A few weeks ago my Son starts up Knights of the of the Old Republic and his Video loses signal.
I tried replacing the Card (he has an EVGA 460 GTX) with an old EVGA 9800 GTX, same thing right after Windows logo, screen goes dark.
I tried a different monitor.. same...
I went to Microcenter, bought him a new PSU, and its all better.. He's playing for two weeks.. Civ V, Grand Theft Auto V. CK2.. Various other First Person Shooters... not a hitch.. works great.
Last night he fires up Knights of the Old Republic (God knows why) and we are back to the same thing. Just seems really wacked to me.. how an old game could do something like this? I removed his drivers... With vga it stays up, looks beautiful (I didn't try to play anything). Reinstalled NVidia and down it goes again after Windows Loads. with Safe Mode or the drivers gone, stays up forever. I"m thinking PSU again, but wanted to be sure before I return it.. Just thought it was wacked that an 'old game' could do this. I was thinking today I try and remove everything from start up.
Seems unlikely, but just out of curiosity, how many watts? Also, where did you get the game from? GOG? Steam? Original disc?
Think before he had a 550W.. The one I just bought was 600W Cosair.
He said he got the game off the website of the game..What is it free now? I get my Star Wars games mixed up.
KOTOR is still being sold by Steam and GOG, so the odds that your boy got it for "free" from the official website are slim to none. Odds are he doesn't want to tell you where he really got it, but he probably picked up some malware or a virus along the way.
No, he's a pretty honest kid he wouldn't 'lie' to me about it.. I just googled top link is Play Free Now
Been Googling and it says something about Knights forcing hard code 60 Hz.. and that Windows registers as 59.. Thinking it tried to make a change to Windows.. gonna try a system restore..
Star Wars the old republic is free to play. Knights of the old republic is not. Two completely different games.
I'm going with malware.
My introduction to power supply issues came in the early '90's when I bought my first computer, a cheap Korean collection of parts, most of which had to be upgraded. Back in those days you needed two sound cards, one for speech and one for orchestral music. It's been a while, but I remember that my orchestral sound card reproduced music beautifully because it was essentially a music synthesizer adapted into a sound card. Orchestral music from my computer sounded better than orchestral music from my sound system (vinyl, cd's, and tapes).
One night I was flying a bombing mission over the docks in Panama when I became aware that I was being tracked by an incoming surface to air missile. I took what I thought was the necessary evasive action, but couldn't outturn it. Then something really impressive happened. I heard nasty noises because my plane was crashing and burning. I saw fire and smoke in the cockpit. And I smelled smoke. That blew me away -- I had no idea that a computer simulation could be so realistic. The smoke continued and the fire spread from my cockpit to my computer. Something shorted out, my motherboard was fried, and the computer was a total loss. The cost of data recovery was comparable to the cost of a new computer, so I took my lumps and walked away.
Two sound cards, joystick, throttle, and rudder pedals all in use at the same time can use a lot of power. The next three or four times I bought a computer I went through the drill of making sure the electrical system was over-powered so that this would never happen again. Buying my last computer was a little scary because I couldn't get my hands on a clear accounting of how much was needed to power the parts, but I decided not to get too worked up over it because I had an extended warranty and everything that was being installed inside the computer was put there by the manufacturer (who's really just the assembler these days). If something breaks or burns out, I'll invoke my warranty and the manufacturer will probably give me an upgrade.
I'm not sure this really addresses the issue, but needing to replace a psu after a burn-out doesn't strike me as the worst thing that can happen.
The next point isn't really related, but falls under the rubric of "specific games can do weird things to your computer". I played LOTRO back in the early days before I gave up on online games. I remember that my video card suddenly started producing weird and extreme artifacts in-game, and then the problem (in slightly different form) spread to the graphic displays in other applications. I was under warranty and policies were different in those days, so when my video card was replaced it was upgraded to a really expensive model that I never would have shelled out for in the first place. But in the process of replacing the card I found out that the game had apparently been breaking one particular class of video card, and it wasn't just me -- lots of people had been having that particular problem. And that was when I learned to love warranties.
I looked in Add Remove Programs.. it is Star Wars the Old Republic.. sorry my bad.. Trying a restore now.. I'm thinking maybe PSU is ok and it's just some how forcing Windows to a refresh that the Monitor can't take..
Like I said before when this happened I tried a different monitor and video card and it didn't resolve. After I got the new PSU all was well.. for two weeks of heavy gaming.. My Son plays a lot.. he hasn't played much this week because of Drivers Ed Classes but he's still on at night.. and then Poof when he started 'that' game.. same issue.. just like before..
Correction it's Star Wars the Old Republic as Bison stated.
There are some card, cpu conflicts out there that require a bios update (Nvidia 970 and Dell XPS7800 being one you can Google).
Good luck.
Yeah, KOTOR is ten bucks on Steam and probably similar on GOG. You're not getting it for free unless it's acquired from a site like Pirate Bay or something similar.
That said I have it on my PC, and it ran fine until I got to the final world. Started having issues with followers not following and other weird stuff. I think it was just in-game bugs though. No hardware issues that I recall.
If it's using a "no cd" crack for the program .exe, that could have some bad code that isn't playing nicely with the NVIDIA drivers. That would be my bet.
No, I apologize can't get the word Knights' out of my head.. it's Star Wars the old republic that is Free... as Bison said..
Is it shutting the system off or just going to a blank screen? If it's a blank screen, I'd validate the SWTOR files. I've experienced SWTOR freezing (including black screen), but it was resolved validating my files.
Basically the computer loses Video Feed after loading Windows.. Screen goes black.. PC is still on.. and functioning.. I can hit Windows Key and Tab twice and do a shut down..
I can boot in safe mode and it stays up fine.. it's been up for awhile doing disk check and restore now..
I removed the Video Drivers so it was on VGA and it stayed up fine as well.
But if I reinstall Drivers I used a 'cleaner' and downloaded the latest from EVGA.. It goes Black after loading Windows...
The first time this happened I tried a different Monitor and Video card and the same..
Weird. It sounds to me like you will need to break the bad news to the wife. Something like this: "Honey, I'm giving the boy my computer, which means I'm going to be buying a new one for myself. Sorry, babe. I was really working hard for this not to happen, but it's the only option left." And then hang your head in shame as you sleep on the couch for the next 2 to 3 weeks, all the while secretly smiling on the inside because of the new computer.
Quote from: Bison on July 16, 2015, 12:15:49 PM
Weird. It sounds to me like you will need to break the bad news to the wife. Something like this: "Honey, I'm giving the boy my computer, which means I'm going to be buying a new one for myself. Sorry, babe. I was really working hard for this not to happen, but it's the only option left." And then hang your head in shame as you sleep on the couch for the next 2 to 3 weeks, all the while secretly smiling on the inside because of the new computer.
Heh. I'm trying that gambit right now.... "Honey I've tried fixing your computer but I think it's toast. Maybe you should take mine and I'll get a new one. We can use your business to write off part of the expense." Soon... soon....
Quote from: Barthheart on July 16, 2015, 12:29:06 PM
Quote from: Bison on July 16, 2015, 12:15:49 PM
Weird. It sounds to me like you will need to break the bad news to the wife. Something like this: "Honey, I'm giving the boy my computer, which means I'm going to be buying a new one for myself. Sorry, babe. I was really working hard for this not to happen, but it's the only option left." And then hang your head in shame as you sleep on the couch for the next 2 to 3 weeks, all the while secretly smiling on the inside because of the new computer.
Heh. I'm trying that gambit right now.... "Honey I've tried fixing your computer but I think it's toast. Maybe you should take mine and I'll get a new one. We can use your business to write off part of the expense." Soon... soon....
I new you guys would have some good recommendations!!! O0
K.. system restore said it failed on two different end points.. Rebooted.. video looked really wacked and fragmented during BIOS and Windows Load then it Blue Screened.. and now it came up ok!... Something must've happened Video Driver wise, that my uninstall and cleaning didn't get rid of...
The real test will be when he comes home, to start playing... crossing fingers..
He's playing GTA V and all seems well.. so basically the Star Wars game hosed his video driver so bad that it was corrupted file, so when I removed the drivers trying to fix, that didn't even work.
Some reason the 'failed' system restore's dskcheck I think got rid of the bad file.
I told him no more trying to play that game, at least not with his current configuration.
I also downloaded Malware Bytes after and did a scan.. nothing Malicious...
Usually if it loses feed to the monitor, Windows or DirectX or OpenGL or whatever is trying to govern the videocard, is asking for a resolution OR a redreshrate the monitor doesn't support.
I've ran into a similar problem once.
I could start in Safe Mode and get rid of the conflicting software.
I am glad your problem seems to be sorted.
If I were to place bets I would say its driver issue, but one of the rarer variety. You say the computer performs normally otherwise, so unless your son really cares about the game, just don't play it I suppose (which sounds like your solution).
If it was just killing you to find out, try updating other drivers (especially sound). If had issues before I swore were related to my video card that turned out to be old drivers on my sound card.
Yeah. .I told him skip that game.. like us he's got many others to keep his attention.. and like us his gaming ADD was making him listen to his friends to try out this game. But he knows better now. I think it's just a fluke thing with his configuration and that game, some day if he upgrades his Video card or something he can try again. But why bother, we have so many games to choose from!
KOTOR and KOTOR II had some really weird bugs.
I recall KOTOR having to be patches shortly after it's release, years ago, due to some specific motherboard compatibility issues. Which is unusual.
I've also had KOTOR II repeatedly bug out on me in the most odd way, with a couple different computers. Character movement would freeze, but the rest of the game would just continue running. I could never get past the first area because my 3D character would stop mid-stride and I couldn't move anymore, but I could see distant enemy mobs wandering around per usual and the sounds were still running.
After checking into the latter problem, it's supposedly a hardware compatibility issue. Most odd freeze bug I've ever had was with the KOTOR engine. ???
It isn't unheard of for a game to blow up a monitor. (http://www.oldmanmurray.com/longreviews/60.html) ;)
Yeah that's the thing, if the Game Crashes and won't run, that's one thing. But when it knocks a PC out of commission, my 16 year old was very sad.. Glad I was lucky enough to resolve.
If it had only happen the once, i would've said fluke. But when he's running fine for two weeks after the first incident and the first time he fires up the game again, same thing happens! May have just been a fluke of 'his' configuration, but still not worth the risk where he can run everything else in the world fine.
If it's working in Safe Mode and if you keep it in plain vanilla VGA, you either have a bad video driver of some sort, or something wrong with the video card. Since it runs fine with anything other than that game I'd say the game is chewing up the video driver. Something about it and that driver aren't getting along.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on July 17, 2015, 01:17:57 AM
It isn't unheard of for a game to blow up a monitor. (http://www.oldmanmurray.com/longreviews/60.html) ;)
This is a classic review. This poor bastard would be hounded by a crowd of PC SJW assholes until he was in financial ruin and his character destroyed for writing an awesomely hilarious review, because it's insensitive and uses hurtful words.
It's amazing isn't it? I wheel it out whenever the opportunity presents itself. I mean, this is gold:
QuoteAt this point, you might be wondering whether my monitor was about to die anyway. All I can say is that why don't you try using that same logic on the surviving family members of people killed in a plane crash and see how it holds up there. Freedom: First Resistance BLEW UP MY MONITOR
QuoteI still haven't revealed whether Freedom is worth your four hundred and eighy three dollars and sevety four cents, but I would like to request that Red Storm not send us any more "free" copies of their games, especially the ones that BLOW UP YOUR MONITOR
:2funny:
Quote from: Bison on July 18, 2015, 09:13:00 AM
Quote from: Huw the Poo on July 17, 2015, 01:17:57 AM
It isn't unheard of for a game to blow up a monitor. (http://www.oldmanmurray.com/longreviews/60.html) ;)
This is a classic review. This poor bastard would be hounded by a crowd of PC SJW assholes until he was in financial ruin and his character destroyed for writing an awesomely hilarious review, because it's insensitive and uses hurtful words.
Forgot about that one. Both tragic and funny.
Oddly enough - the last pair of screenshots show a game window interface that looks
exactly like those in the KOTOR series. Even though the original KOTOR didn't come out until around 2003 or 2004 and the review date listed is 2000. ???
Was that an earlier version of the engine or something?