm the only one dumb enough to do that here

 

I do I have a little gadget called top process running on my 2nd screen, showing the top 3 ram hogs & the top 3 cpu hogs...Can be very useful.

 

Dude, that's OWNAGE.

I wish to one day graduate to two screens. Iwant it to look like I'm tapped into The Matrix on the lookout for Squiddies, while shooting terrorists on CS:S