# Screen goes black/computer shuts off when playing games.



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

Hi, I have a problem and someone recommended me to this forum so here I am..

I'm not totally sure if this is a video card problem but here it is:

I have a Geforce 8800m GTX for my laptop and until a few months ago I had no problems with it. When playing games occasionally (like once a week maybe) the computer screen would just go black (and sometimes it would also shut down). However, it only happend once in a while and ONLY for GTA IV. Since then, it's been happening more and more frequently, and for more and more games. A month ago, the problem started occuring for games like Assassins Creed and Call of duty World at War. Now, it happens with virtually every game, even those that dont require a good graphics card (ex. football manager, swat 4, CIV 4) and it happens every single time after 10 minutes or so.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot in advance.

EDIT: I've tried a whole bunch of drivers (including the most recent, and the one the laptop was shipped with) and none of them seem to fix the problem


----------



## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

Download GPU-Z here: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ and record your temperatures both on the desktop and during games. It's possible your card is overheating, though if it started just recently then it may be something else.


----------



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

thanks for the quick reply..ill try that but i doubt that's the case since it happens with games like football manager which runs fine even on integrated cards


----------



## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

Worth checking, just in case.


----------



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

Ok i jst gave it a shot with SWAT 4 and i got 90's for the most part and after 5 minutes or so (and just before the screen goes black) it was either 100 or 101 for about half a minute.

This was before the gpu fan went on though..it usually takes a while before the fan comes on and the temperature goes down but since the screen goes black in 5 minutes the fan never really gets a chance to come on...


----------



## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

Yeah, you've got a heating problem there. During normal usage a graphics card should never go about 70C. Up to 100C is acceptable for _very short_ periods of time, like during stress testing, but most cards will automatically shut off if they get much over 100C. I think you need to manually set your fan speed.

First open up the laptop's case and use a can of compressed air to blow out any dust, as that can clog fans and ruin cooling performance. Then download EVGA Precision or Rivatuner and set up a fan profile to keep your GPU fan spinning at at least 60%, or as high as you can stand the noise. Then if you're running Rivatuner you can use the scheduling feature to have it automatically up the fan speed to 100% if the temperature goes over 75C.


----------



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

huh..so y is it all of a sudden overheating? even for games that dnt require that much graphics power


----------



## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

It might just be dust accumulating over time and finally reaching the point where it really causes problems, or it might be the fan is broken, or wearing down. Best case cleaning out the inside of the computer and running the GPU fan on 60% should solve your overheating problem. Worst case the fan on your GPU is broken, in which case, since it's a laptop, you'll have to send it back to the manufacturer to repair.


----------



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

ive tried cleaning the fan a few days ago because of this problem.
i downloaded evga precision but the fan speed setting is greyed out (the auto button beside it is also greyed out). and for rivatuner i cant seem to find that setting :S
any help? thanks


----------



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

as for the cleaning well i couldnt find any compressed air so i just took the fan cover off and cleaned it manually..i hope thats not too much difference


----------



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

i found some tutorials for rivatuner..but for newer drivers, under driver settings it says "no supported drivers detected for this display adapter" and for older drivers, it says forceware detected or sumthing but when i click customize -> system settings there is no tab named "fan" liek there should be


----------



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

ok i read on some forum that for rivatuner the fan speed setting is not available for nvidia if u have vista...and another website that says it IS available

any ideas?


----------



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

im starting to think there is a problem other than overheating
today i started my computer n browsed the web for 10 minutes and the screen went black again. when i turned it back on, it said the computer recovered from an unexpected shutdown and when i pressed "search online for a solution" or sumthin like that it said something about nvidia graphics adapter failing.


----------



## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

That can be caused by overheating. When my graphics card overheats and crashes (like if I overclock too much and then run furmark) I get a similar message saying my ATI graphics adapter has failed and recovered. 

Ok, the problem I think is that it's a mobile card. It may be that the GPU doesn't even *have* a fan. When you opened up your laptop you should have seen either one or two fans, one for your CPU (easy to identify because there should be a big copper heatpipe running to it) and maybe one for your graphics card. I find it hard to believe that even a neutered notebook version of the 8800GTX could run without a fan, but if it doesn't show up in either EVGA Precision or Rivatuner then it's a possibility.

You may end up having to get one of those laptop cooling pads, like one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=RATING Or if you can find one of these for sale, I've always had good experiences with Thermaltake's products: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/464

Anyway, try dusting out your laptop one more time, definitely try to get some compressed air, it does better than cleaning by hand though you should be careful not to put too much pressure on any capacitors or anything on your motherboard or graphics card. Also, if your GPU does have a fan, make sure it spins up when the computer turns on. It should always be spinning at some kind of speed when the computer is on, even when the graphics card is under light load.


----------



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

thanks for the reply
yea i do have a gpu dedicated fan in my laptop. as for the cooling pad ive used one for a while now but after checking temperatures after hte problem occured, the pad actually seems to speed up the heating (others have said this as well). The fan does go on when i turn the computer on but veeeery weakly, which could be fixed with fan controls but like i said i cant seem to get either of those programs to work on my graphics card. Others with the 8800m cards (not the gtx but gs) seem to be able to get it working tho. any ideas on how to possibly get it to work?


----------



## computercompute (Aug 5, 2009)

i downloaded nTune which basically just adds more options to the nVidia Control Panel and there is a fan setting but it's greyed out..


----------



## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

I'm thinking your fan might be broken. The reason your fan settings are always greyed out might be because the fan isn't sending a signal back to the board, so it shows up as you having no fan. 

I would send it back to the manufacturer and see if they can replace the fan.


----------

