Now, I know this isn't tech support... but I've tried everywhere else I can think of. You guys like Diablo, which means your smart, so please... have a go:
I have a problem.
I will type up all the events I think could possibly have had an effect in chronological order.
First, I got a trojan. My anti-virus software seemed unable to stop it, as I would try to quarantine or delete it. It attacked many files, but I couldn't stop it. I didn't know what to do, and eventually... the alerts stopped happening. Being an ignorant computer user, I thought it may have poofed itself away. Maybe it did.
The real problem occurred when I bought Half-Life 2 recently, it installed fine and when I went to start up a new game I was led past the short introduction sequence, was on the train, and then... my screen went black, the sound started to loop, my monitor lost the signal, and nothing could be done but restart the thing. This happened every time, with short variances on the amount of time it took for this to happen. I never made it off the train. I uninstalled the game, steam, and everything that came with it.
I decided that since I couldn't play the new game I'd bought, I would reinstall Guild Wars. I have played that game many times on my computer before, and there were no problems. Now, I can play it for a decent amount of time before this black screen appears and I'm forced to restart my computer, but it is random.
Just today I started up a World of Warcraft account, only this game will spur the dreaded effect almost immediately upon entering the game world. The longest I've lasted in-game was about 7 minutes.
Although, I play Starcraft, Diablo II, and CoD4 (at max settings) with no problems whatsoever. I'm perplexed.
What I've done to try to fix this myself, was to first go to the Steam tech support page and look at what it had to say. https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...5034-EIPV-6426
Is the page I looked at. I followed what it said to the best of my ability, but nothing changed.
Regarding this section:
Note: editing system files can have adverse effects on your system's stability and performance. If you are not comfortable editing system files, please contact your system manufacturer for assistance.
1. Click "Start"
2. Select "Run"
3. Type in msconfig and press enter
4. In the System Configuration Utility, click the BOOT.INI tab
5. Look for the following line: /3GB /Userva=2900 - If your system does not have this setting, you can stop here
Please proceed to the Advanced Troubleshooting section below if your boot.ini file does not have this setting. Otherwise:
That area of my computer does not have the /3GB /Userva=2900 line it points out.
I then installed the latest driver from Nvidia, ran defrags, anti-virus software (after I uninstalled AVG which the steam page told me to do), and I've tried other websites for help as well. I have the latest version of Direct X. I had never seen this problem before HL2, but then again I don't know what would happen if I had put in WoW before HL2. I'm totally lost.
I'm running windows XP, pretty sure I have 512MB, and added a 550W Antec modular power supply and a e-GeForce 9600 GT over the winter season. Thats all I know off-hand.
Please help.
New information: I started up WoW with the speed fan program running, and was able to minimize it before it shut down. I watched the speed fan, the temperature didn't go up but my CPU usage was at about 70%. The only other programs I had running was Firefox and AIM which are now setting a CPU usage rate of 4.0% max. The strange thing is, that when I had it minimized, instead of the screen turning black and the sound looping, and the monitor no longer having a signal and the keys not doing a thing, the game just shut itself down.
I'm not so much worried about playing the games I mentioned above, but I am worried about SC2 and D3 when they eventually hit, will I not be able to play them?
Not my area of expertise at all. When the black screen appears for GW and WoW, does the sound from the HL2 crash follow as well?
The only time I've ever had something like this was with my previous computer, where the graphics card seemed to have given up and prevented me from playing anything more demanding than Heroes 3. However you can still play CoD4 and the card is fairly new.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
Quick question. I'm assuming since you've recently added a graphics card to your system. Your previous graphics - was it integrated or another card. I mean, just me personally I would revert back to the old graphics and play those games again(the less graphically intensive ones like Guild Wars). See if it freezes and loops the sound. That's a good indication of whether the graphics card is being erroneous.
If you somehow think certain system files have become corrupted. If you have a OS cd(XP or Vista cd), you could then run a OS repair. Basically it just replaces all of the system files on the machine.
I always check system log files by right clicking on "My Computer" and going to "Manage" then viewing Event Viewer. See if there is anything with Red X's.
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I have a problem.
I will type up all the events I think could possibly have had an effect in chronological order.
First, I got a trojan. My anti-virus software seemed unable to stop it, as I would try to quarantine or delete it. It attacked many files, but I couldn't stop it. I didn't know what to do, and eventually... the alerts stopped happening. Being an ignorant computer user, I thought it may have poofed itself away. Maybe it did.
The real problem occurred when I bought Half-Life 2 recently, it installed fine and when I went to start up a new game I was led past the short introduction sequence, was on the train, and then... my screen went black, the sound started to loop, my monitor lost the signal, and nothing could be done but restart the thing. This happened every time, with short variances on the amount of time it took for this to happen. I never made it off the train. I uninstalled the game, steam, and everything that came with it.
I decided that since I couldn't play the new game I'd bought, I would reinstall Guild Wars. I have played that game many times on my computer before, and there were no problems. Now, I can play it for a decent amount of time before this black screen appears and I'm forced to restart my computer, but it is random.
Just today I started up a World of Warcraft account, only this game will spur the dreaded effect almost immediately upon entering the game world. The longest I've lasted in-game was about 7 minutes.
Although, I play Starcraft, Diablo II, and CoD4 (at max settings) with no problems whatsoever. I'm perplexed.
What I've done to try to fix this myself, was to first go to the Steam tech support page and look at what it had to say. https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...5034-EIPV-6426
Is the page I looked at. I followed what it said to the best of my ability, but nothing changed.
Regarding this section:
That area of my computer does not have the /3GB /Userva=2900 line it points out.
I then installed the latest driver from Nvidia, ran defrags, anti-virus software (after I uninstalled AVG which the steam page told me to do), and I've tried other websites for help as well. I have the latest version of Direct X. I had never seen this problem before HL2, but then again I don't know what would happen if I had put in WoW before HL2. I'm totally lost.
I'm running windows XP, pretty sure I have 512MB, and added a 550W Antec modular power supply and a e-GeForce 9600 GT over the winter season. Thats all I know off-hand.
Please help.
New information: I started up WoW with the speed fan program running, and was able to minimize it before it shut down. I watched the speed fan, the temperature didn't go up but my CPU usage was at about 70%. The only other programs I had running was Firefox and AIM which are now setting a CPU usage rate of 4.0% max. The strange thing is, that when I had it minimized, instead of the screen turning black and the sound looping, and the monitor no longer having a signal and the keys not doing a thing, the game just shut itself down.
I'm not so much worried about playing the games I mentioned above, but I am worried about SC2 and D3 when they eventually hit, will I not be able to play them?
The only time I've ever had something like this was with my previous computer, where the graphics card seemed to have given up and prevented me from playing anything more demanding than Heroes 3. However you can still play CoD4 and the card is fairly new.
I don't know
If you somehow think certain system files have become corrupted. If you have a OS cd(XP or Vista cd), you could then run a OS repair. Basically it just replaces all of the system files on the machine.
I always check system log files by right clicking on "My Computer" and going to "Manage" then viewing Event Viewer. See if there is anything with Red X's.