graphics causing shutdowns (ubuntu14.04/windows7 dualboot) AMD A10 APU

[Guga Figueiredo]

Since December I have been experiencing random shutdowns/reboots on my HP Pavilion g4

At first it was a mere nuisance, happened only once in a while and I attributed it to overheating. I would have long periods of normal behavior, that is, no shutdowns/reboots, and then it would happen again.

Over the course of the following months this became more frequent. It would happen a lot while playing games in windows boot, specialy league of legends. I could run the games and navigate through its menus, but as soon as any game was loaded (in-game graphics were rendered) game would crash, and computer would restart. This soon started happening to every game until current situation rendered me unable to play any remotely graphic demanding game.

I began checking software issues and did multiple fresh installations of windows trying to get rid of the problem. Which would go away fo a while and then come back with a grudge. After tests with ubuntu boot led me to the same problem I started suspecting hardware issues and began testing all resources (ram/HDD/temperature) to find the problem but that was not the issue either. A full day memtest got a fullpass, no problems could be detected with hdd, temperature was not reaching critical before shutdown.

Today, google streetview caused a shutdown.
I am getting kinda desperate as I cannot afford to purchase a new computer anytime soon.
So my question is:
How can i single-out the problem? (further test hardware to make sure what is causing the issue)

here are my specs:
-Computer-
Processor : 4x AMD A10-4600M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
Memory : 7571MB (3048MB used)
Operating System : Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS
User Name : gugabfigueiredo (Guga Figueiredo)
Date/Time : Sáb 28 Mar 2015 13:52:21 BRT
-Display-
Resolution : 1366x768 pixels
OpenGL Renderer : Gallium 0.4 on AMD ARUBA
X11 Vendor : The X.Org Foundation
-Multimedia-
Audio Adapter : HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
Audio Adapter : HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
-Input Devices-
Power Button
Lid Switch
Power Button
AT Translated Set 2 keyboard
SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad
Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0
Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0
Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0
HP Wireless hotkeys
Video Bus
ST LIS3LV02DL Accelerometer
HP WMI hotkeys
HP Webcam-50
HDA ATI HDMI HDMI/DP,pcm : 3=
HD-Audio Generic Headphone
HD-Audio Generic Mic
-Printers-
No printers found
-SCSI Disks-
ATA ST750LM022 HN-M7
ATA WDC WD1600BEVT-6

 

[C12Friedman]

I'll suggest starting by downloading and running a temperature monitoring program such as CoreTemp, SpeedFan or HWMonitor. I suspect you are overheating and if so, physical cleaning would be in order. Cleaning properly does require disassembly in order to access the vents. Once dust bunnies form inside the laptop, compressed air does little to them, you may be able to run a while after blowing out the vents but since there is nowhere for the dust bunnies to go, they simply come right back to the vent.
Check your temps, let us know what you're showing

 

[Guga Figueiredo]

I'll suggest starting by downloading and running a temperature monitoring program such as CoreTemp, SpeedFan or HWMonitor. I suspect you are overheating and if so, physical cleaning would be in order. Cleaning properly does require disassembly in order to access the vents. Once dust bunnies form inside the laptop, compressed air does little to them, you may be able to run a while after blowing out the vents but since there is nowhere for the dust bunnies to go, they simply come right back to the vent.
Check your temps, let us know what you're showing

Definitely not overheating. I have cleansed my notebook to brand new state. Idle temps avarage 36ºC. Gaming temps escalate towards 70ºC, never higher, computer shuts down before that. Still getting reboots/shutdowns when in game.

 

[AMDRazer]

It's very possible that because of the fact that you have 8GB of RAM, that iGPU in that APU of yours is eating up a lot of RAM, and as you install more programs, the RAM is eaten more, causing the more frequent crashes after a fresh installation. I think that you may have to switch to a 32 bit OS.

 

[Guga Figueiredo]

It's very possible that because of the fact that you have 8GB of RAM, that iGPU in that APU of yours is eating up a lot of RAM, and as you install more programs, the RAM is eaten more, causing the more frequent crashes after a fresh installation. I think that you may have to switch to a 32 bit OS.

could you offer some more detail as why would this cause any issue?