[SOLVED] G74SX Laptop Shutting down on medium load

[StefanM]

Hello all,

I am facing some trouble with my 8 year old G74SX-3DE, honestly, it has served me so well that I wouldn't even be mad if I can't fix it.
The laptop works great, I never had any overheating issues as I open it and clean it every 5-6 months and reapply the thermal paste, and have been doing so for the last 4-5 years. but for the last couple of days when I play some games (Mostly medium heavy nothing to fancy) it shuts down randomly. Tested this with benchmark software, and the same happens, so I know its not a software issue (I also did a clean re-install of widows and the same is happening). The temperature never goes above 70 c for the GPU and CPU likewise, with CPU having higher fluctuations as it cools down faster I guess. All in all the temperature is more than fine as far as I can tell, but it can't hold for too long once its above 60 c. I can have it on for the entire day if I am just surfing the web, doing light work, etc...
Also, doing only a CPU stress test will not shut down the laptop.
First It used to crash right as the GPU reaches 60 degrees. then i swapped the fans as I suspected something wrong with the sensors (and they look identical). and now it can hold for about an hour before shutting down. benchmark got it to 76 c without shutting it down, but i never left the benchmark running more than 15minutes. I swapped the fans back to see if it will again shut down immediately, but it stil holds on for a longer period, although I had it shut down in 2minutes once.
what is also strange, is that using HWiNFO64 i was able to see the CPU and GPU fan speed under ASUS NB EC, but as I swapped the fans around (and also after I swapped them back) I can no longer see (Screenshot attached) and the sensor is enabled.
This randomness is what is confusing me so much, is it the fans? is it the sensor? is it some safety feature that I can turn off? as I always monitor temperatures and I never see it overheat.
If you guys have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

Screenshot

 

[Lutfij]

The problem with having newer things run on an old laptop is that they tend to be taxed more than usual. I'd ask you to revert to an older OS and see if the laptop holds it's own.

You could try and use DDU to uninstall the GPU drivers and reinstall the latest found off of Nvidia's support site, pertaining to your GPU and install the drivers in an elevated command, i.e Right click installer>Run as Administrator. That's how you should install all the other drivers as well, after sourcing them from Asus's support site.

If you're trying to get a laptop to run by turning a safety feature off, then you're just trying to cripple your already running laptop into a paperweight, which seems to defeat the purpose of this thread and it's suggestions(and the whole ethos of the forums). Good quality thermal pastes tend to do some good in terms of managing temps apart from making sure the fin stacks in the cooling assembly are literally cleaned with a toothbrush.

In short, that laptop should be on reduced work loads, I'm assuming it's being taxed beyond it's capacity since there's no mention of what app's and game titles are used on the laptop.

 

[StefanM]

I am using Coolermaster thermal paste, which is the top quality one found in my city. I have been on windows 10 for the last few years, I upgraded as soon as it came out as I had original windows 8 key, and I have been keeping up to date. all my drivers are few years old and have been working fine since support has stopped for pretty much all components of my laptop so no new drivers have came out. I am playing Europa Universalis IV and occasionally World of Warcraft. I was able to play games like Darksiders 3 and all previous ones, Civilization V, Stellaris, but I havent tested those (Currently only have WOW and EU4). But even benchmark programs behave the same. Mostly games are on minimum, but I didn't mind it, and up until 2 days ago everything was running smoothly, Games has worked even better than for some ppl with serious gaming machines that i saw complain on forums. I haven't installed anything new, and I even reinstalled windows, so there isn't any extra apps. There was a point when the temperature would reach 80-85 degress going few years back which concerned me obviously and thats when I started applying thermal paste and cleaning the laptop on a regular basis, and since then it has never gone above 70 degrees. temperature wise, I can say with confidence it is not overheating, and the fact that it shuts down randomly is what is confusing me, sometimes it holds on for much longer (almost 2 hours) and there is no throttle or performance loss that would indicate an issue. and sometimes it doesnt hold 10 minutes.
I am planing on getting a new PC in a couple of months and as I said, this laptop served me more then well, so it deserves to go to my trophy display room soon 😀 I just wish I could do some more gaming for a bit while longer.
I guess I can try to put it on windows 8.1 and see how it behaves.
If other ides come along, they would be more than welcome.

Thank you!

 

[StefanM]

Just to add, when this happened first 2 days ago, the first thing i did was clean it thoroughly, apply new paste and blow any dust out. since I have been doing that regularly, it wasn't that dusty or dirty. but still, that did not help.

 

[StefanM]

So the laptop is being serviced right now, waiting to know soon hopefully what is the issue. I have been told that it seems the damage is either to the GPU or something around it. if it's the GPU itself which likely can't be fixed, they can disable the GTX 560m, since there is an integrated Intel HD 3000. my question is, how does Intel HD 3000 handle WOW at minimum settings?I play a few games, but they are all older and I can assume that they can run since they are not graphic intensive. if I can get at least 20-30 frames it might be a solution I go with for the next couple of months until i get the my new PC, as right now I have to limit the GTX 560m so it doesnt heat beyond 45degrees which works in preventing the shutting down, but I can't get more 15 fps.

TLDR:
Is World of Warcraft (BFA, not Shadowlands) playable in any state on the Intel HD 3000 integrated graphic in G74SX?

 

[hang-the-9]

8 yr old laptop, I would not spend money on it for a repair, cost/benefit vs putting that money towards a replacement is just not there. The HD 3000 will be running on low settings at maybe 20fps. I played around with WOW on an i7 and i5 of that generation CPU (2nd gen and some 3rd and 4th gen CPUs), you will not be running the game on medium settings.

 

[StefanM]

So i got the laptop back, very cheap fix, one of the circuits for power was worn out on the motherboard. so as soon as the GPU starts drawing more power it would shut down. i do play it on medium settings, i am not a fanatic for ultra settings, and I enjoy a few games that i can play on this laptop with no issues. I will probably build a PC in a couple of months, but for now, back to gaming on this laptop