computer shuts down

[mscano]

When I play the game (spww2 or spmbt) on my laptop (Acer Aspire 5610), the computer will shut down! It happens randomly. Not sure if it's a heat issue or something else. This is the only game it does it with. I play the game in windowed mode.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by mscano

When I play the game (spww2 or spmbt) on my laptop (Acer Aspire 5610), the computer will shut down! It happens randomly. Not sure if it's a heat issue or something else. This is the only game it does it with. I play the game in windowed mode.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

- What Operating System?
- "Shuts Down" means what exactly - an error message and/or blue screen of death, or it simply powers off?.

Andy

[DRG]

- do you have any other programs running ?
- do you have any anti-virus programs running at all times ?


Don

[mscano]

I'm running Windows XP SP3. The computer powers off. no error message or BSOD. I have Avira anti-virus running, but I have it running on my desktop PC, but don't have the same problem with that machine.

I run the game in windowed mode, don't know if that has anything to do with it.

Is winSP cpu intensive? Maybe it's causing overheating?

[Arralen]

Originally Posted by mscano

IIs winSP cpu intensive? Maybe it's causing overheating?

Sort of - and yes, most likely:
Open the Task Manager and minimize it to the task bar, then run Steel Panthers, and you'll see that your CPU constantly runs at a very high percentage ... .

On the other hand, if your hardware can't take that, there might be something wrong with it. Might just be that the fans or the heat exchanger need some cleaning, but maybe the heatpipes do not work 100% any longer, or the heat-conductive paste has gone bad ...
To fix these things you better contact someone who's proficient with fixing notebooks, though, as it is quite easily possible to make things worse ...

[Imp]

Not checked CPU usage as never had a problem but think it works hardest when purchasing units for some reason as can cause my fan to run, so setup on your tower possibly. If your fan is running flat out as in noisy points to it getting hot could need nothing more than a simple vac inside dust builds up stop heat sinks working.
The obvious do you have it set to hibernate or shutdown after 5mins of no input on batteries, watching the other sides turn might exceed that.

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by Arralen

Sort of - and yes, most likely:
Open the Task Manager and minimize it to the task bar, then run Steel Panthers, and you'll see that your CPU constantly runs at a very high percentage ... .

On the other hand, if your hardware can't take that, there might be something wrong with it. Might just be that the fans or the heat exchanger need some cleaning, but maybe the heatpipes do not work 100% any longer, or the heat-conductive paste has gone bad ...
To fix these things you better contact someone who's proficient with fixing notebooks, though, as it is quite easily possible to make things worse ...

The game runs in a tight MS_DOS type game loop as it was a port from DOS, so the fans will kick in eventually (I get the same effect with other windows games as well, e,g EU3).

However - I used the vacuum cleaner to suck out the felt that had built up on the grilles and inside of my box (I had the CPU box sitting on the floor and it was choked with carpet fluff). This reduced the overheating substantially! - The fan now only comes into play after an hour or 3 of gaming, and it no longer 'howls' since it can 'breathe'. CPU box is now up on the desk, not down on the carpet any more.

I'll maybe look into detecting the WS_MINIMIZED state this summer, have been meaning to do that, but then again I tend to either be running the game or exit it completely, and not have it minimised in the background.

Andy.