# [SOLVED] That annoying black screen...



## Emmalinda (Jan 10, 2015)

Hi! I'm having this veery annoying problem called "black screen" when playing Simcity (2013) and Simcity Societies.

I bought Simcity Societies from internet about a little over a year ago and back then it worked smoothly, no problems at all. But when I started playing it again a few days back, there was a new problem! After playing about 15-20 minutes this black screen appears and there's nothing I can do. This happens every single time I play. At first I thought that this happens because Simcity Societies isn't compatible with Windows 8.1.

Today I bought Simcity (2013) from Origin and downloaded it - and the black screen appeared again. It comes every single time after 5-10 minutes when I start playing.

I've tried a couple things: disabling Origin in game, running CCleaner (a long shot, I know) and installing Windows updates (I disabled automatic updates in the last summer). Still, nothing is helping. And the weird thing is that Heroes IV: Might and Magic is working (at least it worked on Christmas break) and so did The Sims 3 when I played it a couple months back.

My laptop is Acer Aspire V5-551G and it's a year-and-a-half old. It also came with Windows 8 64-bit.
Processor: AMD A8-4555M APU with 6GB RAM.
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7600G + 7500M/7600M Dual Graphics
I have 550 GB free space on my laptop, also.

I would be so grateful for a working solution! Thank you in advance for your help!


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: That annoying black screen...*

Hi and Welcome to TSF!

Why are you disabling Windows Updates? Is your machine now fully up-to-date?

Please update your GPU driver to see how that goes.


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## Emmalinda (Jan 10, 2015)

*Re: That annoying black screen...*

Thank you!

I disabled Windows Updates because every time my laptop updated itself, the update fixed the previous problem but created a new (and more annoying) one. After I disabled them, laptop worked almost perfectly with nothing to complain.

But yes, now they are up-to-date. I also updated my graphics card but it didn't solve the problem, either. Is there anything else I could try?


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: That annoying black screen...*

I would say to reinstall the game, but make sure it runs in compatibility mode.

Also, does this happen on any other game?


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## Emmalinda (Jan 10, 2015)

*Re: That annoying black screen...*

Yes, this does happen with Simcity Societies but not with The Sims 3 or Heroes IV: Might and Magic. I don't know why. Well, both Simcities are downloaded (Simcity from Origin and Societies from another site), so could that be a reason? But on the other hand, one of my The Sims 3 EP's is from Origin also and there is no problem with that.

But thank you, I'll try that compatibility mode!


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## Emmalinda (Jan 10, 2015)

*Re: That annoying black screen...*

The compatibility mode didn't work either (I set the game to be compatible with Windows 7). Now I'll try reinstalling but I just have no idea how to reinstall games that are downloaded from Origin. I tried to google guide for that but didn't make any sense from what I found.  Is there some kind of idiot proof way to reinstall Origin games?


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: That annoying black screen...*

I'm not sure how to use Origin, only use Steam.

See if EA support has an answer on how to reinstall a game.


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## Emmalinda (Jan 10, 2015)

*Re: That annoying black screen...*

Well I think I've found a solution! Today we cleaned my laptop's fan and after that the game has been playing well - at least for the last 40 minutes. 

Thank you for your advice, anyway!


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Sounds like it was overheating a little bit.

Glad to hear!


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