BSOD...Hardware Malfunction (v.2)

I'm going to start a new thread for this.

It's a continuation of one I had before ( http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=22 )


I sort of put a bandaid on the problem by shutting down my laptop each night when I was finished. The BSOD stopped happening when I did that.

Now, I decided to get out a pc game that I had bought a while back, and it's now happening again.

I've run Dell's diagnostic testing (extensive ones) and they all 'passed'

My question: Does the fact that when I started shutting it down each night made the issue go away, and the fact that playing a pc game made it come back, point to overheating problems?

I bought a laptop cooler today. It hasn't come yet, but I'm hoping that helps/cures the problem.

My fear is that it isn't overheating.

Oh, and I did clean it out. The vents are clear.

Additional Question: My husband brought up the fact that I had to buy a new power cord since my dell one went bad. I bought a Targus. Is it possible that the new power cord could be causing this?

 

I had to search...this is the thread
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=141564

the original BSOD showed a memory problem. Did you ever run through the memory test to be sure that the memory is A-OK?

What does the BSOD say?

Usually when heat is involved, the computer shuts down.

 

oops...sorry, I meant to link the thread, not the forum.

It's the same message and I did run through all the dell memory checks which were extensive and took forever.

I realized though, after my husband mentioned it, that the bsod's started happening after I bought the new charger for my laptop when the dell one broke.

So, you're saying that overheating causes it to shut down completely, not just go to blue screen.

edited to add: I Did try to run the test that tunered linked me to, but it requires that I save it to floppy disk which I don't have (the drive that is)

 

Ugh...thanks dlb

I got the test up and running. It passed.

I'd just like to know what's going on. It has to have something to do with the fact that if I shut down (which I didn't used to) my computer each night, it doesn't happen...unless I play a pc game, that is. Then it happens again.

I guess I just need to hope the laptop cooler helps.

 

That sounds beyond intimidating to me. I got as far as pulling the top panel off and half way removing the keyboard. The connector for the keyboard wasn't coming off easily, so I just screwed the keyboard right back on.LOL How hard should you have to pull to get the damn thing to come off??

So I blew out the fans and vents as best I could.

Should I take it to a place to have them clean it out??

 

Thanks ASUS, that's what I was looking at.... http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins9400/en/sm/keyboard.htm#wp1111863

It says Pull the keyboard cable to slide it out of the keyboard connector on the system board. Problem is, it doesn't just pull out and I don't know how hard to pull. I don't want to break it.