Laptop shutting down and I don't know why

if it's getting extremely hot then sure thats the problem.

not true?

  I was wanting to avoid turning the graphics down. I do have a couple questions though
(1) What is V-Sync
(2) So shutting down normally without crashing randomly = overheating? It doesn't seem to get that hot
(3) Will a cooling pad work? How about defrag and disc clean to open up some space?
(4) What are some other options I have other than turning down graphics?

On another note is it just coincidence that I was messing with my boot priority that same day?

download a program that will display the heat of your CPU and GPU. Now you say it isn't a sudden shut down, rather it takes its time to go through the motions? Are you playing the game on a battery? When a battery gets to low, it'll force either hibernation or shut down.

V-Sync just prevents tearing of the graphics. I fail to see how this is relevant to the cause of shutting down, but it will help keep things looking pretty while in game. V-sync, however, does cause you to take a hit in frames per second. It might not be enough to notice, but just FYI.

A cooling pad helps more than you know! I have one for my laptop, and it can lower temps by as much as 15C (when its near the edge of over heating, in the middle of summer, sitting on a blanket. Same circumstances with a cooling pad, 15 C lower. Your temps may vary).

You have no other options if it is over heating. Perhaps the fan on the laptop is faulty and isn't spinning like it is supposed to. There is software that can check that for you too.

Messing with your boot priority won't cause the laptop to shut down mid-game.

Yeah it goes through the motions before shutting down, but I don't really know if it's hibernation or a full shutdown. It starts from square 1 when turning back on so I'm assuming it's a complete shutdown.

The only problem with V-Sync is that since my game is fullscreened and can be played no other way I wouldn't even notice if it was overheating til it was too late. I'll give it a try though.

Any recommendations on programs to monitor fan speed?

Thanks!

**So it just happened again, but the bottom of my laptop is seriously not hot at all I would think that overheating would make underneath it fairly hot. I've played on it with it being hotter than that.

Could it be running out of RAM or something cause usually it happens when I have Google Chrome open or opening while playing...

** Got a dual fan laptop cooler and it hasnt crashed on me since.

Thanks guise

Best answer selected by howdy_mcgee.