My Computer Suddenly Hates Q3 - Blackscreen

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:57 pm

I've been playing, mapping, modding for Quake 3 for years. No problems.
But recently I've been getting an error that's really starting to get on my nerves because I can't test any of my new projects anymore.

So here's what happens:
I'll be playing Quake 3 normally. Everything will be fine.
Suddenly, without warning, the game grinds to a halt and a black screen pops up and my speakers make 3 short high-pitches screeches then are silent.

I can't Alt-F4 out of Quake.
I can't ctrl-alt-delete.
Desktop button doesn't work. Like Explorer becomes totally unresponsive.

The only way to get out is to yank the power on the computer and I cringe everytime I have to turn my computer off this way.

I'm hoping some of you computer-smart folks in the T&T forums have an idea as to what might be happening here and how I can fix this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Post by **Foo** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:04 pm

Try running it windowed and see what the behavior is like then.

If it locks up while windowed, you should be able to see if it's just locking quake because you'll stand a better chance of being able to get back to the desktop. If you can't even get back to the desktop, then it'll indicate the problem might be causing a full system lockup.

Post by **^misantropia^** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:06 pm

While you're at it, monitor the temperature of your CPU and GPU. The symptoms you describe are often caused by overheating.

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:06 am

In windowed mode it took twice as long to happen but my entire screen went black with the same exact behavior.

I have a strong suspicion its my videocard overheating like Misantropia mentioned.

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:23 am

Alright so I decided to move my sound card down to the lowest slot on the motherboard and put the videocard as high up as possible to give its fan a little breathing room.

Hopefully it'll help out with the overheating problem.

I also need to clean this poor thing out. Dust is probably the biggest culprit here.

Also opened my sliding glass door to let in the 30 degree air outside to get some of that cold air flowing into my computer =)
72 degree air doesn't exactly help with the card being hot.

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:58 am

and now an old error that's disappeared has resurfaced where black lines draw themself at certain distance on surfaces.

I need to get a new computer :icon26:

Post by **^misantropia^** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:53 pm

That could either be a driver issue - the Omega drivers did that on an old Windows box of mine - or your video card overheating (again), just not enough to make it halt.

Post by **dzjepp** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:00 pm

That's most definately a hardware issue. Did you clean out all the dust out of it to check how it runs after?

Post by **Foo** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:10 pm

BTW don't be tempted to use a vacuum to clean dust out of a PC. Invest in a can of compressed air and take the machine outside to blow the dust out of the PC.

Pay extra attention to heatsinks and around fan assemblies.

You prolly already know this, but it bears repeating since it's easy to fry an entire PC with a vacuum cleaner.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:05 pm

Foo wrote:BTW don't be tempted to use a vacuum to clean dust out of a PC. Invest in a can of compressed air and take the machine outside to blow the dust out of the PC.

Pay extra attention to heatsinks and around fan assemblies.

You prolly already know this, but it bears repeating since it's easy to fry an entire PC with a vacuum cleaner.

as much as compressed air is good for inside the home mild dusting for electronics, you should invest <$30 US for a small shop vac which also has a built-in blower.

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN ... =100021998

Post by **Foo** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:20 pm

+JuggerNaut+ wrote:
Foo wrote:BTW don't be tempted to use a vacuum to clean dust out of a PC. Invest in a can of compressed air and take the machine outside to blow the dust out of the PC.

Pay extra attention to heatsinks and around fan assemblies.

You prolly already know this, but it bears repeating since it's easy to fry an entire PC with a vacuum cleaner.
as much as compressed air is good for inside the home mild dusting for electronics, you should invest <$30 US for a small shop vac which also has a built-in blower.

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN ... =100021998

I don't trust em enough next to hundreds of pounds of sensitive electronic equipment. Tend to generate a nice field of static electricity at the end of the hose.

Post by **dzjepp** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:28 pm

I use one of these

WITH a variable-speed nozzle of course.

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:14 pm

Thanks for the replies guys.
I need to go get some air sometime soon and until then I'm going to tweak the cards settings a bit.

EDIT: Oh, I think it would be nice to actually mention what the card is...
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200