salty skydog

Sal- thanks for the thoughtful response. The system isn't shutting down and restarting it's literally powering off in an eyeblink. Restart requires pushing the power button and appears to be a cold start. So, no BSOD and no error code available even with manual restart set. Rosco's temperature comment is not a bad suggestion... but I'm not seeing clear evidence with HWMonitor. Yes its a laptop and yes it runs hot, but nowhere near Intel or Nvidia max specs. Dialing down processor speed to keep CPU core temps at about 60C (~10C below what the machine runs during normal operation in a higher clock rate state) does not change the result. GPU's report slightly lower but also ~60C. No transient spike in either temp observable when provoking the error, which is very repeatably provoked by the actions described in my original post. That said, I'll try and find the time to clean off the thermal management bits ... will report back.

Any assistance appreciated! This is a persistent problem that makes the game unplayable for multiple versions now, and most recently with unmodded, clean install 1.2 via zip file, fresh career with scratch-built crafts. Computer powers off without warning after switching to map view, particularly in LKO, and follows maneuver node tweaking or view rotation. Screen goes black and 3-4 seconds later computer turns off. Not heat related since I can run for hours on the ground or once I get past low orbit. Doesn't matter what craft is loaded, or if it does I can't spot a pattern. Windows event logs simply show error at startup indicating improper shutdown. I've tried resolving this by updating the Nvidia driver to most recent (or nearly so), more than once over the last two years. No change. Hardware: Sony Vaio Laptop VPCF 1290X, i7 1.35GHz, 8 GB ram, NVIDIA GT 330M graphics card. Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_ldr.160408-2045) DxDiag doesn't report any issues. Tried disabling everything in startup except touchpad and audio driver, no change. Here's the most recent KSP.log