Toshiba X200 strange overheating problems

First of all I must say I am not a pro about hardware.

Specs:
Toshiba Satellite X200-25G
Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.20 Ghz
3 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce 8700M GT (512 MB dedicated VRAM)
Windows Vista 32 Service Pack 1

Here's a detailed description of the problem, really puzzles me:

About a month ago when I was playing Dead Space with maxed out settings except for resolution a crash occurred during a graphical effect. The game hung for a little then the resolution kind of changed and the screen started flickering. Game objects changed color and small black squares appeared everywhere. I quit and from then on the game was unplayable every time I tried to start it until I reinstalled it - that lead me to believe there's a possible software problem. Vista said the graphics driver crashed. Also, after the laptop worked after some time windows started to display graphical artifacts - shadows had black dots on them, random portions of interface buttons started to appear randomly on the screen for a short time, video during video conferencing contained colored squares.

I tried to update the graphics driver but messed up with the update (unofficial) and had to roll back. I finally was forced to reinstall Windows and the problems stopped. Until now.

I was playing NFS: Undercover when the same crash occurred (The crash occurs in 2 stages - first there is a hang then there are no quality issues but performance is bad, after some more time the flickering occurs.) Yet I am playing Crysis almost maxed out without these problems (yet now the problem is so serious that i am afraid to run it). Same problem happens with Left 4 Dead which does not demand much and performance is perfect. After I reinstalled win there were no more windows/video issues but game issues only.

I tested everything I could. With Everest tested GPU temperature through NFS - reaches 65 degrees normally quickly then reaches 68 slowly when a crash occurred. But some crashes also occurred on lower temperatures too (65). 69 is the highest recorded temp. Also, some games reach high temps without crashing (maybe just luck). The NFS crash occurred during maximization of the game window (coincidence?). Heard about an overheating problem with the GPU chip series (G84M) but not specific complaints from my card.

After a crash on Left 4 dead today I checked temps again and was shocked when I saw the CPU temps - 73 or sth. I did not see any problems before. I stressed CPU with Everest and temps went high in seconds - up to 78 degrees! This was only for CPU 2, for CPU 1 the temp was about 5 degrees lower and the average CPU was not higher tha CPU 2. No throttling though! No data about fan speed. Checked out fans (without opening) - not extremely high temps there, have been higher before. The right fan did not blow as hard as the left one but I think that's normal. Physically there are no signs of problem. For a single simple window opening the CPU speeds could rise by 8 degrees in a second which I don't think is realistic. After the last crash it seems that the 'idle' CPU and the GPU temps are up with 3-5 degrees (56 GPU, 51-56 CPU 1, 54-58 CPU 2).

Please help me about this, I am desperate and don't know what to think - the laptop's only 3-4 months old. Thanks in advance

 

Hello man,seem like you got same problem with my friend.

My friend got X200 too but bit different with your spec. which he got 8600GT SLI.

For the first 3 months X200 like quiet monster which only fans up durig the gaming.when after like half year my friend said to my that his X200 kind running slow after while and fan turn up and never stops.

Dismantle your X200 ,clearn the cooling vant and inside of the cooling unit,and put some new termal compound(i did with my G40 gragphic and it never go over 66 degree)

 

Ok, thanks. So is there a problem with the GPU then at all? Won't these problems begin again after some time? Is it normal for the thermal compound to wear off so quickly? If there is an overheating problem with the GPU or sth after another 3 months everything may start again.

And what about the crashes? Did your friend have them, they are quite alarming..

 

My friend has been having overheating issues with a satellite x200 with the system cooling fan running constantly while gaming or not. Also the system tends to just shut down i gather once peak temperatures have been hit. I know that the Satellite Pro x200 was a limited run by toshiba but does anyone know ANYWHERE where i could find a step by step cleaning/disassembly guide for this laptop? I havent found any in over 3 hours of searching the web and i gather thats due to this laptop having been produced in low numbers. Any help greatly appreciated.

 

This is a link to a file showing you step by step how to dismantle it

http://rs255.rapidshare.com/files/63294352/X205_Disassembly_Guide.pdf

alternatively there is this youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOACz9pl4rU&feature=related