Laptop Overheating Problem
 

Whenever I run a full-screen program, such as Diablo II, or Marrowwind, my laptop just shuts down after 2-3 minutes of play (I strongly believe it is due to overheating). I had this problem inspected by toshiba when it was under warranty, and they improved it, but now my ex-girlfriend chucked it off the desk, and I believe this did something to the cooling system. Does anyone have any idea what I could do to keep it from overheating? I really don't want to spend money on it.

It's hard to say, it doesn't sound like the CPU cooling, but the GPU cooling. There are ways to open up a laptop and you could see if things look okay inside, perhaps the area around the GPU needs a bit of cleaning.

Do you notice the fans rev up after you start the games? My Toshiba does that when it needs more cooling.

Yes, it does that exactly, the fans rev up when i run something like a full screen program. And then it seems as though it shuts down after 2-4 minutes of running the game. I blew it all out with a CO2 tank, im gonna see if that works.

Either the CPU or the GPU heatsinks could have become unseated when the laptop fell off the desk. If this is the case, you will have to re-seat them somehow.

Try opening it up and checking the fans and make sure everything is seated properly like Radical suggested. Just be careful, as getting the case off a laptop isn't very easy if you haven't done it before.

Really, though, if it is overheating, you will have to spend some money on it to get it back in working order. If you keep letting it shut down from overheating, it will eventually do permanent damage to your system. Keeping it propped up so the fans have plenty of space is the only thing I can think of to help with the problem. A chillpad would be a good temporary fix, but it will have to be serviced sooner or later.

You can run some temperature monitoring software to make absolutely sure it's overheating and then proceed from there. What happens when you use the laptop normally (typing stuff, reading)?

Nothing happens when im doing normal stuff unless i do not put it on a hard surface and thigns block the fans.