Big problems trying to play games, crashing

[J0NESY]

Hi there. Im really having problems with my computer. Im assuming its the graphics card thats causing the problem.

My comp spec is:
Graphics Card
Leadtek Winfast GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB DDR AGP A250LE

Motherboard
Gigabyte Ga8ge667 Skt478 I845ge ATX VGA Sound FSB533 ATA100

Processor
Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz PC533 Socket PGA478, 512KB cache

Memory
DDR-DIMM PC2700 512MB DDR CL2.5 Generic memory 184-P (for DDR-PC333MHz)

Monitor
Relisys TE988 19"

OS
XP


The problem im having is when i try and run games. For instance, Terminator. I load it up, configure the controls and then it loads all maps etc. Then i press a key to continue then it dies.

What i mean by this is, The screen will go black, the led will turn orange and i cant do anything. But the game is still running in the background as i can hear it etc.I have to then restart the PC.

Ive tried updating the graphics card drivers, and motherboard drivers, and monitor drivers. Ive ran all windows updates etc but still get the same problem. At the moment the refresh rate is 60 at the moment. Ive tried swapping the monitor with a different one, but get exactly the same problem.

It does this with a few games, but the odd ones will work, such as Sims.

The fan on the card is working, aswell as the fan on the CPU.

Has anyone got any ideas?Sorry for the long post, but ive just got no idea what i can do..

Cheers

[-=DVS=-]

Welcome to Nvnews :)
Now questions about your problem.
Do you have this black screen problem only with "Terminator" game ? how are other shooter type games ? you mentioned other can you tell us names :) would help i suppose.

Maybe the game is just buggy / old , or is it new game ?
Did you try looking for a game patch ?
Or did it ever worked before to begin with ?


Oh and side note since you have GeForce4 Ti4200 we have a "NVIDIA Legacy Graphics Cards" forum (http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=37) in this section "usually its all about none Nvidia graphic cards.

[J0NESY]

Hey there. Thanks for the fast reply.

It does this with Terminator, it did it with Delta Force Black Hawk down, it did it a bit with Delta Force Task Force Dagger, It worked fine with The Sims, and thats all i can remember.

My minds gone totally blank over this one, wouldnt be the card over heating would it?

[-=DVS=-]

Welcome im bored today at work so im posting alot :D
Overheating no, usually when Video card overheats you get artifacts (white snowflakes , corrupted textures or fatal freeze)

Try running a game and when your monitor goes black , don't panic just turn off your Monitor and back on , see if image will return . :)
If that woun't work i don't have more ideas right now, my monitor goes black on ocasions when i enter Nvidia control panel but its easy to fix it. Maybe its software foult or signal loss heck monitor might be old .

[J0NESY]

Stressed... :P

Tried switching monitor on/off again on both monitors and no luck.

The monitor is only less than 2 years old so I wouldnt think it would be that (as it happens with other monitors too).

It could be a software fault, probably not with the games though as it happens with most of them, and ive installed new drivers for graphics card and motherboard.

Im thinking it could be signal loss, doesnt orange LED mean loss of signal?

If so, what can be done? Or is there any other tests i can try to narrow down the cause?

Cheers for all the help

[J0NESY]

Wouldnt be a power supply issue would it?
If so, or even, if its a possibility, how can i check?

[-=DVS=-]

I don't think its power supply , your system is very simple not a power house or anything , hmm im thinking you can go to your BIOS and see if there are options like AGP Driveing Strength or something like that can up it a notch , and see if that helps .

Im starting to think its either Video card is defective and or Motherboard . Usually if i get a problem with new hardware i swap arround , need to have two computers :p

[nIghtorius]

when the monitor leds goes from green to orange it may mean 2 things.

1. Your signal is lost.. but most display will display "No signal". this is bad.
2. Your graphicscard is putting out a signal which the display can not handle. too high v/h-rates. this means that the graphiccard runs in a mode which your display can not handle properly. try installing a 1024x768x60hz display device driver and try the games again to be sure. if it doesn't help.. it's bad..

[J0NESY]

ive tried doing the drivers again properly, and had no luck..

Ive then opened the case up, and put a big room fan pointing in, over the CPU and Graphics card(its too big to isolate one of those) and have managed to play my game virtually perfect for ages..

Any more ideas?

[-=DVS=-]

Dang so it was heat problem then ? if placeing big fan on side fixed the problem ?
If fans working normaly on CPU and Video card , might be motherboard or rams overheating , is it hot where you live ? investing in a good case with fans might be good idea ;)

[J0NESY]

yea i might get a few fans put in. Ive already got one, the idea was(someone told me) to put it backwards so that it sucks hot air out?

Not sure if thats right, but what fans do you recommend anyway, from a UK company if possible.

I know this isnt graphics card problems, but something else ive just found lol..

If i play a game, ive been playing Terminator and Soldier of Fortune 2. Now and again, the sound will cut out.. for a few mins or seconds then will come back and keep doing that. I havent got a sound card, only onboard sound on my motherboard(Gigabyte Ga-8ge667 Skt478 I845ge ATX VGA Sound FSB533 ATA100)

Any ideas? Im just full of problems :p

[-=DVS=-]

Well best general idea is, fan in front sucks air in and back fan sucks it out :p , also can have additional fan from side blowing air over video card or CPU .

Integrated sounds cards are rarely quality hardware :D , they eat up CPU resourse and don't have proper EAX support , Audigy 2 got monopoly for best game sound my opinion :p

[J0NESY]

but having a integrated sound card, would that cause it to blank out or dont you know?

Cheers for all the help btw

[J0NESY]

also, whats the best method to clean the comps insides? just a cotton bud or summot?

[-=DVS=-]

Cleaning insides Compressed Air can is best , other then that Vacum Cleaner in blow mode helps and or just a some sort of dust catchy cloth :p

[subbo]

Does heat really turn off the signal on a Ti4200? A friend of mine fried his card when the fan broke, and he said first the characters in BF42 turned black, then the scenery started to show huge polygons stretching far into the horizon, then the scenery went black and then white, then it froze. After rebooting the card showed blue streaks during post, and was "disabled" in windows = dead.