Windows Vista Black Screen/ Power Saving Mode when opening up Games

Hey I've been having a problem playing games on my computer ever since I first bought it. What happens about 50-65% of the time is that when I double click on the game to open it when I get to the splash screen the screen just goes black and stays there and and I cant use Alt F4, ctrl alt del, windows key to get out and I'm forced to close the computer via power button. Sometimes the screen just goes into power saving mode instead of just staying black or just turns blue and has white lines coming down from the top and the computer just freezes. But about 45% of the time I can play games perfectly fine on my computer the hard part is just getting past the splash screen. Also when I play games like soldierfront which requires the screen to go black several times when you play it like when a match begin hat what was mentioned before will occur. I'd appreciate any help you guys can give me. I've updated my computer to Windows Vista SP2, updated all my drivers, etc. My graphics card is ATI Radeon HD 3650

 

Where did you get your driver updates from?
I'd suggest updating your ATI video drivers from the ATI website
And I'd update your storage drivers from the manufacturer of the chipsets/storage controller.

 

Yep thats where I got them(from the ati website), wait how do I update my storage driver?

 

Depends on who provided your storage controller. In most cases you can update the storage controller from the manufacturer of the motherboard or system. But, this doesn't assure you of the latest version (which is the one available at the storage controller manufacturer's website).

What is the make and model of your system (make and model of the mobo if custom built)?

 

Oh um it's a Dell Inspiron 530 and with an Intel(R)Core(TM)2 Duo CPU with 3.00GB Ram and its a 32 bit operating system

 

If John doesn't mind...

At the Dell download webpage, look up your Service Tag and input that. That will list the specific drivers for your system.
www.dell.com/support

 

Wait Mattman so I just go there and download all the updates that are there? Thanks for your help guys by the way I hope this works, but are there any other ways you think that I can fix my problem?(just in case this doesn't work).

 

Check if the games run on DirectX 10 or 9.0. You should be able to install version 9.0c if you need it.

I wondered if the game might need to "patched ", but it happens in different games, right? Anyway you might want to look for any patches at the games' website.

I think John's suggestions seem best to me. I recommend you install those chipset drivers, before the graphics.

Matt

 

I'm pretty sure they all work fine with Direct X because their pretty new like Empire: Total War, and I've already patched all of the games to the newest patches. But I'll try john's way and installing direct X 9.0c , but I don't know if it will work since I have vista and direct X 10.0 is already installed.

 

For some reason I also keep getting this message when I try to install my driver in the Video section at the drivers and downloads page for my computer " This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software. Setup Will Exit." But I don't know what to do make it work. I've tried updating everything and the driver update is specifically for my computer.

 

One thing that springs to mind is hard disk space. Do you have plenty of space? Where you found the download, you should be able to click on a link (or look further down that page) and it should list the System Requirements. You could try doing a websearch for your graphics adapter's model number along with the term "system requirements ".

For the games, in a websearch, put in the name of the game along with "system reqirements ".

Matt
PS ATI Radeon HD 3650 is not the model number, it is the chipset number.

 

Yeah I have about 139 GB free at the page there's actually no requirements just a compatiblity section that has Inspiron 530 included and thats it. Well I used systemrequirementslab.com for several of my games and it passed for all of them so I don't think requirements is the problem.

 

You still need to overcome that. You will need to read behind what it is telling you. The graphics adapter was supplied by Dell, the system has not been modified? If so, the Service Tag information and the drivers it offers are the ones you should rely on. Don't rely on so-called "driver updater" programs, I don't rely on Windows Updates to accurately identify drivers and "Search for updated drivers on the internet" in Device Manager only looks at the Windows Update website. I wouldn't even install drivers for an OEM machine from the ATI website, because they could conflict with software that the OEM manufacturer has installed.

At this stage I could only recommend you search or ask at the Dell Community Forums. If "non-Dell" software or the wrong drivers have been installed, it could be conflicting.

Matt

 

Okay thanks I'll try that and get back to you with what happens. Thanks for all your help so far =D I think my problem got better like it only goes black screen 20% of the time now.

 

ARGG No Luck after installing those drivers and updating current ones the screen still goes black or has those lines that come down. Do you guys know if there is anything else that I could do to make it better?

 

It seems like it's time to get pretty serious.

Have you uninstalled any listings for ATI in Control Panel -> Programs and Features. You should do that now before running any driver installers from now on.

Do you have anything like a TV adapter or something else that might be interfering with the drivers.

Don't remember if I asked, do have any original drivers that were supplied with the system? I always try those if others fail.

After you uninstall drivers and restart, if Windows New Hardware wizard runs, click Cancel, then run the drivers installer when you reach the desktop. You could possibly try using "Search for drivers on the internet ", it searches on the Windows Update sever, it might have drivers compatible with SP2.

Matt
PS Do a search at the ATI (AMD) website for a driver/software "complete" uninstaller.

 

Wait why do I need to uninstall any ATI products in Control Panel? I thought that it was suppose to help the drivers run or something. And nope I don't have a tv adapter. About the original drivers I don't think so because once I got the computer I just windows update and everything got updated =/. So right now your suggesting me to uninstall my current driver and install a new one from ati.com?

 

From what I have found in my experience, the graphics drivers and the software (graphics "manager ") are separate. Originally you would have had both Dell drivers and software...all was fine. It seems like you got graphics drivers from Windows Update. WU updates the drivers, not the software/manager, the software could then be a different version from the drivers and it might even be a Dell version of the software. Then it seems you got drivers (+) software from ATI. Unless you have reformatted and have no Dell software at all, Dell expect you to get all driver updates from them

The way I see it, the drivers and (versus) software/graphics manager do not match. The software is not a "helper ", it controls the graphics. You need to start uninstalling everything related to the graphics and start again, that's been my experience.

These are the factors I think are involved. The problem happens when running games, right? Games are graphics intensive, so you should check the game's System Requirements that your hardware (more than) meets the minimum. If you have one or more minimum requirements you will need to run the game on low settings. Check what version of DirectX the game runs on, Vista has DirectX 10, but it won't run my DirectX 9 game (I just gave up and run the game on my Windows XP, DirectX 9.0c computer). Is the graphics on your system built-in or an add-in card? If it is add-in and has a fan, check that the fan is running. Other than that, I can only suggest you completely uninstall any drivers/software (Control Panel -> Programs and Features) and start again (and that could include going to the ATI website and look up their "complete uninstaller ").

It sounds like you are hesitant to uninstall. As long as I have an installer I am confident should work (like the original one) I don't hesitate.

Matt

 

Oh okay thanks for explaining the difference of graphics drivers and the software =D, it helped somewhat. I guess I'll try and uninstall the current drivers and softwares and start again. Thanks for giving me this method because most other sites that I went to, they just said update drivers, update drivers!, update drivers!!. Btw about the graphics card, I believe it is built in because it came with the computer and I nvr added anything to the pc.

 

You should add your system details to your user profile (My System). Here are specifications
http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/dell-inspiron-530-desktop/1707-3118_7-32953389.html
(listed down the right-hand side), but you should get the original system specs from the Service Tag information at Dell. Just confirm that it agrees with what is listed in Device Manager (it hasn't been modified). The system information programs in my signature might be able to identify the hardware.