The Black screen of death

[drmsucks]

Check your shutdown temps in the BIOS - what are they?

[Costin]

The computer is still running when the screen goes black.

[Costin]

I'll double check the shutdown temps when I get home later.

[drmsucks]

Just to make sure that we're communicating - Enter the BIOS and see what the set temperatures are to shut down or slow down the computer.

[Costin]

Righto!

[Costin]

Unable to find shutdown temps in BIOS, opened everything. I have reloaded XP and still no real difference except the screen freezes for 2 to 3 mins with audio loop before going black and the audio still looping in the back ground. Also have loaded the latest drivers for the ATi 9600 (73Mb), checked the refresh rate and droped from 85hz to 60hz but still the problem persists only now it freezes and fails before even getting to the game, you are in the prelim/login/setup screen when it dies.

I have a new faster CPU arriving any day, I have been to the AMD website and copied drivers for it. What is the process for changing out a CPU?

[drmsucks]

Unable to find shutdown temps in BIOS, opened everything. I have reloaded XP and still no real difference

Surprised that there are no cutoff temps in the BIOS. Not surprised that the Windows re-install didn't help; most likely a temp, driver or hardware issue, I think.

To install your new CPU, first remove the old one: shutdown and unplug computer. Ground yourself. Unplug CPU fan lead,  unfasten heatsink from CPU socket, lift lever on CPU socket, gently lift heatsink and CPU out of socket.

If you're going to re-use the heatsink, remove the CPU, remove ALL thermal compound from heatsink (a credit card is good to use and then finish cleaning with isopropyl alcohol).

To install: raise lever on CPU socket, align CPU with socket - examine closely to be sure that socket and CPU are matched, gently place CPU into socket, gently press down on CPU while locking the socket lever down, place a small amount of thermal compound (about 3/8") onto CPU, fit heatsink to CPU and socket, plug in fan lead. Double check to be sure that fan lead is properly connected! Check all motherboard and other connections to be sure that you didn't accidentally disconnect anything.

After you get a successful boot, install the AMD drivers per AMD instructions.

Let us know how you make out and if you are still having problems.

Best of luck.

[Costin]

Motherboard, Motherboard, Motherboard Bugger

On the plus side it is an excellant excuse to upgrade the PC to a kick *censored* machine.

Thank you all for your helpful imputs

[drmsucks]

How did you attribute your problems to the motherboard?

[h0w]

is there any lights on the motherboard when the "freeze" happens? if so, what color are they?

[Costin]

Well everything other than the motherboard had been replaced, so I borrowed a motherboard and nvidia graphiics card from him. This combination works on BF2142 so we knew it was good. So after install and reload of windows as it was a faster motherboard, it kept cycling in the bios all was sweet and the game has worked without issue for the past 5 days.

When it ised to freeze on the old motherboard the led on it was green and remained so just as it did during normal ops.