This has been going on for as long as I remember, as I started getting into more taxing videogames on my laptop. I'm normally using Skype to audio chat with two of my friends, while playing a video game. I've also noticed that it can happen while playing the same game, alone. The left side of my computer gets very heated, so I normally have it on my lap and have the left side protruding with nothing underneath it so it can cool off. However, I'm still having the issue. My computer begins to lag (so much that I can't move within the game, or switch tabs), the audio is extremely glitched and slowed down, and my computer becomes very slow. It normally recovers in about 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and it will normally be followed by frame drops and still glitched (but faster) audio for about 15-30 seconds. If I managed to end the Skype call I was in mid-glitch, I will normally recover and have 'problems with my playback device,' and have to restart my computer.
I'm not sure if anyone else has had this problem, but it's becoming very frustrating for me and my friends. Any suggestions? Thank you for your help.