LoserComputer

Okay, I'm having a problem with my graphics card and or graphics card drivers. Often when I go to open a game such as Oblivion, Combat Arms, Spore, etc, a whirring sound comes from the PC tower and it seems as if all graphics input is shut off. The screen goes black but remains on (I can't alt tab, alt f4, etc). Is this my graphics card or something else? If you need more information, feel free to ask, and I'll add it to the bottom of this post. My system and display specs are below:

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System Information
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Time of this report: 11/12/2008, 11:37:49
Machine name: JOHNDOE-PC
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080917-1612)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Studio 540
BIOS: BIOS Date: 08/11/08 16:57:20 Ver: 0.0.1
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 3326MB RAM
Page File: 1379MB used, 11875MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

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Display Devices
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Card name: ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9598)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9598&SUBSYS_22421028&REV_00
Display Memory: 1659 MB
Dedicated Memory: 252 MB
Shared Memory: 1407 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Dell E207WFP
Driver Name: atidxx32.dll,atidxx64,atiumdag.dll,atiumdva.cap,at iumd64,atiumd6a,atitmm64
Driver Version: 7.15.0010.0149 (English)DDI Version: 10.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 9/23/2008 22:08:17, 2201088 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp:

PLEASE HELP

Spazite

Its possibly the card overheating. Hows the hs/fan you have on there?
I had this problem with a 9800 pro and seen it happen once on my 4870 while the garbage hs/fans were on...wouldnt be surprised if more were having this issue (google?)
hows your power supply btw?

Dyre Straits

As most PC manufacturers tend to skimp on the PSU, that's my first suspicion, too.

What is the +12V Rail AMP rating? If it's not at least 25 A, I'd be looking to get a much better PSU than what came with your Dell.

The 'whirring' sound is likely the fan on the video card spinning up. These cards will run at slower speeds automatically when you're just in 2D applications. But, it will switch to 3D mode and faster speeds when you start up a game. That this whirring sound accompanies the black screen also makes me think the PSU isn't giving enough power to the video card.

I assume this is NOT the video card that came with this system. It appears you've already done some upgrading [ex. RAM] and maybe this has pushed the system beyond it's lab specs. Not surprising at all.

Good luck!

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Judas

it is very very VERY likely your running into a lack of power. Recently had a machine come in where the user had purchased a HD4670 which doesn't require an external power source and relies on the pci-ex bus for power only.

Unfortunately due to the manufacturer only providing enough power to the machine to basically run something along the lines of a nvidia 7300 or hd3200 series compariable card, the system would either decide randomly when to boot, when to randomly crash in windows, or simply drop the video producing a black screen or freeze OR for the display driver to continueously loop video (i've had a few cases that are seem very different all of which were related to not meeting the power requirements)

The fun stuff comes down to the power supply and it's REAL ratings.

While you can have a 600watt PSU, the real worth while wattage is all dependant on the 12v rails mostly. 600watt sound great until you realize that over 450watts are on the 5/3.3v rails which is completely beyond useless and stupid. that only leaves 150watts for basically the whole machine on the 12v rail which just isn't enough or barely enough for even the basic components to run. How the machine was working don't ask me.

like dyre said... 25a would be suggest minimum. However i wouldn't put anything under 32amp or 2x16amp as a minimum in most machines. For any of the more powerful systems, 36-40amp should be the minimum for the total combined power of the 12v rails. If your planning on running more then one video card, it would be wise to go with no less then a 60amp combined 12v output.

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