overheating

[shrinkydinx]

my laptop, in the past week, has stopped being able to encode movies: at some point in the encoding process, the computer instantly turns off. is this likely due to overheating? if so, is there a way i can limit my CPU usage? that is, make it never go over, say, 75%?

thanks

[sh0dan]

Underclocking your CPU is probably the best solution. Have you checked your fans?

(This should go into the Hardware section)

[smiller667]

"Checking your fans" should include things like checking for dust buildup in the air intakes, making sure the laptop sits on a hard, flat surface in a well-ventilated area ...

[shrinkydinx]

my laptop is sitting on a stand that lets heat dissipate out the bottom better, and it is well ventilated. how do i underclock the cpu?

[shrinkydinx]

also, what else could it be if it isnt overheating? when it crashes, the computer just turns of as if it were disconnected from power altogether. that is, it doesnt freeze up, it just turns off. is this a sympton of overheating?

[Angelus]

it's probably a fail-safe so that you don't kill ur cpu or melt your motherboard :D One thing I would look at is getting a high-quality laptop cooler. Here's a link of an Antec CPU Cooler (http://www.antec-inc.com/us/pro_notebookcooler.html)

[shrinkydinx]

why would my computer suddenly start doing this out of nowhere? i have been encoding movies for months with it without problems...

[Angelus]

probably the strain over the past several months have done havoc with your laptop cooling system. You should download a program that can measure the temp of ur cpu while doing your encodes, or try the prime32 test and see if it causes it to overheat.

[shrinkydinx]

is there a way i can make the processor only run at 75%? that is, so that "System Idle Processes" is always at at least 25% in the task manager???

[JaTeMaTec]

Originally posted by shrinkydinx
is there a way i can make the processor only run at 75%? that is, so that "System Idle Processes" is always at at least 25% in the task manager???

Hmm.. Go to the bios at POST (=System Startup) by pressing DEL or whatever it is at your LAP... - if you have Award Bios, you should be able to slow down it, but only in a big step like FSB from 166 to 133, that is making prosentually your Laptop a 'Duron' - so the problem would move to difficulties with slow encoding and real-time capturing may become impossible...

That couls also relate to a HW-problem like RAM or MoBo circuits etc.
(Have you tested whether it is more hot than before after that power-off issues. Also most of modern (Award, AMI) bios's do have an internal monitor to check the temperatures / voltages and one way is to lower the CPU (VDD) voltage to say 1.6V if the monitor shows more...

At run-time you could try utility like SiSoft Sandra 2004 Personal Edition from http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/ - download section. It tells you everything possible of your pc (like temporatures also) and does have huge amount of system component's stressing / measurement utilities + many more info / tweak / help modules ...

JaTeMaTec