Well, I don't know if many of you have, but I should hope that one or two of my fellow EfU:Aers have noticed a distinct absence of hare-brained, short-lived concepts possessing the Dragonfire9000 stamp lately. The reason, for a while at least, was that football and drama seasons were in full swing and I had no time. Then for a while after that it was catching up on college classes. However, all three of those things are now past. My problem now is a hardware one. All of my concepts have been short-lived lately, due to a high mortality rate. That high rate is due to the fact that my computer will routinely shut down of its own volition, and I have no say in the matter whatsoever. Thus, I log back in among a swarm of monsters that I had previously been fighting, and perish in a POOF of expletives. So, my question to you lot is this:
What could cause my computer to do such a thing?
To clarify, the screen goes black but the monitor remains on. Sometimes the computer stays running without turning off, but the screen remains black. Other times it is exactly as if I had restarted it. The theory has been put forth that my video card is overheating, but why now? Sure, World of Warcraft will do that, but NWN should not, especially on low graphics.
Any help would be appreciated. I have a hobbit drawn up that I want to play really badly... and no, not a halfling, a hobbit!
Danke.
EDIT: Oh, and my video card is an ATI Radeon 9600 Sapphire Pro.
More specifically when you open nwn you have a black screen and nothing else? Or is this something else. If you have a black screen when you open nwn make your shortcut say this in it's properties zone under the target line. C:\NeverwinterNights\NWN\nwmain.exe +TestNewModule "modulename"
It works for me.
My system routinely overheats when playing NwN .... so yes, it very well could be the game that's causing some of your issues. My old system would overheat to the point where it raised the temp of my office by roughly 5 degrees. And even my new laptop (which I made DAMN sure could in theory handle the game) runs hotter when playing NwN ... I have a chill pad that I have to fire up when playing.
As for "why now" ... because computers are evil and have a mind of their own ... They routinely pick the worst time to go down.
On a serious note, even minor overheating over time will eventually create a noticeable problem, where you might not have noticed one before.
Most computers get hotter when they are being used more vigorously (Games) I have a program that monitors my PCs temperature. My old laptop used to get to 180ish (Fahrenheit) my new one goes no higher then 140. Sitting idle it is about 70.
Your issue may be dust accumulating in your heatsinks and fans, causing them to function inefficiently. You might attempt cleaning them out and seeing if that effects a difference.
Remember to check all your fans and heatsinks: that is, the CPU fan, case fan, and the one your video card probably has. You may need to remove parts from your tower in order to clean it best. I don't suggest doing it if you're a novice with electronics without reading some how-to stuff on the internet. Static shock can cause serious damage to a computer if you don't properly ground yourself.
Ah, good deal of helpful stuff here. In answer to the first question, it is not when I load NWN. This happens most frequently when I'm playing more demanding games. My machine is quite old, but I've upgraded it whenever possible with additional RAM and a new video card. I am now positive it is an overheating issue, as I am frequently able to play with no issues for an hour or more, but after one incident have no more than fifteen minutes without a blackout. I'll try cleaning the fans, but I'm quite afraid that attempting to play World of Warcraft a few years back may have permanently damaged my card. Thanks very much for your advice. Once I've got the blowers clean, I'll report on whether or not it helped.
Make sure the computer's plug is correctly placed in the socket.
Pietr, you know I love you, but sometimes I feel this strange urge to smack you really really hard.
Just sayin.
As for an update, my computer is... odd. I opened the whole thing up with a very awkward screwdriver (Only to win at the next evening's White Elephant party and excellent trio of tools that would have done the job in seconds) and cleaned it out. An incredible amount of dust, grime, fuzzies and what appeared to be a small African rhinocerous came out, air came in, and voila! it overheated again. It still has horrible problems, but oddly enough, the pattern has changed.
Now, normally right after I log in, the computer will pull the shut-down once or twice. Then it will give me a wonderful, glorious, beatific hour or two of uninterupted gaming. Then, however, it pulls the shut-down again! This is really confusing to me, as it seems to follow no discernable pattern.
Help?
Does it only happen with games, or at random non-gaming times too? If it goes blank but doesn't reboot can you alt-tab out of the game screen? Needs more info tbh
It has only ever done this to me when gaming that I can remember, although there may have been one or two isolated instances when I was just using Word or Chrome or some such simply run program. I cannot do anything when this happens, save holding down the power button and screaming in rage. Most commonly kicks me out of NWN, back in the day it did it frequently to WoW (Which ran perfectly, oddly enough) and very rarely Counterstrike Source.