Probook 6540b shuts down while playing a game

[kaaz89]

I havea a problem with my new Probook 6540b. Whenever I am playing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, the laptop shuts down on its own after some time. After 2-3 seconds it starts again (without any help...) The event viewer does not provide me with any answers concerning the cause. Has anyone experienced similar problems/knows the solution?

[JMyrc]

First disable your automatic restart on system failure.  To do so, Go to Start > Right-click Computer > Properties > Advanced System Settings > Startup and Recovery > Settings > Uncheck "Automatically Detect Settings"

Now, the next time your computer shuts down, you should get a blue screen detailing the exact error messages that are causing your computer to shut down.  Record the STOP error code and post it here.

Most likely the issue is a result of your video card overheating.  This can be caused by either blocked fans, or if you are running a game with higher requirements than your system can handle.  Can you post the requirements for the game you are trying to play?

[kaaz89]

The game is old so the laptop (although not a multimedia one) shouldn't have problems with it.

According to Wikipedia it needs 600 MHz CPU, 128MB RAM, 32 MB OpenGL Graphic Card. 

As for the restarts, as Event Viewer sees it as "unexpected shutdown" I am afraid that it is somehow connected to the hardware. However, once I play the game in the nearest future I will paste any message if it comes out.

[Nix1402]

I'm having the same problem. The requirements is not the problem, as it happens with old and new games alike. Definitely sounds like an overheating problem, but I can't figure out why - as I said, some of these games are quite old, and not at all demanding.

I vaguely remember reading that this is an issue with the ATI card, and that HP does not plan to present a solution other than "buy a new machine". However, having spent literally all my savings on this machine, this "solution" is not an option for me. If anyone has fixed this problem, I would be very grateful.

Thank you,

~ Disgruntled Nix

[draxtor]

I'm having the same problem. I run Windows 7 64 bit and when I play Medieval Total War 2 or Rome Total War (games I have played on my Fujitsu Siemens with 1GB of RAM) computer crashes. I have unchecked AUtomatically restart in StartUp and Recovery but I can't get  the blue screen.

It just shut down and then starts again.

I thought that 64 bit Windows 7 is to blame but I'm not sure now. Temperature is around 90C when I play the game. Laptop is a brand new so nothing is blocked.

It's a bit embarrassing for HP.

What OS you guys have? 

[Nix1402]

I actually also have the problem with Rome Total War among other games, like Neverwinter Nights, Guild Wars, Left4Dead 2 and others. It simply shuts down after a few (1-2) minutes of gameplay. Not sure what these games have in common, but NwN and RTW are fairly old games (6-8 years), so insufficient specs should not be a problem.

I am running Windows 7 32-bit, as that was pre-installed on the computer, but have since upgraded drivers from the HP support site. I had contemplated installing 64-bit, so thanks for letting us know that the problem exists there too.

[Radim]

Yes, I have experienced this problem with Medieval 2, Unreal Engine 2 Runtime and Anno 1404. I am running on W7 Pro 64bit.

I have already tried to send the notebook to service, they replaced the motherboard but it didn't help, the notebook still reboots.

Has anyone found any solution how to rise the temperature limits for graphics card? The BIOS is really dull, I can't even get rid of the annoying beep when the computer boots.

[draxtor]

Most curious, when I play on battery it never crashes (medieval total war 2). Maybe core  i5 processor is to blame.

[Nix1402]

That is indeed strange. I will try that. In fact, yesterday I tried gaming on battery (first time I gamed in 6 weeks) and it actually didn't crash. I thought it was just pure luck, but I shall try some of the games that are more prone to crash tonight, and report back to you.

Slightly off-topic, but I had a similar case on my old laptop, a Lenovo Thinkpad. I would often experienced massive lag while doing anything that required graphics — not only games, but also Flash applications, video and even regular lightweight Windows applications would put my machine to a halt. Friends would spam IM me to try to crash my computer. This was a school computer, and many of my class mates had the same problem. We noted that some times it helped to plug/unplug the PSU or run on battery. The problem was, that the machines were pre-installed with Win XP, and Win XP didn't really support two GFX cards. I gave the IT guys the finger, installed Win 7 on it, and the machine worked like a dream from then on.

However, the problem I had on my Lenovo differs from what I have on my HP, because the HP machine does not just lag, but relentlessly powers off completely. And it already has Win 7 installed.

[SkillageDan]

Strange . . . . I also experience this same issue whilst playing WoW (World of Warcraft) only my computer completely shuts down and won't start up for 1-3 nights. If you wish to see the full details check out my latest forum post and you will find out all the details with my problem.

Also, I think your game card may be overheating and when the screen goes blank this could be when it is cooling the game card down. Unfortunately I cannot give you a sollution to your problem, but good luck in finding one!

SkillageDan XD