two questions, HDMI and L4D2

hey guys i heard this was the place to gain some knowledge so two questions

i have a sager 8660 i bought when they first came out running windows 7

first question is there anyway to toggle HDMI off/on with just a single key stroke or sequence of key strokes? (both sound and video)

second question i've downloaded the new Left for Dead 2 demo but when i play it drops to unbearable levels every 2-5mins making it unplayable for 2-3mins then it goes back to normal, i've tried turning everything down and turning off multi-core rendering (someone told me that was the problem) but nothing works

i turned on the widgets through windows seven to see the RAM and CPU usage and playing in a window i saw 100% of my CPU was being used when it started to freak out. i wasnt running anything else. ive tried restarting ETC

does it online and offline


thanks for any help!

 

What temps do you have? Have you cleaned it for dust lately?

 

run task manager or resource monitor and try to track down what is eating up your cpu. i have experienced rouge programs in the past. make sure you check 'show processes from all users'.

 

Not sure about the HDMI question; maybe someone with a np8660 can help.

As for l4d2, try running the game in compatibility mode or administrator mode. Also try running it with Win7 'Aero' mode turned off.

Duane

 

i was just playin borderlands after i installed rivatuner and i saw some really high temps and usage of my processor both cores. also high temps for my video card and my fan said it was going fullout

time for a notebook cooler? any links to good dust cleaning techniques? anything else i could do?

 

Is the l4d2 issue fixed? As for Borderlands, I imagine it is a pretty demanding game. What temps are you reporting? Anything south of 80C is okay. Same goes for the CPU.

Duane

 

havent tried l4d again i know something is going wrong now im at 86 degrees (GPU)and im only cruising the internet.

 

That definitely does not sound good. Are you viewing any 3D webpages? JK Since it's running Win7, I'm assuming you got this notebook just 2-3 weeks ago. So it's unlikely dust is the cause. Nonetheless, try to spray out the vents with compressed air.

Better still, try to open the back panel and reapply the thermal grease.

Also what temps is your CPU reporting?

Lastly, make sure it's not in silent mode

 

i bought it when they first came out (over a year ago) and put windows seven on it when i installed a new HD and RAM
im on campus right now but im going to buy some compressed air at walmart on my way home and maybe a notebook cooler

my both my cpu cores were still in safe temps (i have desktop gadgets with gauges) i remember they were still in the "green" being the lowest then yellow, orange, red

thanks for your help thus far!

 

No problem. Do you hear the fans spin up during stress? Are the fans audible under load? Since it's a year old, it's likely it needs a new coat of thermal grease.

 

you have any links to apply thermal grease / where to buy it?

i can hear the fans they run at 100% all the time(so says my desktop widget through rivatuner) i dont know whats going on, this weekend im going to tear it apart and clean it out

do you think a notebook cooler is worth it / necessary?

 

Arctic Silver 5 or MX-2 can be purchased from ebay. A quick google search would show you how to apply it ( like this one).

There are good notebook coolers out there like the zalman nc-2000 and the ones from antec, cooler master etc. I personally don't use one so I can't recommend any, although I heard the Zalman ones are pretty good. If your ambient room temperature is usually high, I would say go ahead and get a cooler.

 

i have this same model, and it could be the dust. remember it only has one fan so that dust only has to muck up one place and it happens fast. i sprayed out the dust from mine after a couple months and my temps dropped like 20C. give that a thorough try before you go messing with thermal grease.