Suddenly FS9 heats up my PC to a point where it shuts down

[mozart 1]

Can anyone help me find the cause and a possible remedy for this problem: I have been running FS9 on my PC (ACER Travelmate 7730 laptop) without any issues for the past three years. Now since two weeks I regularly have an issue about the machine "overheating" and shutting itself down. This problem only occurs when I have FS9 running. I have made no modifications to my FS setup other than added a few planes, AI plans and AFCADs.

 

What could the cause be? Is there something I can look up on the software side (FS, OS, others)? Which tool to use? Or is it a hardware damage?

 

Thanks for any hints.

 

Chris

[PCAviator 37]

Chris,

 

Flight Sim always overworks your system and creates more heat. Possibly something in your cooling system is not running as well as it used to, or you might have an accumulation of dust on your componets and heatsinks, reducing their capacity to draw heat away from the chips.

Get access to an air compressor or decent pressure compressed air (100PSI or so) and give your laptop a good blasting with air to try and remove the dust. This should be a regular maintenance item for laptops and desktops too. Its amazing how much dust builds up in them over time, and you will likely create a small dust cloud if you havent done it for a while!

 

Could also be the thermal paste between CPU and heatsink, but I've never pulled a laptop CPU/motherboard apart so perhaps someone else can confirm if it is the same deal as desktops? I have pulled many of those apart, and re-assembled them.

[Paul J 246]

+1 for the above, Chris: If you don't have them in place already - get some rubber feet so that the laptop is off the desk, allowing some cool air to the underside.

[mozart 1]

Thanks guys, this is really helpful.

 

I do have the rubber feet, so the PC does have "room to breathe".

 

As for removing the dust - which I assume really is a problem, I haven't de-dusted it since I bought it - how do I do that? Or do I need to bring it to a shop that has special equipment for that?

[Cyanide72 24]

You could consider getting a laptop cooling pad. My old HP laptop would do the same thing when it was asked to do menial things like Skype or YouTube. Purchased a laptop cooling pad and the problem never repeated itself.

 

This one is for $24.99 ($14.99 with a $10 rebate) and does the job just fine:

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16834989181

 

As for removing the dust - which I assume really is a problem, I haven't de-dusted it since I bought it - how do I do that? Or do I need to bring it to a shop that has special equipment for that?

 

As for de-dusting, you can find a can of compressed air at any local office store. It'll look something like this:

 

http://www.lynx-india.com/published/publicdata/KEHSYUHTWEBASYST/attachments/SC/products_pictures/Innovera%20-%20Compressed%20Air%20Can%20India_enl.JPG

 

I used to just point it at the fan when the laptop was off and give it a few shots. It's extraordinary how much dust can accumulate in there. It's simple to do and takes 30 seconds of your time. Good luck