Used to be able to play BF3 on HIGH with no problems, now stuttering even on low

[zdecke]

Hi,

I bought a Lenovo y570 about a month ago, and I had been playing BF3 off and on since I bought it. It ran smoothly on all high settings with no problems. I didn't play for about 2 weeks, and then tried playing again.

Now, on auto settings, the play will be perfectly fine and then the screen will freeze for about 1-3 seconds probably every 10 or so seconds. I dropped the settings to low, and it still does the freezing. I've tried restoring my computer to an earlier time in case some update caused it, but to no avail. In the time when I hadn't been playing BF3, I downloaded a few steam games, updated a few drivers, etc, so I am at a loss what has caused this problem. The first time I actually noticed the problem was when I was playing Borderlands and it froze very similarly. Although, dropping the video settings fixed it for borderlands.

Back to BF3, the WEIRDEST thing is that BF3 plays more smoothly with my onboard Intel HD3000 card (I have optimus technology, with a GT 555m) than with my more powerful nVidia 555m. This leads me to suspect that there is a problem with the optimus technology or something else.

I feel like I may have done some damage to my other settings and games after system restoring as well, as I got a BSOD for the first time this morning, although I haven't seen another one yet.

Also, I have updated nVidia drivers multiple times (including uninstalling and reinstalling) but it fixed nothing.

My PC specs:

Lenovo Y570
Intel i7 2670QM @ 2.20 GHz (SANDY bridge)
8 GB Ram DDR3
Intel HD 3000
nVIDIA Geforce GT 555m
Windows 7 home premium 64-bit

[zdecke]

Does anyone have any clue??

[RockmasteR]

Hello zdecke,
you are running a laptop, and laptops to get overheated when playing games
check your Laptop's temperatures

download HWmonitor from my sig
open it (right click and choose run as admin) check the temps
play BF3 for about 15 to 20 mins, minimize it and recheck the temps again
post both temp states (idle, under stress)

[zdecke]

I have attached the pictures.

I still feel like temperature does not explain why the game runs smoother (although doesn't necessarily look better) with my intel card running it than with my nvidia one. When I first played this game, it ran beautifully on high graphics with my nvidia card.

I feel like there is a driver conflict or some windows update is interfering with it... something along those lines.

[RockmasteR]

wow!

The CPU temps are off the chart!

I suggest you stop playing games until you get a good laptop cooling pad

the CPU is reaching the 90 C and that is so dangerous
also the laptop's board is also pretty hot

[Wrench97]

Try using a can of compressed air to blow out the CPU/GPU heatsink> Caring for your notebook computer.

[DSLDrummer]

WOW!!! lol...yea! That is way hot!! Definitely clean her out and get ya a nice cooling pad and keep that hwmoniter program running to be safe. I'd for sure not wanna see them temps higher than at least 80 or so... when temps get that high the cpu usually goes thru what they call throttle mode and it will lower speeds and cause u to stutter...its really a protection kinda deal :)

[zdecke]

So why is it heating up so much more than it did when I first got the computer? I've literally only had it for about a month and a half....

[DSLDrummer]

Welcome to the world of laptops lol...they dont breathe nearly as well as desktops for one and for two it may need a good cleaning of dust and debris :)

[Wrench97]

Usually because of dust, or lint if you use it on a cloth surface(like a lap).

[zdecke]

Well if it is just the heat, then that's a pretty simple fix I suppose. I just fear that that isn't the problem. I've gotten bf3 to work perfectly every once in awhile. For example, It has been working beautifully for the last week, before I restarted my computer. So that's why I was thinking that something else was interfering with the GPU or causing the CPU to heat up unnecessarily. I've monitored the GPU-Z log for my nvidia card, and the GPU usage drops to around 0 whenever I get a stutter every few seconds.

Also, how does heat explain why I can run the game smoother on my intel card?

[A1tecice]

Yeah as said above only play games with a laptop coolermat or on a hard surface.

Also i read there are problems with Nvidia drivers other than "285.79" so i would also revert back to those.

Thanks,
Altie

[Wrench97]

Not as much load, the heatsink in a laptop is shared between the CPU and GPU via heat pipes if one gets hot the other will too, the first step is cleaning it, if that solves the issue fine if not you have a more serious issue. Since it's new and under warranty I would recommend taking use of the warranty if you take it apart yourself most likely that void the warranty.

[zdecke]

I keep trying to uninstall my unwanted nvidia drivers, but I can't seem to prevent windows from auto-installing the default ones again before I can install the one I want. Would it dramatically affect the cleanliness of the driver install if I don't uninstall the other ones?

[Wrench97]

Click Start in the search box type/paste change device installation settings

In the popup window click on "No let me choose what to do" Click save changes.

[zdecke]

UPDATE:

I restarted my computer today and started BF3 and got the stuttering again. On the lenovo energy management software, I changed the setting to reduce the Maximum CPU speed to "LOW" and the stuttering immediately stopped, but the game doesn't look as good when I do that obviously. Just to test it out, I restored the maximum cpu speed to "AUTO" and "High" and the stuttering resumed immediately.

Thoroughly convinced this hasn't been a GPU problem all along, but a CPU/heat one. Going to clean out the vents today and update you all again.

[Carpetfizz]

Be careful when using compressed air. I know people who have blasted the thing into their computer, and the fans pop clean off.