Computer Crashes to Black Screen While Gaming

TheMailMan78 · Jun 23, 2008

Alright Iv updated all my drivers and defraged everything on the HD including the registry. However I keep running into the same exact issue. After a few hours of play of sometimes just after a few minutes my display goes black and loses the signal from my tower.

Now whatever ambient sound was playing at the time is still there but anything else like gun fire or people talking is gone. Most of the time when I play COD4 the last thing I am left hearing is a helicopter or the rain. The only way I can reproduce this every time is in the Lost Coast bench. Right as the cannon fires on the village I lose signal and everything but one sound. It always causes me to hard restart. I'm really lost as to causing this. Any ideas or advice is welcome!

panchoman · Jun 23, 2008

is this an issue on all games, or just cod4?

TheMailMan78 · Jun 23, 2008

I get it in Titans Quest and HL2 also.

Namslas90 · Jun 23, 2008

Make sure game is fully updated with latest patches. I believe they are up to 1.6 now. patch 1.5 covered servers issues and 1.6 covers sound issues. Most patches require you to have previouse patches installed first.

JrRacinFan · Jun 23, 2008

Sounds like your overheating your video card. Try ramping up the fan for 100% in RivaTuner. Report back with results.

Cybrnook2002 · Jun 23, 2008

sounds like it either the GPU or the powersupply. My bet would be your vid card. Maybe a heat issue.

Namslas90 · Jun 23, 2008

TheMailMan78 said:
I get it in Titans Quest and HL2 also.

Lots of ATI users have had issues with the HD sound drivers from ATI(3000 series and up). Uninstall them from Add/Remove Programs and restore the realtek drivers. This may solve the issue.

TheMailMan78 · Jun 23, 2008

Yeah man like I said everything is up to date. Games and drivers.

TheMailMan78 · Jun 23, 2008

Im thinking it maybe my PSU as its not that great because I used to have an HD2900 and never had an issue with heat. In theory this is a HD3870 I'm using so heat shouldn't be an issue compared to what I had. But of course the PSU used to push the HD2900 without a problem too.

TheMailMan78 · Jun 24, 2008

Well I ran Rivatuner as JrRacinFan suggested and I got the same issue last night. Only difference is when she lost signal this time I got stuck with a looping sound that worked its way into noise. This is really pissing me off because with the exception of this one problem my system runs great.

I have a lot of services turned off for performance reasons. Could I have turned something off to cause this?

BarbaricSoul · Jun 24, 2008

I get these same conditions when I OC my GX2 too far and temps go above 90'c. My first guess would be your gfx card is over-heating. Try opening up your case, ramping up the fan speed and see it that helps.

InnocentCriminal · Jun 24, 2008

Your system specs are really very helpful to be honest dude.

TheMailMan78 · Jun 24, 2008

InnocentCriminal said:
Your system specs are really very helpful to be honest dude.

Are you being sarcastic? I'm asking because there listed right under my name. Is there something more you would need to know thats not listed?

As for over heating I agree it sounds like that but I had an HD2900 in there for over a year without an issue. I wonder if the 3870s are more sensitive. Also could a disabled service cause a bomb like this?

InnocentCriminal · Jun 24, 2008

I a-beg your pardon, I mis-read who's specs. Sorry dude. It was Namslas' stupid specification that I thought was yours.

Sorry about that.

TheMailMan78 · Jun 24, 2008

InnocentCriminal said:
I a-beg your pardon, I mis-read who's specs. Sorry dude. It was Namslas' stupid specification that I thought was yours.

Sorry about that.

No pardon needed. :toast:

However a solution would be great!

Polaris573 · Jun 24, 2008

Please choose more descriptive thread titles in the future. I've changed it to something more appropriate.

intel igent · Jun 24, 2008

maybe the on-board audio crapping out on you?

InnocentCriminal · Jun 25, 2008

Yeah like, intel igent suggested. Try turning everything that you don't need off in your BIOS. For example I turn off my non-existent floppy drive, disable any ports such as serial, firewire and so on. You get the idea.

Try that.

R_1 · Jun 28, 2008

It sounds like overclocking issue to me (hardware related too). If the card is on stock speed, then the easiest way to deal with it is RMA. The hard way is to improve cooling to the VGA card. First to start with is checking temps , then turn all fans in the PC case and VGA card to 100%. If the sound from PC fans is awful you may leave them in quiet RPM and just remove the rear cover of the PC case.
This is basically all you can do without violating manufacturer warranty.

Nick259 · Jun 28, 2008

I get the exact same problem. I have done everything the OP has done also. I have an BFG 8800gts 320mb OC edition and even with the fan at 100% it still locks up. Funny thing is that sometimes ctrl+alt+del works, but then after that it just freezes and the black screen pops back up. I've even tried downclocking the card a lot and i am still getting the lockups. A few times it has came up with the 'windows has recovered from a serious error message' and it blames the Nvidia drivers., but even after uninstalling them it still locks up. Any help is apreciated.

Kursah · Jun 28, 2008

TheMailMan78 said:
Well I ran Rivatuner as JrRacinFan suggested and I got the same issue last night. Only difference is when she lost signal this time I got stuck with a looping sound that worked its way into noise. This is really pissing me off because with the exception of this one problem my system runs great.

I have a lot of services turned off for performance reasons. Could I have turned something off to cause this?

I know I had some issues with ATI drivers, ATI Tool and PunkBuster, but you are getting issues beyond that. And Rivatuner has a deal to mask so that PB doesn't cause that blank screen/looping sound issue, at least newer versions do.

What services did you disable? I usually don't mess with that stuff much anymore, because sometimes what a service does goes beyond it's general description and operation, and can have negative effects on things that may seem unrelated to that service. I'd rather have stability than a small ammount of extra speed or a little extra RAM anymore. Maybe re-enable them to see if anything changes.

Polarman · Jun 29, 2008

Make sure Spread Spectum is "DISABLED" in your bios. Check your manual if have this option or not.

R_1 · Jun 29, 2008

I have the same problem described hire with Nvidia VGA card , when I overvolted and overclocked it. Never use stock cooling when doing so, because electronic components becomes extremely hot! Even with heavily modified cooling (Accelero S1 + small Vram sinks on all mosfets and hot ICs + 2x120mm fans) there is a point when screen lockup's are inevitable and this is the overclocking barrier for the particular card.
There was a IC controlling Vcore on the back side on my VGA card that was small and extremely hot. Putting a Vram sink on it helped me to squeeze some more Mhz from the core without screen lockup's. But be extremely careful with this particular IC , because it is low profile and aluminum sink can do some electrical shortage with nearby resistors.
What I did was simply to get one ordinary Vram sink. Took off it's protective plastic strip. Made a exact square hole on the strip to match IC's body passing through it. Put back the modified strip on the sink and gently put in into place over the top of the IC.

thebeephaha · Jun 29, 2008

I have had this same issue but not always while gaming. I think it is a driver thing as I have had it happen while just browsing the web and listening to music.

Black screen, still hear my audio going, but also for me my usb devices shut off.

Nick259 · Jun 29, 2008

Nick259 said:
I get the exact same problem. I have done everything the OP has done also. I have an BFG 8800gts 320mb OC edition and even with the fan at 100% it still locks up. Funny thing is that sometimes ctrl+alt+del works, but then after that it just freezes and the black screen pops back up. I've even tried downclocking the card a lot and i am still getting the lockups. A few times it has came up with the 'windows has recovered from a serious error message' and it blames the Nvidia drivers., but even after uninstalling them it still locks up. Any help is apreciated.

I have downclocked the card to the lowest it can run at with 100% fan speed and it's still locking up. I'm sure it can't be my psu as it has quad 18A rails. Hmmm....

System Name	TheMailbox 5.0 / The Mailbox 4.5
Processor	RYZEN 1700X / Intel i7 2600k @ 4.2GHz
Motherboard	Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 / Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Intel LGA 1155
Cooling	MasterLiquid PRO 280 / Scythe Katana 4
Memory	ADATA RGB 16GB DDR4 2666 16-16-16-39 / G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB DDR3 1866: 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s)	MSI 1080 "Duke" with 8Gb of RAM. Boost Clock 1847 MHz / ASUS 780ti
Storage	256Gb M4 SSD / 128Gb Agelity 4 SSD , 500Gb WD (7200)
Display(s)	LG 29" Class 21:9 UltraWide® IPS LED Monitor 2560 x 1080 / Dell 27"
Case	Cooler Master MASTERBOX 5t / Cooler Master 922 HAF
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec / SupremeFX X-Fi with Bose Companion 2 speakers.
Power Supply	Seasonic FOCUS Plus Series SSR-750PX 750W Platinum / SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
Mouse	SteelSeries Sensei (RAW) / Logitech G5
Keyboard	Razer BlackWidow / Logitech (Unknown)
Software	Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Benchmark Scores	Benching is for bitches.

Processor	Amd Athlon X2 4600+ Windsor(90nm) EE(65W) @2.9-3.0 @1.45
Motherboard	Biostar Tforce [Nvidia] 550
Cooling	Thermaltake Blue Orb-- bunch of other fans here and there....
Memory	2 gigs (2x1gb) of patriot ddr2 800 @ 4-4-4-12-2t
Video Card(s)	Sapphire X1950pro Pci-E x16 @stock@stock on stock
Storage	Seagate 7200.11 250gb Drive, WD raptors (30/40) in Raid 0
Display(s)	ANCIENT 15" sony lcd, bought it when it was like 500 bucks
Case	Apevia X-plorer blue/black
Audio Device(s)	Onboard- Why get an sound card when you can hum??
Power Supply	Antec NeoHe 550-manufactured by seasonic -replacement to the discontinued smart power series
Software	Windows XP pro SP2 -- vista is still crap

System Name	TheMailbox 5.0 / The Mailbox 4.5
Processor	RYZEN 1700X / Intel i7 2600k @ 4.2GHz
Motherboard	Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 / Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Intel LGA 1155
Cooling	MasterLiquid PRO 280 / Scythe Katana 4
Memory	ADATA RGB 16GB DDR4 2666 16-16-16-39 / G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB DDR3 1866: 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s)	MSI 1080 "Duke" with 8Gb of RAM. Boost Clock 1847 MHz / ASUS 780ti
Storage	256Gb M4 SSD / 128Gb Agelity 4 SSD , 500Gb WD (7200)
Display(s)	LG 29" Class 21:9 UltraWide® IPS LED Monitor 2560 x 1080 / Dell 27"
Case	Cooler Master MASTERBOX 5t / Cooler Master 922 HAF
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec / SupremeFX X-Fi with Bose Companion 2 speakers.
Power Supply	Seasonic FOCUS Plus Series SSR-750PX 750W Platinum / SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
Mouse	SteelSeries Sensei (RAW) / Logitech G5
Keyboard	Razer BlackWidow / Logitech (Unknown)
Software	Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Benchmark Scores	Benching is for bitches.

System Name	Dual Build Streamer
Processor	Ryzen 7900x3d : Ryzen 4600G
Motherboard	AsRock B650E Steel Legend : Giga B450i Aorus
Cooling	Custom Water 1x420 : Stock
Memory	32GB T-Force Deltas : 16GB Dominator Platinums
Video Card(s)	PowerColor 7900 XTX Liquid Devil: iGPU
Storage	20+ TB
Display(s)	Sammy 49" 5k Ultrawide
Case	Custom White Painted Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2
Audio Device(s)	Onboard : Onboard
Power Supply	EVGA 1200W P2
Mouse	Corsair M65 RGB Elite White
Keyboard	Hyperx Origins 65
Software	Windows 10

System Name	TheMailbox 5.0 / The Mailbox 4.5
Processor	RYZEN 1700X / Intel i7 2600k @ 4.2GHz
Motherboard	Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 / Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Intel LGA 1155
Cooling	MasterLiquid PRO 280 / Scythe Katana 4
Memory	ADATA RGB 16GB DDR4 2666 16-16-16-39 / G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB DDR3 1866: 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s)	MSI 1080 "Duke" with 8Gb of RAM. Boost Clock 1847 MHz / ASUS 780ti
Storage	256Gb M4 SSD / 128Gb Agelity 4 SSD , 500Gb WD (7200)
Display(s)	LG 29" Class 21:9 UltraWide® IPS LED Monitor 2560 x 1080 / Dell 27"
Case	Cooler Master MASTERBOX 5t / Cooler Master 922 HAF
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec / SupremeFX X-Fi with Bose Companion 2 speakers.
Power Supply	Seasonic FOCUS Plus Series SSR-750PX 750W Platinum / SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
Mouse	SteelSeries Sensei (RAW) / Logitech G5
Keyboard	Razer BlackWidow / Logitech (Unknown)
Software	Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Benchmark Scores	Benching is for bitches.

System Name	Barb's Domain
Processor	i9 10850k 5.1GHz all cores
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI
Cooling	Deep Cool Assassin III
Memory	2*16gig Corsair LPX DDR4 3200
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080 FE
Storage	500gb Samsung 980 Pro M2 SSD, 500GB WD Blue SATA SSD, 2TB Seagate Hybrid SSHD
Display(s)	Dell - S3222DGM 32" 2k Curved/ASUS VP28UQG 28" 4K (ran at 2k), Sanyo 75" 4k TV
Case	SilverStone Fortress FT04
Audio Device(s)	Bose Companion II speakers, Corsair - HS70 PRO headphones
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x (2021)
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech Orion Spectrum G910
VR HMD	Oculus Quest 2
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
Benchmark Scores	https://www.3dmark.com/spy/34962882

System Name	BeeR 6
Processor	Intel Core i7 3770K*
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus V Gene (1155/Z77)
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	16GB Samsung Green 1600MHz DDR3**
Video Card(s)	4GB MSI Gaming X RX480
Storage	256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD
Display(s)	27" Samsung C27F591FDU
Case	Fractal Design Arc Mini
Power Supply	Corsair HX750W
Software	64bit Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	@ 4.6GHz *@ 2133MHz

Processor	LGA 775 Intel Q9550 2.8 Ghz
Motherboard	MSI P7N Diamond - 780i Chipset
Cooling	Arctic Freezer
Memory	6GB G.Skill DDRII 800 4-4-3-5
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD 7850 2 GB PCI-E
Storage	1 TB Seagate 32MB Cache, 250 GB Seagate 16MB Cache
Display(s)	Acer X203w
Case	Coolermaster Centurion 5
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
Power Supply	OCZ StealthXStream 600 Watt
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate x64

System Name	old school / new school
Processor	3.0e C0 @ 3.6 / e5200
Motherboard	p4p800e-dlx / p5q-DLX
Cooling	custom water see sig / air
Memory	2x1g oczPC4000EbPl / 2x2g ocz2rpr1066
Video Card(s)	3850AGP / 4890vaporX
Storage	36g raptor+120g wd / wd 1001fals 1tb
Display(s)	BenQ / sharpAQUOS LC-37D64U
Case	modded antec plusview / generic
Audio Device(s)	audigy 2zs / ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3
Power Supply	fan/cable modded powerstream 520 / OCZ 700mxsp
Software	Xp pro SP2 / VISTA ultimate OEM

Processor	Phenom II X4 B50 @ 3.4Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA MA790XT-UD4P
Cooling	Vendetta 2, several case fans
Memory	8GB Geil Ripjaws 1666Mhz
Video Card(s)	Powercolor 5850 1GB
Storage	1TB Samsung F1
Display(s)	LG 23" W2361V TFT Widescreen
Case	Antec 300
Audio Device(s)	X-Fi Xtreme Music
Power Supply	Antec HCG 750W
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64bit

System Name	Kursah's Gaming Rig 2018 (2022 Upgrade) - Ryzen+ Edition \| Gaming Laptop (Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 2022)
Processor	R7 5800X @ Stock \| i7 12700H @ Stock
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X370-F Gaming BIOS 6203\| Legion 5i Pro NM-E231
Cooling	Noctua NH-U14S Push-Pull + NT-H1 \| Stock Cooling
Memory	TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32GB (2x16) DDR4 4000 @ 3600 18-20-20-42 1.35v \| 32GB DDR5 4800 (2x16)
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 4070 JetStream 12GB \| CPU-based Intel Iris XE + RTX 3070 8GB 150W
Storage	4TB SP UD90 NVME, 960GB SATA SSD, 2TB HDD \| 1TB Samsung OEM NVME SSD + 4TB Crucial P3 Plus NVME SSD
Display(s)	Acer 28" 4K VG280K x2 \| 16" 2560x1600 built-in
Case	Corsair 600C - Stock Fans on Low \| Stock Metal/Plastic
Audio Device(s)	Aune T1 mk1 > AKG K553 Pro + JVC HA-RX 700 (Equalizer APO + PeaceUI) \| Bluetooth Earbuds (BX29)
Power Supply	EVGA 750G2 Modular + APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 \| 300W OEM (heavy use) or Lenovo Legion C135W GAN (light)
Mouse	Logitech G502 \| Logitech M330
Keyboard	HyperX Alloy Core RGB \| Built in Keyboard (Lenovo laptop KB FTW)
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64 \| Windows 11 Home x64

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Processor	AMD Phenom II 975BE
Motherboard	MSI 890FXA-GD65 (Bios 18.7)
Cooling	Zalman CNPS 9700 Led
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Video Card(s)	MSI HD6870 Hawk
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Case	Silverstone Raven 2
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC892
Power Supply	PC Power&Cooling Silencer 750 (Red)
Software	Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit + SP1

System Name	0BL1V10N
Processor	Intel Core i7 11700K @ 5.1GHz all-core turbo
Motherboard	ASRock Z590 Taichi
Cooling	Cooler Master MasterLiquid 360 (with stock CM fans), 12x Pccooler Moonlight Series ARGB 120mm fans
Memory	(4x16GB) 64GB Mushkin Redline Lumina 3600MHz 16-19-19-39 XMP
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 4090 SUPRIM LIQUID 24G (not using stock fans) (+150MHz core, +1000MHz memory)
Storage	Western Digital Black SN850X 2TB Gen4 NVMe
Display(s)	1x Alienware AW3821DW (3840x1600@144Hz), 2x Dell SE2717H (1080p@75Hz)
Case	Phanteks Enthoo 719 Anthracite Grey
Audio Device(s)	Schiit Modius + Drop THX AAA 789 + Custom Planar Magnetic Headphones
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1200W (12VHPWR)
Mouse	Logitech G502 X Plus
Keyboard	Too many custom mechanical builds to list...
Software	Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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