# Computer dies during specific program **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-dies-during-specific-program/317691 "2005-08-19T01:44:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-dies-during-specific-program/317691/1 "2005-08-19T01:44:54Z")
My daughter’s wedding video came on two DVD’s, the second of which has only about 15 minutes content. Someone suggested a program called DVD Shrink to combine them onto one. The problem is, every time I try to compress the data, which I have placed on my hard drive, the program will run for maybe 5 minutes and then the entire computer turns off. Any other time, and any other programs I have tried don’t do this. It is an HP Pavillion laptop running XP Home, if that makes any difference. Anyone have a clue as to what is happening here, and how I can fix it? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-dies-during-specific-program/317691/2 "2005-08-19T01:51:17Z")
> [@dauerbach](#): > > My daughter’s wedding video came on two DVD’s, the second of which has only about 15 minutes content. Someone suggested a program called DVD Shrink to combine them onto one. The problem is, every time I try to compress the data, which I have placed on my hard drive, the program will run for maybe 5 minutes and then the entire computer turns off. Any other time, and any other programs I have tried don’t do this. It is an HP Pavillion laptop running XP Home, if that makes any difference. Anyone have a clue as to what is happening here, and how I can fix it? You need to see how much RAM you have I think. I’m no expert, but that seems like the most likely culprit. Your computer may not have enough power to handle this task. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-dies-during-specific-program/317691/3 "2005-08-19T02:18:16Z")
DVDs have a lot of data on them. I suspect you are either running out of RAM, running out of disk space, or maybe the program has a serious bug in it that shows up when it tries to compress too much data. Compressing data is pretty cpu intensive, so it might also be overheating the cpu or maybe the disk drive. Laptops are notorious for being inadequately cooled. I’m kinda leaning towards a heat problem being more likely, since a misbehaving program usually causes a program crash or maybe a blue screen of death, not a complete system shutdown. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-dies-during-specific-program/317691/4 "2005-08-19T02:22:39Z")
I’ve used that program and it can be a RAM hog. In fact, most video-intesive programs will tax your system. ---
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-dies-during-specific-program/317691/5 "2005-08-19T02:28:06Z")
Do laptops have a sensor that shuts them down when they get too hot? Is there a way I can find out what the processor temp is? I have used some really CPU intensive games before and this has never happened. Would it be safe to blow some canned air in the vents to try and improve air flow, or will this just blow junk around and be potentially damaging. I have 512 of RAM. I can see RAM causing the computer to crash, but not simply turn off, or am I incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-dies-during-specific-program/317691/6 "2005-08-19T06:29:02Z")
I suspect overheating too. DVD Shrink should be fine with 512 MB of RAM, and running out of RAM shouldn’t cause the computer to shut off anyway. I had a similar problem in my desktop a while back - it would suddenly turn off after a few minutes of playing Halo. The problem turned out to be my cheap power supply, and it’s been fine since I replaced it with a name brand unit. [Here’s a page](http://www.uofr.net/~greg/hardware/laptop_power_troubleshooting/) on laptop power troubleshooting, but it says the most common cause of your problem is overheating. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-dies-during-specific-program/317691/7 "2005-08-20T03:28:17Z")
Any computer I’ve had will shut down due to heat. Using a laptop in your lap can be tough on it if you end up blocking the exaust vents with clothing. I’ve also had new software lock up a computer every time it was run. Check the manufacturer of the software to see if there are any known problems. Laptops also tend to have slower hard drives and it is usually recommended that you have a 7200 rpm drive when burning DVD video. ---
**Author:** ![Jspeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Jspeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jspeer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-dies-during-specific-program/317691/8 "2005-08-20T19:29:26Z")
Take a quick look at the dvdshrink web site and see if there is a patch for known glitches and issues. I had a program with similar symptoms for awhile and was able to fix it via a new patch for the program itself.