Bellzemos Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Hello! 3 days ago my F13 series VAIO shut down by itself - for the first time since I have it (about 15 months). And today it happened for the second time, so it's time to take a look at the problem. I have cleaned it (dust off the fan) about 4 months ago. I was playing a game (Half-Life 2), the laptop was hot but not SO hot (I'd say it was hotter some times before but didn't shut down) and it just shut down, like if I would disconenct the cable and battery, no BSOD or anything - just died. Then I started it up again after a couple of minutes and all was working fine. I was also able to play that same game. It's weird but I think I could be maybe the temperature fault (CPU, GPU, HDD, who knows). So I would like to monitor and log all the changes so that I can see which component is overheating after I finish playing games etc. How do I do that with AIDA64, do I run it in the background while playing the game and it will log and then report the highest temperature before the shut down? I would like to know what's causing this and how to prevent it. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 In that scenario the best would be to enable the Logging function in AIDA64 / main menu / File / Preferences / Hardware Monitoring / Logging. It will create 2 log files, one for all readings, and another one for statistics (minimum / maximum / average values). Regards, Fiery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellzemos Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 I enabled it - I put the ticks in the boxes but nothing happens. How do I make it start logging? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 You have to enter a filename in the first edit field Example: C:\MYLOG.HTM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellzemos Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 OK, thank you, now it's logging. I have to keep AIDA64 running in the background if I want it to log? If I close AIDA64 it will stop logging, right? Now I'm looking at these tables... My motherboard, CPU and the GPU diode are around 50°C, HDD 37°C. CPU is about 3500 RPM, GPU is at 100% al the time. Are that normal values? If I now go play that game again and the computer shuts down how will I know what has caused it when I turn it on again? I don't know which values are normal and which are too much... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 OK, thank you, now it's logging. I have to keep AIDA64 running in the background if I want it to log? If I close AIDA64 it will stop logging, right? Correct, on both. Now I'm looking at these tables... My motherboard, CPU and the GPU diode are around 50°C, HDD 37°C. CPU is about 3500 RPM, GPU is at 100% al the time. Are that normal values? Yes, they look good. If I now go play that game again and the computer shuts down how will I know what has caused it when I turn it on again? I don't know which values are normal and which are too much... If that happens again, just let me know in this topic the highest temperature values you got for CPU, motherboard, GPU and HDD. Alternatively, you can try running the AIDA64 System Stability Test (AIDA64 / main menu / Tools / System Stability Test). If you want to stress your system for overheating, then only have the "FPU" subtest enabled, and disable the rest of the tests. Then push the Start button, and watch the temperatures climb. If the Throttling graph (in the bottom graph) shows anything other than 0% value, then your CPU is overheating. Let the stress test run for at least 15 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellzemos Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 I run the FPU stability test. I don't know if I'm doing it right but the Throttling graph immediatelly showed a rise from 0% to 100%. Am I doing it wrong or is my CPU really overheating? Here is the picture of the test running for 30 seconds: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 The graph that jumped up to 100% is the CPU Usage graph. You need to watch the other, green graph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellzemos Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 OK, I've run the test over 15 minutes and that's how it looks like. Do you think it's OK? Is it possible that the game itself is crashing the PC? Without any BSOD? What exactly do I have to set before I play it again (and wait for the next shutdown)? Only logging or something else too? Thank you very much for your great help, I really appreciate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 That looks okay to me. Please note that playing a game may put a different sort of stress on the system that it may not stand. You should simply enable logging in AIDA64, play some games, and once your computer powers off, check the log file for maximum temperatures or other anomalies. If you log voltages as well, you could watch for unusual drops or spikes on voltage rails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellzemos Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 I played that same game which shutdown my laptop twice for a while (the PC didn't shutdown, I just quit playing normally) and this are the results (statistics). If you look at the temperatures you can see that the CPU was quite hot (up to 78°C), is that normal? What about the voltages, RPM, how do they seem to you? Is everything normal or is something too hot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Everything looks normal for a mobile computer. I'm not sure what could cause the shutdowns while gaming. It may be a hardware issue, or a power supply logic failure. Or, it may as well be a software error or Windows configuration problem. You may want to try updating your drivers and the game itself too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellzemos Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 This only happened twice and only when I played that particular game. I won't bother you anymore now, I'll just keep logging and will write back only if it happens again. Maybe it's hardware (overheating) or maybe it's even the game itself (but it's strange that there's no BSOD). Thank you very much for all your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KockBurn Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Thats within range for a I7 cpu temp with some room to spare. If it keeps happening or starts on other games, I'd try a new video driver.. Is the the game new compared to your video card driver? Is your video card capable of recommended settings for that game? Have you updated bios recently or changed a setting in there? I had one that started running under stock Voltage for cpu due to bios update started just shutting off no BSOD because the system wasnt supplying enough volts to the cpu to support what I was doing at the time ( Dont fool with your voltages unless your sure what you are doing). I'd try multiple things like this and look into a fresh install of Vista/7 whatever your using and if Problem persists then start checking it out on a hardware level such as Power Supply/Battery, Memory, HDD etc... Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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