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Posted: Nov 27 2009 01:48 am

So I bought Batman: AA off Steam today and it seemed to set up okay. But during the opening sequence (when you're walking Joker to his cell), at the point where Killer Croc is coming up the elevator (I can play fine up until then), the game crashes. And not just crashes, but turns my entire computer off. I have never had anything like this happen before. My comp is well within the specs to play this thing, so its not like I'm overtaxing the hardware that I'm aware of. I've done some searches online but with no luck. Anyone had anything like this happen, or have any clue what might be going on here?

EDIT: I think I've figured out what it is, since the exact same thing happened to me playing Dragon Age. I believe my computer is overheating when I try to play either of those games. Idk what's up with that or why it would be overheating; I'm well within game specs. Sigh. Guess I gotta figure out how to overcome this now.

Posted: Nov 27 2009 09:48 am

Hawk, when I read your first paragraph (before the edit), I immediately thought of overheating because my old PC used to do it all the time. Even if it's within specs, your video card (or processor, but it's usually the video card) is getting too hot and your PC shuts itself down as a failsafe so it doesn't break. Obviously it happens most when you play newer games because the video card is working much harder than usual which increases the temperature.

Usually the best way to solve it is to just open up your PC and give it a good clean with a vaccum cleaner or can of compressed air. Sometimes you have to remove the fans from the processor and graphics cards to get to the dust caked in the heatsink (they just screw right off, it's easy). But yeah, give it a real deep clean, and then try again. Depending on how much dust is in there, cleaning it out can reduce the temperature of your PC drastically.

Posted: Nov 27 2009 01:34 pm

Yeah, when I used to do a lot of PC gaming, I just took the shell off my computer and left it off. It was the only way I could play without shutdowns. You may need a stronger power supply as well, I changed that out and had improvements.

Posted: Nov 27 2009 03:16 pm

Yeah, I ended up leaving the covers off my last PC as well.

Posted: Nov 27 2009 03:34 pm

I actually got to the point that I had to get a copper heatsink for mine, but that's because I run overclocked on my frankengamer comp that I play around with (I usually use my laptop for regular websurfing). If you clean it as Panda suggested and you still keep having problems, decasing is an option, as is getting a bigger fan. I actually had a friend who kept one of the vents in his windowbox A/C unit directed at his comp and it helped some.