Overheating issues on brand-new laptop

[wiscnukegrad]

I just purchased a Lenovo Y40-80 laptop with a Radeon R9 M275X video card and a i7 5500u processor. After about 1-5 minutes of playing Borderlands 2, the computer completely locks up and needs to be restarted with a hard shutdown. I spent about 3 hours with Lenovo today and he told me that it must be a software issue. After getting off the phone and the shared desktop session, I decided to try the laptop outside in 10 F weather and the game worked fine. I don't know whether this is a processor or a video card issue. Has anyone else had similar issues?

I could reduce my video settings, but I want to know why my computer would lock up rather than addressing the issue by slowing the processor or video card down. Or why it would completely lock up rather than just the game and Ctrl-alt-del would still work or alt-tab.

All drivers are up to date. All vents are clean. Playing on hard smooth surface. Computer is brand new. I have trouble tracking the temperatures because it locks up when the issue occurs, and the video and cpu seem to track rather closely.

Thanks.

[St. Brick]

Sounds like you got a lemon, exchange it for a new one

[Cheese]

Try a cooling pad for the laptop. Sounds like the chip set is getting to hot.

[Xaelath]

Originally posted by Cheese:

Try a cooling pad for the laptop. Sounds like the chip set is getting to hot.

yes this would work.

Lenovo has same problem as Dell and thats a heating problem making it unable to play for long run.
Get some Fan Cooler and make sure the cooler is fast and legit.

[A_Kim]

I'd suggest to read more about your Lenovo model because it may appear to overheat while running demanding video applications. Also test with some other games. There is also a probability that cooler fan may not work properly.
I had similar problem with Acer Aspire 5738zg, brief forum investigation showed that overheating was common issue with that laptop series, cooling system was not well otimized.
Now I've got Dell and everything works fine, running BL2 makes barely sensible effect on laptop temperature.

[Waste_of_skin]

Make sure PhysX is set to low in the game settings. Since you have an ATI video card, PhysX will run off the CPU, and it's very demanding. It's a shot in the dark, but it's very easy to check.

That wouldn't really address the question of why the laptop wouldn't try to reduce the load, rather than just lock up, but it may explain why it's getting hot.

[Bunkyguy]

No...do not use a cooling pad if you have such severe heating issues with that Lap Top. Thre is something wrong from the factory and you need to send back that unit for a replacement or a refund.
Lenovos were good coputers in the past but since they drop almost to the bottom in quality.
Accordingto Consumer Reports, Toshiba and HP are among the best after Apple.
You can only use a cooling pad to keep your machine running cool so that it can give you a good performance and prolongue its life. Cooling pads are not design to fix issues.

[Cheese]

A peice of advice the next time you purchase a laptop Intell and amd realy don't place as nice together it works but lacks in performanc. If your going for intel processor get nvidia chipset. And if you want radeon chipset go with amd processor.
Also good luck getting Lenovo to replace it becaucse one game crash's it.

[Goku^fTw]

Did you get any solution? I too have the same problem and what I found is that the cooling vents are placed below the laptop and you have to leave some room for those vents for the laptop to work normally. So basically you could use a fan or arrange a setup that allows the hot air to be pushed out from below without being blocked.(You can't place your laptop on the ground or flat surface while playing games or heavy stuff)

[JohnTravoltage]

What about other games/demanding applications? if its just for borderlands 2 then yeah we need to find it out, but if its for everything I'd send that laptop back for repair/refund.

Originally posted by Waste_of_skin:

Make sure PhysX is set to low in the game settings. Since you have an ATI video card, PhysX will run off the CPU, and it's very demanding. It's a shot in the dark, but it's very easy to check.

That wouldn't really address the question of why the laptop wouldn't try to reduce the load, rather than just lock up, but it may explain why it's getting hot.

Also do this. The option should be greyed out since you don't have a nvidia card, but just make sure. I know a friend with an amd card (really powerful desktop) and it wasn't greyed out, and I have a friend who just build a computer, with a gtx 970 and it was greyed out (I just went into the config files and changed the physx value to 2 to put physx on high and now it lets him change it).

[SpectatorX]

You may try updating gpu driver to amd catalyst 15.9.1 beta or 15.8 whql but i'm not sure if this could help, still, worth to try.
Laptops are not made for gaming, even if they are named like this. In price of mid-range laptop (like yours) you can build pretty nice desktop pc which will handle borderlands 2 really well, and absolutely without any overheating.

[Funny Rat]

First of all you should get cpu thermometer and see if it is actually running hot because unless you have it sitting on a bed it shouldn't get hot at all and what you described doesn't even sound like overheating. It does just sound like a software issue because when a cpu overheats (ie. goes over 100C) the pc will shutdown immediately with no warning to reduce risk of damaging the cpu. If it isn't actually running hot but does it anyway then you might want to try and get a replacement because this shouldn't happen.

But just to clarify, DO NOT sit a laptop flat down on anything especially a bed if you plan on gaming because you cover the vents on the bottom preventing any airflow which makes the cpu get hotter and hotter until it ♥♥♥♥♥ itself. Always prop a laptop op for some airflow underneath or this stuff will happen.

[Xaelath]

WTF this thing barely livin 8 months ago, y reply now?

[Multi]

Just from googling that model of laptop I got multiple results about over heating and performance issues.

Did you do research before buying it? I ask because it is a really easy way to avoid issues like this.

As for what to do about it a cooling pad might work or it is possible that something may not be hooked up correctly/blocking the airflow.

Either way, I hope you get it figured out.

[NotApplicable]

This isn't a software issue. It's a hardware issue and Lenovo are screwing you. One program, ordinarily, if ever, cannot just decide to ramp up the temps to a level deemed the max by the machine to the point of turning itself off. The only exception would be if you're in a particularly hot part of the world, in Summer or something. If your laptop is insuficiently cooled, then that's a hardware issue. Send it back, don't take no for an answer. Hardware should not overheat with factory settings when simply used, even at its highest points, otherwise everyone would be scared to run any game!

Dammit, old thread. I didn't realise it was necrod. ¬_¬ Oh well, not too old... what ended up happening with it?

[wiscnukegrad]

Just an FYI, I had Lenovo replace the laptop and I have no issues with the replacement. It was a pain, but I got a lemon. Not simple either, I had to convince them that I got a piece of junk before the time period expired to get a full replacement. There is a warranty, but I wanted a new one.