Trouble with my laptop . . . .

[Plonkoon]

My laptop was pretty high end when I bought it, I've had it for quite a while now and it's about standard.  I used to be able to play battlefront 2 and civilization 4 with no problem, but now I can't even play soldat.      

The problem started a few months ago, when I played a game for more than about 3 or 4 hours straight it would just shut off.  I concluded the problem was most likely overheating.  So instead of letting it sit on my flat desk I propped it up between 2 surfaces so the area beneath the fan was clear.  This solved my problem.

Just last month it started again, I couldn't play civ4 for more than an hour so I stopped it and played soldat for a week or so when it started shutting off after less than an hour.  As of now I can only play anything as graphic intesinve as soldat for about 5 minutes before it shuts off, and then I have to let it sit for about half an hour before it can start up again.

Any ideas?  I'd appriciate any help.

[bja888]

Laptop gamers.... 

[a-4-year-old]

Could it be heatsink or fan issues? feel the bottom after it shuts off and see if overheating is the definite problem.

[Plonkoon]

It's not really that hot, what made me pretty sure it was overeating was how it worked again after I gave the fan room to work.

[Milkman Dan]

If the quality of your laptop usage has decreased THAT MUCH.... why the HELL didn't you call the manufacturer or something??? It's most likely got a warranty or something....

[FliesLikeABrick]

since you've had it for a while, its probably filled with dust.

what brand is it? 

If you can find the manual for it, take it apart and clean the dust out with a can of compressed air.  Odds are that the main heatsink/fan is completely clogged.

[jbigz]

overheating shouldnt be the problem. you know about comps? open her up and see the prob.

[peemonkey]

[Mistercharles]

Dell XPS? I saw two of those at a repair shop earlier today.

[kalatix]

It might be the not the hardware, but rather what's on your computer. There's a chance. Try deleting stuff like your internet history, temporary internet files, and going to add/remove programs and deleting stuff you don't need. (Sorry if this is an insult to your intelligence, I don't know how much you know about computers.)

Try it, I dunno.

[Plonkoon]

It might be the not the hardware, but rather what's on your computer. There's a chance. Try deleting stuff like your internet history, temporary internet files, and going to add/remove programs and deleting stuff you don't need. (Sorry if this is an insult to your intelligence, I don't know how much you know about computers.)

Try it, I dunno.

I know computers, I've reformated this piece of shit so many times I could do it in my sleep.  Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

since you've had it for a while, its probably filled with dust.

what brand is it?

If you can find the manual for it, take it apart and clean the dust out with a can of compressed air. Odds are that the main heatsink/fan is completely clogged.

That's possibility, I think I'll try that.

If the quality of your laptop usage has decreased THAT MUCH.... why the HELL didn't you call the manufacturer or something??? It's most likely got a warranty or something....

Yes I still have a few months on the warrenty, I just wanted to post here and see if anyone had expirienced a similar problem and could make it easier.

[Meanman]

The same exact thing happened to me with my laptop. It was really aggrivating, and then I had to reformat for an unrelated issue. After that it was fine, I think it helps if you don't use a lot of your hard drive. This might be a useful program to grab and try to test it out and see what's up. Cleaning it would probably help too. Good luck with that.