Ship Simulator
English forum => Small talk => The Chat Lounge => Topic started by: The Ferry Man on July 11, 2011, 16:09:20
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Hi,
Recently my computer has been acting... wierd
Last week I brought BatMan: Arkham Asylum during a sale, and the last two times I played it, the screen goes dead - it goes black and the green power light goes orange, which is the same as what normally happens when the pc is switched off. I seemingly have to restart the computer as nothing I seem to try gets it back on.
Today I was playing Railworks, which I have played numerous times, and today I got the same dead screen :/
Any idea what is causing this?
Many Thanks
TFM
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That sounds like its either a garphics driver, or directX.
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Well I will see if there is a updated Graphics Driver, but what do I do about checking the directX?
Edit: I have the latest graphics driver... :-\
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is it a demanding game? Wouldnt surprise me if your graphics card is giving up in some ways, its an old Nvidia 9600GS/GT?
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Hmmm that's not good then... :/
But if its giving up now for Railworks, what will it do now for ShipSim... :-/
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If its installed give it a try..
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yeah will do
I only was on it couple of days ago, and it was OK
but Railworks I was on for ages, admittedly with a coupe of crashes (My PC isn't fond of the Mission editor thingy) but it was OK for the morning...
wierd :/
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Possible reasons
- inadequate power being supplied to gfx card from PSU
- Gfx card getting heated due to defective fan of card.
- Excessive dust accumulation in fan of card.
- Driver issue - try rolling back to previous version of driver.
- Check if any capacitors on the gfx card have blown.
- Monitor temperature of gfx card.
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Thats a big list of things that may have gone wrong... :doh:
The driver has been out since about Jan this year though...?
How can I test to see what the problem is then?
Thanks :)
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From that, first things first is to open the side while its running, take a look at the fan, if its spinning, thats one of the list of possible problems. Take a nice visual check of how much dust is in there and also capacitors and other components. If you deem to need a better inspection, turn the computer off, leave everything plugged into the wall etc as normal, just switch the wall plug off, shouldn't get any shocks then :P
Monitoring temperature is an easy thing to do. You may even feel something is not right if the air temperature in your room has increased a lot.
Download this - http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php
This will tell you all your system temperatures. Says my graphics card is running at just below 60 degrees, which is alright
Not enough power.. shouldn't be that, its been alright for the past few years
See what happens there, also check all cables are in securely, if one of them pops out the screen effectively 'turns off' as it detects its not being used so it turns off to save power
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OK downloaded the fanTemp, it says the GPU is 56C
*I am assuming GPU is the Graphics Card
yeah can't see why the power should have changed... although I did have the Motherboard replaced - I assume that shouldn't affect it
I don't have a clue how to open the side though... :doh:
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(http://static.skynetblogs.be/media/154694/dyn010_original_354_266_jpeg_2561856_b56cdc7982fa7e0a1574db29f625ed40.jpg)
This will do :thumbs:
isn't there some kind of lock mechanism?
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Apparently it unscrews from the back...
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slap a picture over of the case
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OK So update:
I ended up buying a replacement Graphics Card, got a ASUS GTX550 Ti
Given me a few extra FPS in SSE too ;D
The old was also... covered in dust - when I pulled it out it changed colour - looked like the North Pole :doh:
So in future going to have to keep cleaning out the dust
Thanks All :)
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The old was also... covered in dust - when I pulled it out it changed colour - looked like the North Pole :doh:
So in future going to have to keep cleaning out the dust
Yes TFM ..... one of the biggest enemies of a computer. You should devote a day every month to remove all the accumulated dust inside the casing and on the various fans. Use a soft bristle paint brush and a USB mini vacuum cleaner.
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Ahh OK - thanks for the advice :)
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I get my trusty old dyson out with the brush attachment for my dust removal with a pastry brush aswell ;D