Windows 7: System stops responding upon starting game in fullscreen

Hi all,

I'm troubled by a problem that's been bothering me for quite some time so was hoping to get some help here. I'm a relatively new user to Windows 7 so I was hoping to get some solution to my problem here.

When I play certain games in fullscreen mode, the screen would just freeze at a blank screen with no cursor or any response. There is processing going on because the harddisk light is blinking but otherwise everything else freezes, even the Caps or Num lock key doesn't respond. I always have to do a hard reset and it's very damaging to the system according to what I know.

From what I could gather, it seemed like a resolution conflict or some sort because my laptop has a weird resolution at 1366 X 768 (ATI Radeon 5730) and if I managed to change the game to start in windowed mode, it works. However, not all games can be made to start in windowed mode that easily so I'm stuck with having to try my luck every now and then and pray the game doesn't freeze the system.

So my question(s) are:
1) Is there anyway to go to task manager to shutdown the unresponding program?
2) Will Windows 7 automatically pop back to the desktop when it detects the unresponsive program?

Any other help would be appreciated.

First, did you check the game requirements for the games that are giving you problems? I don't know anything about ATI cards, hence, why I ask.

If that is not the problem, then try updating your current audio and video drivers. Also, if your monitor is only capable of that resolution, switch the game (game options) to that resolution as well.

Try also to disable the Aero in Windows 7

Hi AstaLaVista,

Thanks for replying.

With regards to the game resolution, if I can locate the options file, I will usually manually switch the options to windowed mode as that is almost guaranteed to start any game. The problem is some games do not have such an obvious config file and I'm left with having to pray whenever I double-click the game icon. I think I might have to change my screen resolution to be reverse-compatible with the game instead?

Game requirement-wise, I'm not playing particularly high-end games so it shouldn't be a problem? I have no problems running L4D2 or the slightly older Half-Life 2 but for some reason, I'm having issues with supposedly less demanding games like World of Goo or Avernum 6. It is true that it could be a graphics card compatibility issue so I might have to look into that in detail I guess, ditto for the disabling Aero.

Still, how do you all get out of a hung application situation? Previously the task manager could be brought up with Ctrl-Alt-Del and I could manually shutdown the program. The new sequence in Windows 7 is supposedly Ctrl-Shift-Esc but that doesn't work so am I really down to the last option of having to do a hard reset whenever the game hangs my system at a blank screen?

Thanks for the suggestions.

Hey man, I Have the EXACT same problem. I can't play modernwarfare 2 or 1 on my comp. It used to run perfectly before then I updated my windows 7 and all went down.
I havent been able to play anything since the end of August.
If you get a solution PLEASE POST IT. I will do the same if I find something.
Thanks

Hey guys, I also wanted to put this down ontop of the same problem as StVier.
Since the windows update, my startup has also been down. Meaning when the screen shows saying "Windows Starting" with the 4 colorfull windows; all of a sudden the 4 windows stop in one place and the computer hangs. ctrl+alt+del or any combinition of keys stops working. Then I have to pulg out plug in and do a hard reset. I have a feeling my superdooper computer is going to hell
Any help will be greatly appretiated.

When you say windows update... what exactly are you referring to?

Are you saying you had Win 7 and you did a Windows Update? if so, your drivers probably got screwed up by Windows update. I always update my drivers straight from the manufacturer's site.

If you had Windows XP or Vista and you did an Upgrade to Windows 7, this is always a No-No since there are always corrupt files and/or files that don't like the transfer and/or are not compatible. Don't quote me on it, it is what I have heard and read (even here)... you always want to do a Full Install.

Things you may try?

Update your drivers again (Video & Audio).

Do a Win 7 repair with your CD/DVD.

Hey man, thanks for the reply.
Sorry about the confusion, I meant that I did a windows update (Meaning I downloaded windows updates. I did NOT update from Vista to 7) and everything got messed up. Then I tried to do a system restore which obviously did not work. Then I downloaded ALL new drivers from acer (installed em restarted and yada yada). Finally when that didn't work, I stopped playing MW2 and switched to my old laptop and RED ALERT 2.
I've been searching for a solution to this problem since school started but I don't think I will be able to solve it untill school ends.
I guess I will format my windows in April and this time I'm going to install Windows XP 64 bit.
I've had enough with Software Engineering failures from Microsoft.