Crash crash crash

Ive been experiencing some serious in game lag while playing CoH, followed by the game crashing maybe 5 minutes into my play time. I really have no idea whats wrong. The problem only started early last week and I've had the laptop for a couple of months. Ive also made sure the virus scan wasn't running or anything and I think my drivers are up to date. If you guys can help me, ill buy you cookies.

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at October 5, 2010 13:16 (-05:00)
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.100608-0458)
System Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
System Model: G60VX
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P7350 @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 4094MB
.Net Memory Report: 2456MB out of 4094MB available
Page File: 6537MB (1832MB currently in use)
C Drive: (ST9320423AS) 202930MB out of 292245MB (69%) free
D Drive: (HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T50N) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 10
DirectX Diag version: 6.00.6001.18000 (64-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce GTX 260M
Video Memory: 2797 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.0012.5896
Driver Date: 7/9/2010 5:38:00 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5817
Driver Date: 3/24/2009 6:34:30 AM

Sound Device Description: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5817
Driver Date: 3/24/2009 6:34:30 AM

Sound Device Description: Realtek HDMI Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5817
Driver Date: 3/24/2009 6:34:30 AM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: PEGATRON Corp.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: G60VX
Motherboard Version: 1.0
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: Default System BIOS
BIOS Version: _ASUS_ - 20090527
BIOS Release: 20090527000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1366x768
3D Resolution: 1366x768 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes


Physics Quality: Medium
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: 4x
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: Medium quality
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: High


World Texture Level: High
Character Texture Level: High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: No
Shadow Mode: Stencil shadows
Shadow Map Shader: Unknown (0)
Environmental Reflections: Low quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Off
Blur: Bilateral
Ambient Resolution: Performance


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 1.000
Music Sound Volume: 0.600

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.500
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 466901 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1850.201009101722.11T2
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Enhancements has 38 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Inspirations has 51 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Inspirations\Alternate s has 1 file
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Pet_Command has 9 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers has 1256 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers\ALTERNATE-1 has 8 files
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers\ALTERNATE-2 has 8 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Midnight_Squad has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 34 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files

What has changed recently?

Make sure you're playing with the laptop on a hard surface and not something like a soft bedspread that would restrict air flow. Also make sure it's plugged into the wall and not on battery since some laptops scale back CPU when not plugged into the wall.

Or maybe you can try blowing compressed air in the exhaust vents in case they are clogged up.

Nothing has changed thats the problem. I still play at the desk and I used the compressed air to get rid of all the dust and everything

As an experiment, if you play in full screen mode, try switching to windowed mode and see if that helps.

update vista to service pack 2.

i hadn't logged into COX for a couple of weeks. the only change on my box since that time is there was some update for cox. i now have the same problem, kinda. i'm on windows 7, and cox will crash and restart my computer in its crash. sometimes it's when i get to server select, character select, actually logged into a character for a few seconds one time.

I think some hardware is overheating - most likely the GPU.

First, check that the fans are running.
If so try monitor the temperature of the GPU.