Black screen and silent computer

[Valnatron]

Due to the fact my computer now no longer has what it needs to run the Sims 2 correcty, and Sims 2 was the program taking up the memory needs to play COTN correctly, I decided to reload it and play it.

I loaded it and everything went fine. I opened a Senario and began to play. Five minute later the computer screen froze, then my screen shut off and my computer started to hibernate. Nothing I did would re-boot the system. I have to shut it off and reboot it. I turned off the hibernate option and this time the game ran ten minutes before getting the same results. I still have not turned of the "power save" option, but I'm not sure if that would help. I am running the game on best graphics. Attached is my DXDIA thing. Please help.

~~ Valnatron

[MarkDuffy]

Welcome to our family, Valnatron! :)

Until a technical person comes along, try running the game on "Best Performance". Your DxDiag shows a Radeon 9800 Pro which I also use at Best Graphics. Your processor is 1.8G, same as my P4. It looks like you have plenty of basic hardware to run everything out there, cuz I have no problems. Help is on the way!

The rest means nothing to me! Sorry! :o

[Keith]

The power saver shuts down the hard drive when it hasn't had any access for a time, this could cause problems with programs that need to access the drive.

You can adjust the amount of time the drive will wait before shuntting down. From the Control Panel > Performance and Maintenence > Power Options menu, you can set the amount of time your monitor, hard drive, and standby modes wait before they shut the system down. I personally have all mine set to Never. If this is a laptop running on batteries you may just want to set it for something like 1 hour.

I don't use hibernate either.

After making any changes click APPLY and OK.

Hopefully you don't have the game installed on your D: drive, there is insufficient free space to run the game there. You need at least a couple of GB of free space.

[Manni]

It looks like a Compaq Presario S3010CL Desktop PC to me. True?

Did you have an ATI-graphcard put in recently? Cuz from what I have seen at HP`s your machine
is normally fitted with a Via/S3 ProSavage graphic.

What I would alter is the page-file.

You have now a Memory of: 768MB RAM Page File: 435MB used, 627MB available

Try changing the pagefile up to 1500 MB, minimum and maximum the same number. After rebooting the system PLEASE DO a defrag on C !

Regards

[Amenirdis]

Where did you install CoTN? On drive C or D?

Also, turn off all unnecessary programms before starting CotN like virus scanners and firewall etc. (but make sure you're not connected to the internet).

Another thing to try is running CotN with the sound turned off and see if it makes any difference.

Do you have similar problems with other games, too?

To the other radeon specialists here: the drivers he/she uses are the right ones? Also, does the Radeon 9800 need to be hooked up to the PS? Or can it be hooked up to it?

[mouse]

A couple of points did you install or have installed the 9800 Pro video card? If you did is your power supply up to running that card? Does the card have it's own direct to the power supply plug or is it sharing the plug through a splitter? It needs it's own plug, it needs at least a 350watt power supply and it needs plenty of air since the card generates alot of heat under load like CotN. Sorry for all the geeky issues but these are things that have been found to cause the type of problem your having with the game/video card:)

[Valnatron]

Welcome to our family, Valnatron! :) Heh, thanks. :)

[Valnatron]

It looks like a Compaq Presario S3010CL Desktop PC to me. True?

The story behind the Compaq. A year into college (about five years ago) I learn my 1994 HP will no longer meet the minimum standards needed to survive four to five years of college. I ask my parents for a new one. They take me to BJ's, a mega-one-stop shopping center where you can get mayo on the same issle you get tires for your SUV. I was not happy, they said "deal with it or you get nothing" and bought my Compaq. $200 with no operating system. I had to buy that.

Six months later is crashes after I loaded an art program I needed for one of my classes. Took it to Best Buy only to learn the sticker on the side of the machine that gave me the tech spec was wrong....REALLY wrong. I had them upgrade the RAM, the video drive and the cooling system (fan was too small for the machine).

So, everything in the DX is five years old. I updated the ATI driver three months ago when my computer started closing random programs for no reason, but that's the most recent thing I have done with it. I will try your advice. Thanks! :)

~~ Valnatron

[Valnatron]

Where did you install CoTN? On drive C or D?

Also, turn off all unnecessary programms before starting CotN like virus scanners and firewall etc. (but make sure you're not connected to the internet).

Do you have similar problems with other games, too?

COTN is installed on the C drive. I have cable internet and the box they gave me when I moved into my new place does not have an on/off switch (that I can find), so I don't know how NOT to be the internet. Yes, that sticks. The latest versions of Sims 2 would do the same thing, but only after I downloaded the patch. All Sims 2 related software has been removed from the computer in question.

~~ Valnatron

[Valnatron]

A couple of points did you install or have installed the 9800 Pro video card? If you did is your power supply up to running that card? Does the card have it's own direct to the power supply plug or is it sharing the plug through a splitter? It needs it's own plug, it needs at least a 350watt power supply and it needs plenty of air since the card generates alot of heat under load like CotN.

I am confused by your questions. I had the geek squad at Best Buy install the card and they said the power supply was fine. I can open the box up (I might have to dust in there anyway) and look for myself, but I believe everything was fine when they did it. They MIGHT have upgraded the power supply, but I don't remember. It was five years ago when I did this. Now, I did update the driver three months ago. Is that the same thing?

~~ Valnatron

[mouse]

Not to throw any rocks at Best Buy but I doubt they would have checked the power supply met minimum specs for that card nor that they would have made sure that the card was properly connected to the power supply. By all means clean out the dust bunnies while in the the power supply should have it specs printed on the side. Also check that your card isn't sharing a power plug with any other part in your system.

Personally I built alot of systems using Ati cards so know their minimum specs by heart. Another thing power supplies get weaker over time. If you download and install Everest Home Edition you can find out easily if your power supply is providing enough power to your system and if the temps are within safe range.

[Keith]

Not to throw any rocks at Best Buy but I doubt they would have checked the power supply met minimum specs for that card nor that they would have made sure that the card was properly connected to the power supply. By all means clean out the dust bunnies while in the the power supply should have it specs printed on the side. Also check that your card isn't sharing a power plug with any other part in your system.

Personally I built alot of systems using Ati cards so know their minimum specs by heart. Another thing power supplies get weaker over time. If you download and install Everest Home Edition you can find out easily if your power supply is providing enough power to your system and if the temps are within safe range.

You can't get Everest Home Edition from their website anymore. They stopped supporting it.

You can probably find it on the web. I know I posted a copy or two of in the CotN Tech Support threads somewhere. You can download it from there if you find it.

[Keith]

Found the file for you.

http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6577&d=1123124686

[Valnatron]

Found the file for you.

Thank you...but....um....what am I looking for?

~~ Valnatron

[Valnatron]

Try changing the pagefile up to 1500 MB, minimum and maximum the same number. After rebooting the system PLEASE DO a defrag on C!

How do you change the Pagefile?

~~ Valnatron

[Manni]

To change the size of the PAGE-FILE:

Go to MY COMPUTER and open SYSTEM.
Now just follow the screenshot underneath. Don`t get confused with the strange language, the windows are the same.

When the change is done, reboot and DO A DEFRAG ON C !
---------------------------
You should try the game again under the new circumstances before anything else is done.

My advice: Doing work step by step

[Manni]

They take me to BJ's, a mega-one-stop shopping center where you can get mayo on the same issle you get tires for your SUV. I was not happy, they said "deal with it or you get nothing" and bought my Compaq. $200 with no operating system. I had to buy that.

Six months later is crashes after I loaded an art program I needed for one of my classes. Took it to Best Buy only to learn the sticker on the side of the machine that gave me the tech spec was wrong....REALLY wrong. I had them upgrade the RAM, the video drive and the cooling system (fan was too small for the machine).

So, everything in the DX is five years old. I updated the ATI driver three months ago when my computer started closing random programs for no reason, but that's the most recent thing I have done with it. I will try your advice.

To me it sounds you were "knicked".
Your hard-drive is just about 60Gigs (I think they sold those sizes `bout 5 years ago)

Also your HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8400B which is in fact a LG-Electronics GCE 8400 B (Burner & writer-COMBO) is "vintage".
You could have a look if there is a fresh firmware-(update) available. Your ROM-drive "could" have a reading problem.

First you have to identify the present firmware which you can do with this tool: http://www.nero.com/nero6/enu/Info_Tool.html
--------------------------------
Further on I would recommend the use of the ATI-UNINSTALLER-Tool which will get all old driver-stuff out (which could also mess up the system) and install the latetst ATI-Catalyst, which is Version 6.4
By the looks in your dxdiag you seem to have Catalyst 6.1
---------------------
Next would be a newer sound-driver.............

Regards

[Keith]

Here you go.

[mouse]

What you want to look at in Everest Home edition is under the computer part of the interface expand that then look at sensors. That will tell you if your power supply is providing the needed power to different parts of your system and what the temps are inside your system. Both are very important. If the system is overheating that will cause shut downs and if the power supply isn't providing enough power to all parts of your system that too will cause shut downs or hard starts. If it's the power supply that can be replaced and if it isn't it can start to ruin parts of your system.

[Manni]

@Valnatron

I have found firmware for your COMBO-drive.
Give us the version you have installed right now by using the tool I have recommended! ;)

[Valnatron]

That will tell you if your power supply is providing the needed power to different parts of your system and what the temps are inside your system.

Okay, I have found the Sensor page, but I am not sure what it all means. I'm still kinda new to the whole "What a computer needs to run" thing (looking into building my own at some point). Computer temps are a bit high because my air conditioner was off all day (it was 38 degrees last night and today's high was 78...explain that to me).

Attached is what the Sensor page looks like on my computer.

~~ Valnatron

[mouse]

Sorry I know this all sounds very geeky but it's really important that your power supply provide the right voltage in a steady state and that your temps are in a safe range:D Your right you cpu temp is very high but even as critical is that your power supply isn't providing enough power to your 12v rail which impacts your cpu temp and also can impact your video card.

To explain power should not be more + or - 5% of the needed power or componets will start to fail.
Really understand the crazy weather since I'm having the same thing and live on the second floor of an old brick house my cpu temp is 38c which is a bit high.

If it were me I look into replacing the power supply with a higher watt good quality power supply.

[Valnatron]

Thank you all for your help. My game is running much better now AND I will soon be getting a new power supply (once I get my paycheck).

So, once again, I want to thank all of you and give you all a collective hug! This is the best, most friendly tech support I have ever experianced! Thank you!

~~ Valnatron