Blackout

[Cassandra]

everytime I try to play the games Diablo 2 or Everquest,
I can usually get it to load but before I can play or do
anything my computer blacks out and I have to restart
it. I thought it was a problem with DirectX but I just
Downloaded version 9. Anyone have any ideas on fixing
it? I've tried following the help and support but that
didn't help nor support :/

 

[Jimmy S.]

Hi Cassandra,

Those black outs or black screens are common video problems
most often associated with outdated or incompatible video drivers.

Updating video card drivers can solve most gaming issues. Here's some
rules of thumb though to always keep in mind. Shut DL accelerators, fire-
walls and antivirus programs off while downloading or installing drivers and
updates. Also check the game's website (or Fileplanet.com) for patches.

Before you update your drivers, I recommend that you install DirectX 9.0b:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/c/9/c/c9c8a1d4-7690-4c98-baf3-0c67e7f3751f/dx90b_redist.exe

Here are the steps I recommend you use to update your driver:

1. To identify the make and model of your card, right click your
Desktop, choose Properties / Settings / Advanced / Adapter.

2. Download the latest video driver for your card online, using
http://www3.sympatico.ca/nibblesnbits/Video.html#drivers
to find the website to download from. I also have advanced
video driver and direct X troubleshooting steps on that page.

3. Save the .exe driver (or uncompress the zip file) to a folder
in My Documents named after the driver version number.

4. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.

5. Click Start / (settings) Control Panel / System / Hardware
Device Manager / expand +Display Adapters / right click on
the adapter, pick "Uninstall", and click No if asked to reboot.

6. Use Control Panel / Add-Remove programs to uninstall the
previous driver (exe)software which may have been installed.

7. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.

8. If the driver is a (exe)program file, GO DIRECTLY TO step 10.

9. When Windows prompts you to install the video adapter, click
"Install from a list or specific location", click the "Browse" button,
browse to the My documents folder where you saved the driver,
and finally click on one of the driver files to begin installation.
Skip step 10 and go directly to step 11.

10. When Windows prompts you to install the video adapter, click
"Cancel" and Double click the driver program to begin installation.

11. After you reboot, go to Control Panel / Display / Settings and
choose 32 bit Color Quality, and 1024x768 Screen Resolution.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

Test your drivers using DXDiag: Click Start / Run / type: DXDIAG
Click the "Test" buttons in the Display, Sound, Music & Network Tabs;
If any of the Display options are Disabled and you cannot Enable them,
your most likely solution would be to update your Chipset Drivers as per
my website: http://www3.sympatico.ca/nibblesnbits/Video.html#v11

Along with your Video card, Sound Cards, Motherboard Chipsets,
and Video Monitors may also require updated drivers. Even your
motherboard's BIOS may need to be updated for compatibility with
your Video card. These steps are listed at: http://NibblesNbitsVideo.tk

Perhaps the old Nvidia drivers did not completely uninstall. If that's the
case, use this utility to completely uninstall the drivers and go to step 7:
http://content.guru3d.com/index.php?page=detonatorrip&menu=0

The latest video drivers sometime don't work with a particular game.
(Check the Video suggestions in the readme.txt file in your game folder/CD)
If there's no suggestions, try an older (WHQL) driver, and/or if you still
experience problems try a Beta driver, or even an Omega driver instead:

BETA Drivers: http://download.guru3d.com/
OMEGA Drivers: http://www.omegacorner.com/

There you have it, if you have any questions feel free to post them!

--
Cheers,
Jimmy S.

Additional Support Resources: My Zone.com Helpsite: http://nibblesnbits.tk
Microsoft Online Tech Support: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=376
Game FAQ's: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________

| everytime I try to play the games Diablo 2 or Everquest,
| I can usually get it to load but before I can play or do
| anything my computer blacks out and I have to restart
| it. I thought it was a problem with DirectX but I just
| Downloaded version 9. Anyone have any ideas on fixing
| it? I've tried following the help and support but that
| didn't help nor support :/

 

[EGMcCann]

Start-run-DXDiag. Run the tests. See what it says, see if anything's
disabled or not available.

Check the Application and System logs (in administrative tools, in the
control panel.) See if anything's there from around the time the system
"blacks out."

If it blacks out, what happens when you hit control-alt-delete?

 

[Cassandra]

I tried all of that and one of the tests caused the same
problem. My fiance has the same problem. We both
installed XP ove 98...and control alt delete doesnt do
anything cause you can't see the screen *screen turns
black then restarts*

 

[Phil]

Whenever you install a new OS, particularly one such as XP, which has quite
a different makeup than the 9x series, you should back up your important
data from the Win 98 setup and then reformat your drive preferrably, then
install XP on the clean drive. Actually, you can skip reformatting your
drive entirely since the XP installation allows that, hopefully you go with
the NTFS system. It's much more robust, and is the one corporate NT users
have used for many years now. XP is, of course, muxh more user friendly than
NT is.

 

[EGMcCann]

Ahh. Missed the restarts part. If it just turned black and stayed there,
sometimes a ctl-alt-delete will minimize it and bring up the task manager.

Going to echo the other posts - clean installs really *do* work better.