Can someone help explain to me why my computer overheats and shuts down after the latest update? I could run Very High quality graphics before that so has something changed? And maybe give me some suggestions on how to fix it?
I seem to be current and updated on my drivers, I can run other MMORPG games on high quality... I switched from Ultra High Quality to Pathetically Blurry Low in LOTRO and it will still overheat and shut down during intense battles. My vents are not covered, the inside of my computer is cleaned/blown out weekly so it's not dirty - um - I'm running Windows 7, the computer is less than a year old, and that's about all I can tell you about it. Oh - the graphics card is ATI Mobility Radeon Premium Graphics (whatever that means).
Sorry I'm so ignorant about my problem, I've never had this happen before and I'm not all that saavy about computers in general but I would appreciate any help you all can offer, I'm worried I'm going to kill my computer completely playing this game and that would make me very sad.
Are you sure it shuts down due to overheat? A faulty power supply for example, that shuts down when the GPU draws too much power, can have a similar effect.
If it is over heat, check what overheats. Is it the CPU, the GPU or even the motherboard chipset. If you find out, check closely the affected component. I had some similar problem with my CPU a couple of years ago and all seemed fine. When I took out the CPU fan though, to better clean it, I realized that one of the four clips that holds it on the MB was broken. Three clips are not good enough even though it looks OK looking it from above.
Are you sure the issue is one of overheating? You have a new PC, drivers updated and other gfx-intensvie games seem to run without any issue.
Your probs with this game started with the new update, and people elsewhere have reported gfx issues; given the above I'd be more tempted to say there's an issue between your PC and the game engine.
In your situation I would ofc confirm whether or not overheating is the problem. Have a look at the Support Pages for the hardware on your PC, the video card supplier, CPU manufacturers website and download/install any of the apps that monitor temperatures; also worth checking your motherboard manufacturers website.
Also, it's worth installing the latest version of Direct X (DX). Again, a google on DX will/should bring you to the webpage you need.
The last thing I can think off, on the Character-Select Screen you will see a tab for 'Options'. Click on that tab and try changing your Graphics Hardware Level to DX9 and play a while. If that works then try DX10 etc etc.
if you realy suspect temperature is causing your pc to shutdown then you need to not only makesure the case is clean but if you can check the actual heatsinks not just the fans fluff will buildup overtime and clog the fins on the heatsinks preventing proper airflow... if your using a mobility graphcis card this suggests you may be using a laptop? so that may not be possible.
if you are using a laptop do not blow into the case, this will only move the dust and muck further into the case which will make the problem worse, the best option is a brush and vacuume to suck the dust out, if you use a hosehold vac makesure its not set to maximum power as this could dammage the fans
you also need to makesure your fans are all working especily on your CPU and graphics card.
assuming you lowered the overall graphics quality not just the texture quality then theres a couple of extra steps you can take
from ingame options troubleshooting lower fps to 60, this will help keep your graphics card from getting too hot rendering graphics your monitor can not display.. most monitors (well excluding the new 120mhz 3d types) simply cant display more than 60fps
then lower engine speed to the next level down ie if its very high select high, this will reduce the CPU and graphics load which in turn will lower temperatures. it will also reduce your FPS slightly as well
WOW - thank you very much for all the suggestions. Right off the bat I can tell you that yes I am sure it's shutting down due to overheating - that's what the blue screen of death tells me "your computer shut down due to overheating to prevent damage blah blah blah" the first time I checked to be sure my drivers were updated and my Direct X etc. all OK, checked my vents, a little dust but I use a small electronics vacuum on it frequently - couple of times a week - because I have dogs and am paranoid about dog hair in my laptop.
As for checking heat sinks and fans, since this is a laptop and I am not as computer saavy as I was 20 years ago I will have to take it to someone to do that. I have absolutely no idea how to tell what is overheating - it just flashes "your computer was shut down..." if there are some relatively simple instructions on how I can find this out I'll give it a shot, otherwise I'll have to wait for my nephew or take it to someone.
I did lower the game engine speed to crawling, I still noticed the computer getting hot - it didn't crash on me but I had limited interest in a blurry slow game so I didn't play long at that setting. The graphics I set to LOW overall, not just texture. I have not tried to reduce the frame rate since I rarely play with things I don't understand - I will try to set it at 60 to see if that helps - I appreciate the suggestion. I also have not tried running on DirectX 9 or 10 so I will try that if the frame rate suggestion does not seem to help.
So all that aside - I guess I still don't understand what changed and how I was able to run the game on Very High before the update and now my laptop is threatening suicide whenever I enter Middle Earth.
It could be a lot of things but in my case it was GPU chip ventilation problem. The ventilator just didn't work properly and I had to send my laptop back for replacement.
I would suggest you to install win 7 gadget that detects GPU and CPU temperatures. For example if GPU temperature goes beyond 80 Celsius, it means your laptop doesnt have enough cooling it needs most probably because of ventilators not working properly.
Last edited by ciceronas; Apr 03 2012 at 07:06 AM.
I had overheating problems recently too... I saw some dust in the heatsink and took it off but noticed the thermal paste between that and the cpu had all but evaporated. So I gave it a new coating and I have had no problems since.
ATI Mobility Radeon Premium Graphics (whatever that means)
Mobility implies its a laptop. They have a tendency to over heat if the hard drive is used a lot, which Lotro does as it reads textures a lot during gaming. Best to get it a passive heat sink. It is worse with faster spindle speed hard drives in laptops if you bought a gaming one, then its likely to be a 7.2k spindle
Personally I use a Xpad with mine and helps no end
I have never had problems with a laptop over heating, so cant help there, but on my desktop I have had good luck with SpeedFan, a free downloaded program that will give you readings on the different cpu core temps and gpu temps. You can also adjust fan speed using this program on desktops, not sure about laptops but worth a try as it is free.
You may also try some laptop cooling pads, I know Cooler Master sells them. They sit underneath your laptop and have additional fans that suck heat away.
Check your CPU Heatsink. Make sure the thermal paste is still good. Make sure the cooling fan/liquid cooling is running fine.
Check the fan on your video card. Is it clogged with dust? Check the drivers for your video card too. Outdated drivers may cause your system to send the wrong information to your card, causing it to run slower (I.E., fan does not work as hard as it should).
Make sure your case has an ample supply of cooling. Cooling fans are a dime a dozen. If your motherboard does not support anymore cooling fans, then purchase USB powered ones or use an external source. Try playing with the side access panel off.
Clean your case of dust or impurities.
It could be any number of things, really. You could also try downloading SpeedFan or a similar program and force your fans to run on a higher setting for more cooling power.
Check your bios, see what temp it's set at to shut down, it may not actually be overheating. You should also find some settings to trigger when the fans go on and off, full, etc. Change these to be on full at all times. I think whats happening is they are throttled back until it heats up, and once it does it cant catch up. Google for a program called speedfan. This program will allow you to do this outside of bios, set fans to full, or at user selected temps. It will also read all voltgaes, and can even overclock, but i would stay away from that part of the program. You just want all fans on full at all times. The program can be found here: http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
Also, get yourself one of those small chrome bakers racks to sit the laptop on to get some airflow all around the machine. Makes a nice heatsink for two or three bucks, any walmart or grocery store usually has these. Leaving the machine flat down on your desk doesnt allow heat to dissipate from the bottom of it. The rack will act like a heatsink and pull a lot of heat away from the bottom of it. A small fan moving air underneath it wont hurt either.
Last edited by OnyxSoulbane; Apr 03 2012 at 12:55 PM.
Also, get yourself one of those small chrome bakers racks to sit the laptop on to get some airflow all around the machine. Makes a nice heatsink for two or three bucks, any walmart or grocery store usually has these. ...
Hey, I thought I was the only one that put my laptop on a metal baking rack.
But I bet you don't stick your laptop in the refrigerator to cool it down like I do?
I second the recommendation of a laptop fan or a baking rack that lets lot of space under the laptop for airflow. Seems you are getting lots of good other technical advice.
How do you know it's overheating? Seems all you know for sure is that the computer shuts off.
His labtop tells him that it is a heat issue when it shuts down. I have more than one labtop. One of them turns off never tells me anything. The newer one will give me a reason.
Originally Posted by Darmokk
What are the temperature of CPU and GPU before the shutoff?
If his labtop is like the new one I got, this information not easily displayed. I used: http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/
free application on the lab top to figure out what the temps were.
Originally Posted by Darmokk
In general, LOTRO is unlikely to overheap multi-core CPUs since it only uses one core at a time.
PCs just like boards in a rack system get hot spots. All it takes is one core that overheats. That will shut the board, blade or PC down. Due to the location of the vents, fans, obstructions in the air flow you can never get even cooling or heating. It seems like there always one heat generating component that runs hotter than the others.
In a case of multiple cores, where you are not driving them at same load level, you may be able to resolve the heat issues by forcing core affinity. Easy enough on the custom systems that I work on. Not sure how easy it would be to configure an app like Lotro to use a specific core under a Microsoft OS.
Never had to pursue a core affinity solution on a PC. The Microsoft OSs do a reasonable job of load balancing. Once I've fixed the fans, cleaned out the dust, made sure that there is good air flow. I have not had a heat issue unless the ambient temperatue is too high. Like having to work in a heat chamber where the ambient tempature is 120 or above. You take your labtop inside. See whether Yula or labtop shutdown for over heating first.
Last edited by Yula_the_Mighty; Apr 03 2012 at 02:07 PM.
Unless stated otherwise, all content in this post is My Personal Opinion.
that would be because the OP wrote a reply that his machine was shutting down and giving a bsod about overheating
Originally Posted by Bellgwen
WOW - thank you very much for all the suggestions. Right off the bat I can tell you that yes I am sure it's shutting down due to overheating - that's what the blue screen of death tells me "your computer shut down due to overheating to prevent damage blah blah blah" the first time I checked to be sure my drivers were updated and my Direct X etc. all OK, checked my vents, a little dust but I use a small electronics vacuum on it frequently - couple of times a week - because I have dogs and am paranoid about dog hair in my laptop.
Last edited by Finglonger_UK; Apr 03 2012 at 05:41 PM.
Right off the bat I can tell you that yes I am sure it's shutting down due to overheating - that's what the blue screen of death tells me "your computer shut down due to overheating to prevent damage blah blah blah"
It is hard to find because he has multiple posts. The posts are fairly long.
In software development a lot of my work especially with bug reports and customer complaints requires me to sift through the writing or listen to a tirade looking for that valuable nugget of information that will allow me to focus immediately on a viable area.
All development organizations prize the developers have the ability to narrow the search to a small part of the system quickly with a reasonable success rate. Sometimes in a million+ lines of code done by hundreds of developers. I can pull the module with the defective code from an email or phone call. Start reading the code and comments. Other times, I have to put a data collection patch or activate a trace function to the right area.
In worst case, it ends up being a data corruption error - Somewhere in the code there is a bad pointer. Sigh. Where is the Crash To Desktop when you need it?
When I went to engineering school at NCSU, I never thought I would have to solve word puzzles. I thought I was going to be simple math problems. I never in my wildest dreams thought that a love of games Like Clue with Colonel Mustard would be useful in my career.
Last edited by Yula_the_Mighty; Apr 03 2012 at 07:30 PM.
Unless stated otherwise, all content in this post is My Personal Opinion.
Hey thanks for all the feedback on the overheating issue. I think I have found the culprit(s) in that dust bunnies and dog hairs were breeding to create new life on my fan. A thorough deep cleaning by a professional has solved the problem.
I can appreciate that most of you know more about computers than me, and likely are real pros at getting the kind of information you need, you know what info to provide, where to go to get answers and you can understand what people are trying to tell you in your responses. Not all of us have that knowledge, ability, background or experience. Saying things like this:
"Starting a thread about computers and not mentioning what you have isn't that great. Starting a thread about overheating computers and not mentioning that you have a laptop is less great."
doesn't provide me with any new information or help - just kind of slaps my ignorance in the face a little bit more - like pouring lemon juice on a paper cut. Please try to keep in mind that some of us may not have grown up with a computer, or been exposed to them at school so comments that provide information are much more educational and in the long run teach me how to solve my own problems.
"Starting a thread about computers and not mentioning what you have isn't that great. Starting a thread about overheating computers and not mentioning that you have a laptop is less great."
doesn't provide me with any new information or help - just kind of slaps my ignorance in the face a little bit more - like pouring lemon juice on a paper cut. Please try to keep in mind that some of us may not have grown up with a computer, or been exposed to them at school so comments that provide information are much more educational and in the long run teach me how to solve my own problems.
Sorry I remain unconvinced. What I said is correct, whether you like it or not.
What kind of information do you think people should provide you when there is nothing known about your situation?
Sigh, I know - don't feed the trolls... but I'm giving you the benefit of my doubt. I'm going to assume you really think you are being helpful rather than just trying to get your point across that I didn't provide YOU with information about my computer that YOU needed. I did, however, apparently provide enough information for lots of other nice and helpful people who gave me suggestions on things to check which in the long run solved my problem and taught me a little more about my laptop.
So your input, or insult, whichever you meant, is not needed really... and isn't even as helpful as "check your vents for dust"... and I have no idea what I'm supposed to be convincing you of - or why I should - but you can leave it alone now, I'm all done, LAPTOP computer is all fixed and happy.
But the point about going to a forum with a computer problem as opposed to Googeling random help pages is that in the former case you can have people help with your specific situation, whereas in the latter case you need to find information more specific about your situation on your own. And since people like to help other people the former is the better solution for everybody involved. It gets you your specific information earlier and people are happy to see your computer fixed.
If you, however, treat the forum like a google search and disable the "customization aspect" by providing no information that allows us to be more specific than a random Google reply then what is the point?
OK, I did do a Google search and came up with something like 26K results, I read a half dozen, understood a few terms here and there, but since the problem started right after Update 6 it made some sort of weird logic in my mind to come here and see if anybody had suggestions like "disable frills" (which somebody did send me a private msg suggesting that). The fact that I got responses that were more clear for me to understand than the Google searches basically convinced me that it was not a problem I could solve without a great deal of technical coaching from helpful people with better things to do. So I coughed up the money and got it to a professional to assess, take apart and clean.
I think what happened in the long run is that Update 6 did put a greater stress on my system and thus the fan was wanting to run more often but the ultimate/starting problem(s) were insidious dog hairs that my tiny electronics vacuum cleaner could not untangle off my fan from the outside.
Also I think I'm hearing from you all that laptops are not really designed to run computer games like this and that I should probably invest in a desktop computer specifically designed to do that with some kind of liquid nitrogen cooling system. I hear that, it makes sense, but I'm kind of stuck with a laptop for now as I spend a good deal of time in a cruddy infusion center or hospital bed and LOTRO is the only way I can effectively escape from that boredom... I am saving for a better computer but in the meantime I've got my limping-along laptop elevated on a wire frame with as much cool air as possible getting to the bottom.
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*Damn you Eilrad! Must learn to type faster
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