My computer just shuts down after 30 min. in SL. Just shuts right off. Grieving tool?

[Ventura Starr]

     For a few weeks...my computer will just shut itself down when I am in SL..when I am on the internet just surfing..it dosent shut down.Only when I am in SL.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Rolig Loon]

Only one that I can offer without more information ... and it's a scary one.  Unlike most things that you probably do on your computer, SL puts a pretty heavy demand on your graphics card.  It draws a lot of power and generates a lot of heat.  If your computer starts to get dangerously hot, it will shut down any offending applicatioins to save itself.  If you keep forcing it, you can cause expensive damage.  A decent gaming computer should have no trouble, but a lightweight machine that's designed for light office work and watching YouTube can be vulnerable.

You should be in the habit of opening up the computer and blowing out any dust bunnies and cat hair every month or so, especially if it's on the floor.  If you have a laptop, you should think about having it cleaned.  Be sure you have good ventilation.  If it's a desktop, be sure it has several fans and that they are spinning freely.  if it's a laptop, don't block the vents, especially the ones underneath.  Get a temperature monitoring program and pay attention when it says it's getting scary hot.  You should expect SL to run the computer hotter than usual -- so the fans will be racing -- but if it's consistently over 75C or so, be careful.

[AssaholicDirector]

Sounds like overheating to me. There are some programs out there like Coretemp that will monitor the computer's tempature. If you're using a laptop, get an external laptop fan, if it's a desktop, you can probably use a box fan on it.

I had a computer that had broken internal fans and still managed to use SL by just using external fans, so it's possible to get SL to run on the computer if overheating is the problem.