Problem with moniter/screen

**swhunter** · April 06, 2009, 03:25 AM

Hi
Maybe you guys can give me an idea what to do.

first of all,been playing this mod for months, but started to notice a few months back, like 8 months ago, i keep running into this problem.
1. when playing a game, this game so far, on the battle map, it would go to black screen or white or amber, or brown,
This does not happen every time.
But has happen more in these last three months. After the new updates,
I don't know if that is the problem. It wouldn't go to CTD when this would happen, and you could still hear the sounds on the map! but no screen.
Just a different color each time.
I called dell, and we found out it isn't my game card, or when surfing on the net,or u tube or video feeds i watched last night on israel's temple.
Just when playing this mod, i would have this color problem.

Q, should i get a new CD for rtw?
I have MTW i could experiment on that for a while and see if that is the problem also.
Any ideas would help thanks

**tone** · April 06, 2009, 03:30 AM

I'm not convinced that Dell are giving you correct advice. It's more than likely to be due to overheating of the graphics card (or I suppose your CPU) as a game like this will tax your system WAY much more than just watching something on U-Tube.

What about if you play something like M2TW? I suspect it'll do the same thing.

**dvk901** · April 06, 2009, 06:56 AM

I know for a FACT that Dell has no idea how to diagnose problems like this...I have had personal experience with them in a professional atmosphere.

SW.....either:

A) your video card is overheating (very likely, as the symptoms are much like what used to happen to me playing SPQR a couple years ago), or

B) your moniter is wigging out. I'm assuming this is an LCD moniter? Anyway, this is less likely.

Some Dell's are notorious for overheating because their machines have very minimal ventilation and cheap fans. And they get clogged with dust and dirt very easily. Also, is your video card an 'add on' card that plugs into the motherboard, or an 'on board' video chip that's integrated INTO the motherboard? On-board video cards are not suitable for playing games, generally, because they not only get hot themselves, but they heat up the motherboard as well causing other problems.

One way to confirm this would be to open the case, point a decent size fan into it, and play the game. If it runs OK without turning black or weird, you have your answer. Overheating.

**tone** · April 06, 2009, 07:25 AM

Yeah, if you're serious about wanting a good machine for games I'd stay away from Dells personally. Many of their parts aren't compatible so it's difficult to upgrade fans and so on to quieter or better types without some serious modifying.

**rory o'kane** · April 06, 2009, 07:30 AM

I second that - they're no good for gaming machines because you either end up with a really rubbish system for games (despite the fact that it's got a dual core processor and 3GB of RAM - it's probably got a rubbish graphics card) or you end up paying through the nose for a really good one (the higher end XPS models) and there's no real middle ground. the customizer on the website is a bit of a joke, because you can't change some things (like the graphics card for example), meaning that you're stuck searching for a baseline model that costs and extra £500 that has a ridiculously powerful processor - but of course, the customizer won't let you DOWNGRADE from the RidiculousUBERProcessor - and consequently, you may end up with a really good PC, but you still end up paying way more than you need to... grrr. they do anger me so. anyways - you might want to pick up a "Which PC?" magazine or an equivalent and just have a flick through, just to see what's out there and where you can get it.

**swhunter** · April 06, 2009, 01:43 PM

Sigh! Thanks guys, not the news i want to hear.
Only problem is catching the error , it doesn't happen all of the time!
But it has two times in a week.
What systems would you recommend in the future?
Once this one dies.

**apple** · April 07, 2009, 03:14 PM

It's all about what you want to do with it. I myself uses a mac and that has it's reasons. Firstly I use it while working with images, music compositions, making short movie clips and writhing.
For that purpose is a mac an excellent choose. What it lacks in is the power to play the most performance hungry games that is out there, it also lacks the fact that it doesn't comes with a copy of windows (Big surprise

).

Nearly no one would choose it for playing game, but as I said am I doing much other things wich makes it the better choose for me.

**dvk901** · April 07, 2009, 03:54 PM

My son has bought two PC's (a desktop and laptop) from IBUY_Power. They custom build your PC to whatever you want, ship it free, and have a good warranty. It's the way DELL 'used' to be before they went over to the 'dark side'.

**swhunter** · April 07, 2009, 08:19 PM

Thanks, i should of known this before.
But so far its working great

**Brusilov** · April 08, 2009, 03:13 AM

I bought a series of Dells until the current one that I am using (which was a special order from a company in the UK). I had no problems with the three different desktops and two laptops that I sourced from Dell from 1995 (the last one was bought in March 2007). I had no problems sourcing more memory, adding various sounds cards and several different graphics cards over the period (I also added a DVD Writer to one of the earlier desktops).

I didn't add an internal hard drive or try and upgrade the power units but that's about it.

I found Dells well made and ventilated. The more powerful model I bought from them had a 8800GTX card but there was sufficient cooling for that - I even upgraded that system to a 9800GX2.

When the XPS710 was delivered (with the 8800GTX card) I was surprised to find that they had added a 'cradle' for the car which connected the loose end of the card to the chassis. My understanding was that this is done to allow the machine to be moved without damaging the card or the connection to the motherboard. To me that is attention to detail and an excellent build all around.

I have only once had problems with their support. When I installed the 9800GX2 card and rebooted the machine it came up with a diagnostic that I had fried the memory. When the machine was turned on two of the red warnign lights stayed on and the machine would not boot any further. I tried various combinations of the 4 Simms (it's a dual core machine so the memory is used in pairs (slots 1 and 3, 2 and 4). Anyway I contacted Dell. The nice gentleman in India asked me to start the machine up and insert a CD-ROM that was supplied with the PC to diagnise the problem - it only took several emails until they understood that this was not possible.....

Anyway, I ordered more memory and after three weeks ordered a new PC. I then spoke to a co-worker that mentioned someone else had upgraded another system (not a Dell) and they resolved it by removing the sound card. I removed my sound card (a soundblasfter X-Fi) and the PC booted immediately with the existng memory in place. I eventually put the sound card back and I had a working desktop again.....

I can only assume that it's something like an IRQ conflict - anyone who used to play with 486 PCs will understand that.......

**dvk901** · April 08, 2009, 10:19 AM

You are correct, and I have seen that before. IRQ conflicts have been eradicated for the most part with better BIOS.......I didn't mean to totally diss all Dells in general. Their workstations and higher end machines (desktops) were all very sound and trustworthy machines. I have a Dell 340 workstation and an older Dell 410 workstation that simply can't be killed.

It's just the machines sold to the general public and more 'low-end' that I think are 'marginal'. As far as support...ha. I worked for a corporation that bought Dell's exclusively...and a LOT of them. Dell's support was so poor we finally stopped calling them...found out what was wrong ourselves....and told them to send the parts (for free if under warranty). That is, if the machine wasn't 'DOA'....those just got sent back.

After a while we started buying IBM's...and I was impressed with their laptops, but not so much their desktops. The IBM laptops had built in 'drop senors' that detected a sudden change in height. I don't understand how it worked, but if you even took a machine and quickly 'lowered' it a few feet, it would turn off the hard drive instantly. That saved a bundle of money and time because the worst problem with laptops is hard drive failure due to 'impact related' issues......as in, impact with a desk or the ground! LOL Dell laptops had a failure rate of over 25% in the first year because of that alone.

**apple** · April 08, 2009, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by dvk901

. The IBM laptops had built in 'drop senors' that detected a sudden change in height. I don't understand how it worked, but if you even took a machine and quickly 'lowered' it a few feet, it would turn off the hard drive instantly.

It's because of a accelerometer that feels suden moves in hight. It's pretty much the same technology that in in the Wii remote and the iPhone.

**Arnspac** · April 08, 2009, 06:36 PM

Currently having issues with mine so I am looking at this puppy for under $1000;

SIGMA WINDSTORM WINDSTORM - ST Black 1.0 STEEL SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -

ASUS P5Q3 LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard -

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply -

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 -

or

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500 -

ZOTAC - ZT-98GES5P-FCP GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - ( 1 or 2 ? )

Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

ASUS V72 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler -
or
Thermaltake CL-P0114 120mm Big Typhoon CPU Cooler -

Memory..don't know...OCZ, Crucial or Kingston ??