Solved All games not working...

[JaidynM]

I wasn't really sure where to put this so I just decided to here.

Anyway, last week started playing Portal again but as I finished the 1st level, my monitor went blank and a message popped up saying 'Monitor is going to sleep...'. The lights on my wireless keyboard/mouse modem went off (so I'm assuming it turned off). This happened every time I tried it and thinking it was just the game, I gave up.

Just today, I started re-playing Fable: The Lost Chapters. About a minute in, exactly the same thing happened. I tried again, and the same thing happened. I tried with Halo: Combat Evolved and the same thing happened.

I have no idea what's happening so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jaidyn

 

[Britton30]

Type power in the start search box, Power Options>Change Settings>Advanced Options and see if the sleep time is set too low. If so adjust to your liking. The advanced options will allow you to change many parameters for sleep.

 

[JaidynM]

I set it to High Performance. Thanks for your help.

 

[wysiwyg]

Check your graphics card, I had the same problem, changed GPU, (upgraded) SOLVED.

 

[JaidynM]

Hmmmm.... The game lasted 20 seconds longer this time but the same thing happened. Any solutions? Short of buying a new graphics card?

 

[Dwarf]

Try downloading GPU-Z Download TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.5.3 | techPowerUp

Run the program, and select the Sensors tab. Check the options Log to file (accept the default filename and location) and Continue refreshing this screen while GPU-Z is in the background.

Use your computer as normal. The log file will automatically be updated in the background. The next time this happens, check the log file. I suspect that it could be an overheating issue, and that your card is turning itself off.

 

[JaidynM]

I have to restart the computer after this happens. I assume the log will still be available after a restart?

 

[Dwarf]

It should be.

 

[Britton30]

Sorry the power settings didn't help you. Have you changed/upgraded any hardware recently? Aside from a possible graphics chip melt down, there is a possibility of the monitor being bad too. I recently had one go bad after only 18 months.

Is your graphics built-in the motherboard?
EDIT: I checked the spec, yes it is. There is a graphics driver dated 7/15/2010, V8.15.10.2119, check to see if yours is up to date.
New BIOS too 12/8/2010, P5G41T-M LX 0604. There is a beta BIOS listed, but I never use a beta BIOS and don't generally recommend updating unless there is a problem, which you do have.

P5G41T-M LX Downloads

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

Could be a heat issue make sure all fans are working, and evict all dust monsters from inside the case....

 

[JaidynM]

Try downloading GPU-Z Download TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.5.3 | techPowerUp

Run the program, and select the Sensors tab. Check the options Log to file (accept the default filename and location) and Continue refreshing this screen while GPU-Z is in the background.

Use your computer as normal. The log file will automatically be updated in the background. The next time this happens, check the log file. I suspect that it could be an overheating issue, and that your card is turning itself off.

I've attached the log file. Hope it tells you something...

Sorry the power settings didn't help you. Have you changed/upgraded any hardware recently? Aside from a possible graphics chip melt down, there is a possibility of the monitor being bad too. I recently had one go bad after only 18 months.

Is your graphics built-in the motherboard?
EDIT: I checked the spec, yes it is. There is a graphics driver dated 7/15/2010, V8.15.10.2119, check to see if yours is up to date.
New BIOS too 12/8/2010, P5G41T-M LX 0604. There is a beta BIOS listed, but I never use a beta BIOS and don't generally recommend updating unless there is a problem, which you do have.

P5G41T-M LX Downloads

Yeah, seeing as I got my computer recently, they should be up to date. I'll check though, just in case. Thanks for that. Even if the drivers aren't the problem, it'll still be good to update them.

Could be a heat issue make sure all fans are working, and evict all dust monsters from inside the case....

Could be, could be. I'll be buying my new Graphics card soon so I'll check when I put it in... but of course, if it's the graphics card's fault, the fans should be fine.

 

[Dwarf]

Sorry, but that's not giving the information required. I was looking for the temperature readings, all I could see were the clock frequencies. If the graphics are on-board, that might explain it.

However, I feel that it is a graphics issue, particularly if you only get this happening when playing games, which are far more GPU intensive than mere email, web browsing, and office work.

If you are using the on-board solution, then you should consider getting a graphics card as you will not only find an improvement in performance office work-wise, but also that you will be able to play games without your system locking up.

 

[JaidynM]

Hm, I thought it was a bit empty. Anyway, I'd already posted a thread to find out what the best graphics card I could get within my price range. I received many helpful answers and although it took a while, I settled on a graphics card (with a lot of help from Fumz).

This thread was merely to see gaming with my current graphics card was so bad. Thanks for your help though. It's helped me realise that I need to get on with actually buying the card. I've been putting it off for a while and now, I need to take action.

Thanks
Jaidyn

 

[Britton30]

I will go along with Dwarf's feeling that if all the other suggestions are no help, you need a discrete graphics card. If you've confirmed up-to-date drivers and the monitor is not defective, go get that big-boy card.
For ideas on which one, read through this section on Gaming and Graphics cards.