Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating

Technician2Go · 06-24-2008, 10:40 PM

Good day,

I do not mean to spam the forum, but I believe that I am posting in the right location.

I currently have been experiencing issues relating to what seems to be heat related, but my card is not overheating at all. During playing a game (ie The Witcher or Grid) my gfx card makes my screen turn black and screen and I'm able to hit the task manager and log off. My card does return to normal and my system is not freezing either, so its not a system error. I beginning to think that it's the card manufacturer's lack of a reliable driver, but who knows. After upgrading from XP I say that these problems did not occur.

My PC spec (and I add, every component are less than a month old)
AMD 64 X2 4400+ 2.3GHZ
MOBO ASUS M2N-MX SE PLUS
2GB DDR2 667 (Supertalent)
MSI NVIDIA 8600GT w/ heatsink
430W PSU
250 GB Seagate SATA
100 GB Maxtor PATA
80 GB Western Digital PATA

All temps are fine, I dust fans constantly, check to see if fans are spinning and keep all of my drivers updated.

Any help would be appreciated as I am racking my brains. I have uploaded several screenshots of system temp at rest. I will post screenshots of system after playing a game.

Technician2Go · 06-24-2008, 10:44 PM

I'm sorry B4 upgrading to Vista these problems did not occur, but now It happens, but very sporadic. There is no way to tell. I can play a game for days with nothing happening and then it happens after days, so, hmmm!

dai · 06-25-2008, 01:37 AM

430W PSU
i would have used one of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...corsair%2b550w

Technician2Go · 06-25-2008, 09:15 AM

Good Day,

here are screenshots after playing Codemasters Grid for about 20 minutes or so. No Black screens, but the gfx card was only 10 degrees hotter.

The PSU is an Antec by the way and it was recently purchased 3 month ago. It shouldn't be bad right?

dai · 06-25-2008, 12:22 PM

antec dropped the quality we no longer recommend them for newer systems that pull more power

Technician2Go · 06-25-2008, 03:27 PM

So Dai, because it not good quality I have to buy another PSU when my current one works?

I don't know but I am not made of dollars, yen, euros, or pounds. The problem currently does not seem to be Power supply related but software related as my system does not restart or freeze. I am able to log off and close the game out, so if it was power related or hardware, wouldn't I freeze?

Also, my PC idle and full load temps are pretty normal. I didn't see anything unusual. I am a computer technician, but wanted a second opinion as to why this did happen.

Can software emulators like PowerISO or ISO recorder cuase this conflict with computer games and drives since The Witcher uses TAGES? Perhaps updating TAGES?

I will try these and get back to you, but hardware does not seem to fit this scenario since the entire computer is no more than 3 month old, and I am not freezing or experiencing any BSOD's from hardware related crashes.

If the Corsair PSU is your recommendation, then I can look into in the future, but If it's not necessary to fixing the problem, then why replace it?

dai · 06-25-2008, 03:41 PM

have you turned the auto reboot off to see if you can get an error message with an indication to the problem
where xp would go to a bsod,vista does an auto recovery which is what the black screen is,which is one of the improvements vista delivers
have you checked the caps

Technician2Go · 06-25-2008, 07:18 PM

Good Day

I'm not sure how to to turn auto reboot off, although I am not rebooting or anything. I don't get any system errors when this happens. I simply hit CTRL+ALT+DEL and log off or bring up Taskeng. My system is basically responsive when it happens, so it's not a system error or hardware error.

As I said previously, it could be related to Drive emulators conflicting with the game as some games use copy protection software like The Witcher (uses TAGES).

I did have PowerISO installed, but removed it. But I still would like to know more of this feature in Vista. If it is where the Black screen is coming from though why is my system still responsive? I do not freeze or have to hold the reset button on tower.

Technician2Go · 06-25-2008, 07:19 PM

what is the caps?

dai · 06-25-2008, 11:58 PM

capacitors on the mother board check if there are any swollen tops or leaking

Technician2Go · 06-26-2008, 03:48 AM

As stated b4, the board is completely new. It's not even a month old. I will still check, but I don't think it's hardware related.

Technician2Go · 06-26-2008, 04:51 AM

Good Afternoon to You Dai

I did check the Caps on the mobo and all appears well. I also checked ATA cables and SATA cables to determine if any were spliced or cut. Though a bit twisted due to the wires tangled, that's about all. I did untangle them, but none were spliced or cut. PSU adapters are not cut either, so that doesn't appear to be causing anything.

I did run the Memory Diagnostic Tool provided with Vista and it reported no problesm with my RAM, as expected. I still believe that drive emulators were the culprit of this error, not hardware or system errors.

Also, I defrag hard drives daily, run disk cleanup and scanned drives for system errors, but all returned back with 0 problems. Checking the event viewer does not show anything significant either.

dai · 06-26-2008, 05:26 AM

can you put another drive in without emulators and try running a game to check if it is that

Technician2Go · 06-26-2008, 06:29 AM

I can do better than that! I removed all drive emulators since I don't need them and umounted all drives that used them.

I initially was trying to use it to make virtual copy of Audio CD's so that I didn't have to waste a physical CD-R, but I don't need them. They were removed. Currently that appears to fix problem, but I will keep you posted!

06-24-2008, 10:44 PM	#2 (permalink)
Technician2Go Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows Vista SP1	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating I'm sorry B4 upgrading to Vista these problems did not occur, but now It happens, but very sporadic. There is no way to tell. I can play a game for days with nothing happening and then it happens after days, so, hmmm!

06-25-2008, 01:37 AM	#3 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,746 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating 430W PSU i would have used one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...corsair%2b550w __________________

06-25-2008, 12:22 PM	#5 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,746 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating antec dropped the quality we no longer recommend them for newer systems that pull more power __________________

06-25-2008, 03:27 PM	#6 (permalink)
Technician2Go Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows Vista SP1	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating So Dai, because it not good quality I have to buy another PSU when my current one works? I don't know but I am not made of dollars, yen, euros, or pounds. The problem currently does not seem to be Power supply related but software related as my system does not restart or freeze. I am able to log off and close the game out, so if it was power related or hardware, wouldn't I freeze? Also, my PC idle and full load temps are pretty normal. I didn't see anything unusual. I am a computer technician, but wanted a second opinion as to why this did happen. Can software emulators like PowerISO or ISO recorder cuase this conflict with computer games and drives since The Witcher uses TAGES? Perhaps updating TAGES? I will try these and get back to you, but hardware does not seem to fit this scenario since the entire computer is no more than 3 month old, and I am not freezing or experiencing any BSOD's from hardware related crashes. If the Corsair PSU is your recommendation, then I can look into in the future, but If it's not necessary to fixing the problem, then why replace it?

06-25-2008, 03:41 PM	#7 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,746 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating have you turned the auto reboot off to see if you can get an error message with an indication to the problem where xp would go to a bsod,vista does an auto recovery which is what the black screen is,which is one of the improvements vista delivers have you checked the caps __________________

06-25-2008, 07:18 PM	#8 (permalink)
Technician2Go Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows Vista SP1	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating Good Day I'm not sure how to to turn auto reboot off, although I am not rebooting or anything. I don't get any system errors when this happens. I simply hit CTRL+ALT+DEL and log off or bring up Taskeng. My system is basically responsive when it happens, so it's not a system error or hardware error. As I said previously, it could be related to Drive emulators conflicting with the game as some games use copy protection software like The Witcher (uses TAGES). I did have PowerISO installed, but removed it. But I still would like to know more of this feature in Vista. If it is where the Black screen is coming from though why is my system still responsive? I do not freeze or have to hold the reset button on tower.

06-25-2008, 07:19 PM	#9 (permalink)
Technician2Go Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows Vista SP1	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating what is the caps?

06-25-2008, 11:58 PM	#10 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,746 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating capacitors on the mother board check if there are any swollen tops or leaking __________________

06-26-2008, 03:48 AM	#11 (permalink)
Technician2Go Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows Vista SP1	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating As stated b4, the board is completely new. It's not even a month old. I will still check, but I don't think it's hardware related.

06-26-2008, 04:51 AM	#12 (permalink)
Technician2Go Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows Vista SP1	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating Good Afternoon to You Dai I did check the Caps on the mobo and all appears well. I also checked ATA cables and SATA cables to determine if any were spliced or cut. Though a bit twisted due to the wires tangled, that's about all. I did untangle them, but none were spliced or cut. PSU adapters are not cut either, so that doesn't appear to be causing anything. I did run the Memory Diagnostic Tool provided with Vista and it reported no problesm with my RAM, as expected. I still believe that drive emulators were the culprit of this error, not hardware or system errors. Also, I defrag hard drives daily, run disk cleanup and scanned drives for system errors, but all returned back with 0 problems. Checking the event viewer does not show anything significant either.

06-26-2008, 05:26 AM	#13 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,746 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating can you put another drive in without emulators and try running a game to check if it is that __________________

06-26-2008, 06:29 AM	#14 (permalink)
Technician2Go Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows Vista SP1	Re: Recieving Black Screen after Playing Games, But gfx Card not overheating I can do better than that! I removed all drive emulators since I don't need them and umounted all drives that used them. I initially was trying to use it to make virtual copy of Audio CD's so that I didn't have to waste a physical CD-R, but I don't need them. They were removed. Currently that appears to fix problem, but I will keep you posted!