[SOLVED] Black Screen

[Kloud135]

Hello, I hope someone can help me.

Whenever im playing a game (usually World of Warcraft, ocasionally Titan Quest, Overlord, Sacred, Halo), my computer will freeze for a about 5 seconds, then the screen goes black and I can see it's kind of switching between lighter colors of black, and after about 20 or 30 seconds sometimes it will return to my game and everything is fine, or the game screen will stay black, but I can see my mouse and can Alt-Tab and Windows works fine. When that happens, I close the game and try to reopen it, but I get the error (on WoW): "World of Warcraft was unable to start 3d acceleration. Please make sure DirectX 9.0c is installed on your computer and your video drivers are up to date." I end up having to restart the computer after that.

I can't seem to figure out what's wrong. I've heard that my RAM could be faulty, so I downloaded and ran Memtest86+ overnight. It had around 25 passes and roughly 300 errors. I have three sticks of the same RAM: Kingston KHX3200/512. I ran Memtest86+ with all three sticks in, im going to do a more thorough check over the next couple of nights testing one at a time. I'll post the results here when it's done.

My RAM: http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/khx3200a_512.pdf

I've also heard rather than running Memtest it's better to run the BIOS memory check. Well I did that and it counted all 1500-something megabytes OK. One person said it does a better job checking the RAM because it's a hardware test, not a software test.

This could have nothing to do with the actual problem im having I guess, but I know it's still a problem. I've tried changing many settings on my computer, mostly video card settings. I've updated my video card drivers, motherboard drivers, even monitor drivers. I also tried reseating my video card and RAM, none of it did anything. I've had this problem for almost a year now and have put up with it this whole time, but it's really getting annoying. I hope someone can help, if you have any questions for me ask and I'll try to respond ASAP.

My computers specs:
Motherboard: Abit VT7
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9600 / X1050 series
Monitor (if that matters): ViewSonic VA1912wb
For more, my Xfire page has my gaming rig at the bottom:
http://www.xfire.com/profile/kloud135/

Also if it makes a difference, im connected to another computer through a Switch to be able to get my internet connection (28k, ouch I know!)

(I was actually Alt-Tabbed out of World of Warcraft while typing this and the black screen happened twice.)

[koala]

Hi Kloud, welcome to TSF

Try running memtest one RAM stick at a time to find the faulty one, then remove or replace it.

Also, open your case and post back with the details from the PSU label (make/model, amps for +12V)

Enter your full system specs into this power calculator, and add 30% to the total to allow for PSU inefficiency.

Run SensorsView at startup with no programs running and take a screenshot showing the temperatures and voltages. Then take another screenshot Of SensorsView while playing a 3D game for a few minutes.

Have you checked to make sure all the fans are spinning and free of dust?

What version number is your graphics driver?

Go to Start > Run > dxdiag > Display tab, make sure the Acceleration buttons are all enabled and then run the 2 tests. Any problems listed in the Notes box?

[Kloud135]

Ok, I downloaded SensorsView and kept an eye on the CPU temperature, being topped at 67 degrees celcius. I figured that was a bit hot so I took out the processor fan and heatsink and cleaned them (they were completely covered in dust). So far, I haven't had any problems and the temperature stays around 50 or lower. If it starts acting up again I'll post another reply here.

Thanks a lot!!!!

[koala]

Did you reapply the thermal compound to the CPU after you removed the heatsink?

Arctic Silver 5 themal compound instructions: http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

[Kloud135]

Yup, did that. Still no problems btw.