black screen of death during NTW menu screens

I've had this problem since NTW came out. If I linger any longer than 2 minutes in the NTW loading screens (choosing the options, loading a save game, discussing stuff with a friend in the lobby, etc.), I would get the black screen of death (the system would become non-responsive, the only solution being a power-button-reboot). The curious part is that I had no problem whatsoever if I got into the campaign (strategy map level and battles: all were fine), it was just the darned loading screens.

For the above reason, I gave up playing NTW for quite a while. Last night, I downloaded Starcraft II. Playing the tutorial: got the same black screen crash (suggesting my video card overheating). Since it was a new game (for my system), I checked my video card driver and, voila: there was a new ATI driver that came out a few weeks ago. After loading the new driver, Starcraft ran smoothly.

Great, I figured, now my NTW would be fixed too. Wrong! After loading NTW up, the game promptly crashed my system while I was sitting in the menu screen... Any ideas? By this time, surely there is some collective wisdom gathered on this topic?

Many thanks in advance.

Here is my dxdiag reading:

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System Information
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Time of this report: 2/2/2011, 23:37:42
Machine name: ****
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.100608-0458)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc
System Model: XPS 630i
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9550 @ 2.83GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 8188MB RAM
Page File: 1870MB used, 14557MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 64bit Unicode

--
---------------
Display Devices
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Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x9442)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9442&SUBSYS_05021028&REV_00
Display Memory: 743 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1000 MB
Shared Memory: 3838 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: LG W2361(Analog)
Driver Name: aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx32,aticfx32,aticfx32,atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver Version: 8.17.0010.1063 (English)
DDI Version: 10.1
BGRA Supported: Yes
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 1/4/2011 22:01:12, 708608 bytes

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p.s. I do not experience this problem with Empire Total War, just NTW.

The only driver version stable for your card is 10.5.

Fill this out. http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D27E29B0E3 It's their problem.

I had exactly the same NTW behavior (black-screen system crashes during NTW menu screens) with 10.5...

Anything in Windows Event Logs?

If Empire works, Napoleon should even on lower settings.

Before you reinstalled, did you delete both Napoleon folders, run a good registry cleaner, and reboot first?

Originally Posted by irishron

Anything in Windows Event Logs?

If Empire works, Napoleon should even on lower settings.

Before you reinstalled, did you delete both Napoleon folders, run a good registry cleaner, and reboot first?

Yup, did all that: no change. I have to check the windows logs though.

Note again, NTW works fine as long as I am inside a campaign or battle (no crashes, no glitches, all works smooth on ultra settings). The crashes happen only during the menu screens (when the movie is playing in the background).

In the case of a different game: Starcraft 2, an acknowledged problem (by the publisher) was graphics card overheating, which was caused by refresh rates not being limited during their menu screens. Essentially, the graphics card was being baked during the menu screens unless the player was inside their campaign. Their crash was resolved by adding two lines to the preferences file, setting upper limits for the refresh rates. I am wondering if there is something similar going on with NTW. Just not sure where I would specify those refresh rates in the case of NTW.

There is a way to diable them but I don't remeber how. You may want to check at the official forums. Someone there may know.

OK, the problem seems to go away when vsync is turned on. Without vsync, my frame rates were always between 250 and 1300 during the menu screens. Now they're down to 60-70 range. No more v-card cooking...

Thank you. It may help another player with the same problem.