Video Issues: Is my card dieing?

HolsonHolson
edited May 2006 in Hardware
Obviously I do not want to spend money on a video card if it is not going to solve the problem, especially since I cannot afford to right now, so any help would be appreciated.

My problems started a few weeks ago but I really thought nothing of it until recently. I installed the Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter Demo and Battlefield 2, and I eagerly booted GRAW up to play it. The initial loading screen appeared and it blacked out as if it were loading the game. Then it minimized to desktop but I could still hear the sounds of the game loading up. I click on the game in the toolbar to be treated to an immediate black screen followed by a second minimization. Rinse, wash, repeat.

So I decide to play BF2 chalking that error up to the fact that I was attempting to play a demo and there could be some issues with it. This time after the initial load screen the video black screens then crashes to desktop. Same thing after two reinstalls. Furthermore, it is happening in HL2 and various mods even though I have had those installed on my PC for almost a year now.

So I did the obvious thing and checked to make sure my drivers were up to date. My video card drivers are up to date with the most stable release, and I just got done updating my monitor drivers with the same effect. I even checked to make sure my sound driver was updated, because a friend of mine told me that sometimes the Audigy 2 will cause games to crash depending on their usage of EAX.

My video card is the LeadTek PX6600GT TDH 128 MB PCI Express x16, and I have had it installed since rougly June of last year. If it is the card, then I reccommend noone else buy a card from Leadtek, because I have an old FX5200 installed on my mothers computer that was made by eVGA and it has never crashed yet.

Again, any thanks would be appreciated.

Comments

  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited May 2006
    does the game actually crash and freeze, or just minimize?

    When I leave the folding program running, it wont let me play halo. I have to close out of it or else halo just minimizes. just something from my experience

    edit- if your videocard actually crashes it would probably mess up and you would have to restart. I dont think it would go back to the desktop and run fine, but weird things happen.
  • HolsonHolson
    edited May 2006
    The screen goes black as if it is about to load the game up, then it crashes to desktop (BF2). I closed the folding program and it still crashed.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited May 2006
    ok so once it goes back to the desktop is windows working fine?
  • HolsonHolson
    edited May 2006
    Yes, Windows works as though nothing has happened.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    I'd check your machine for Viruses and Spyware as it may be something running in the background trying and make your desktop take focus. Also, after you've closed F@H open up task manager and and see if anything other than 'System Idle Process' is taking up CPU time.
  • HolsonHolson
    edited May 2006
    Virus Scan (AVG), Anti-Spyware Scan (Microsoft Defender), and checked the Task Manager. The virus scan came up with a few viruses, but after healing them the problem still persists.

    UPDATE:

    It only happens in newer games. I.E. I was able to play CS for an extended period of time (2+ hours) with no hitches, and the same thing will probably happen with NWN, though I haven't tested it.
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited May 2006
    Sounds like a DirectX or driver issue.

    Make sure you have the latest DirectX 9.3c? i think?

    and the latest drivers for the card, which would be nVidia

    do you run folding@home as well? when i leave F@H on while i play games it likes to force minimize to the apps, and they usually crash out like you say.

    also you can check the event viewer for more technical data on the crashes.
    right click my computer, choose manage, under event viewer it will be under applications. under there you can find the red X's for the actual errors and that might give us more insight as to whats making it crash like that.

    the card isnt dying, its somthing software related.
  • HolsonHolson
    edited May 2006
    Ok, I downloaded the DirectX drivers, and my video card drivers are up to date. I am not running the F@H application for any of these trials.

    And, since I'm not really sure what all of this means, I'm posting the error screen as a JPG so all of you can see what is happening.

    errors.jpg
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited May 2006
    cool, the red X's are the crashes. or as it likes to put them, application hang

    if you double click that it brings up the details on why it hangs or crashes. sometimes they can give good indications of why.
  • HolsonHolson
    edited May 2006
    One of the errors was from Firefox, one of the errors was from HLSW, and the 3rd was from Oblivion. The only one I found from GRAW or BF2 has the following message:

    Hanging application GRAW_demo.exe, version 0.0.0.0, hang module hungapp, version 0.0.0.0, hang address 0x00000000.
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