black screen and stuck that way

[phatzo]

when I click on the ah shortcut screen goes black and locks like that

[Skuzzy]

Need to see a DXDIAG output.  Did this just start happening?  Was the game running fine before?

[mtn-paradoc]

happened to me too

played for about 6 weeks no problem then last week....black screen.

the tech guy at my server says to ask:
    what protocol do you use?
    what ports do you use?  ( i did some reading and you use 2000-6000) ( tcp protocol?)

I make fun of my son and his xbox......now he's laughing at me as i go through withdrawl. any help would be great....i need to be back by friday...you know     fso's

[phatzo]

my joystick chat itself and I was fooling and i was looking at stuff in options. I opened the graphics card page then closed it and the screen went black. It has now started to do it even as early as startup (lucky to get this post in) Maybe a virus I think now. going to start up ah and see if it happens again.

[The Fugitive]

by deleting the video.cfg file in the aces high folder you can reset your video setting to default. If you changed something that doesn't agree with your computer this might help

[phatzo]

re downloaded ah seems ok now except for broken stick. thanks for the replies folks, anything helps as I'm basicly computer illiterate.

[Skuzzy]

It's actually "video8.cfg".

[phatzo]

ok had trouble finding that thanks skuzzy will look for video8 when I get home from work. Also due to a plumbing problem the carpet has recently been wet in there so it has been suggested to me to pull it out and hit it with contact cleaner as there could be a dry contact. As you can probably tell the re download has started to fail. I had the same trouble logging into battlefield heroes, when in internet explorer the page sort off shimmers.

[phatzo]

this is getting wierd
new stick all good
pulled out graphics card and cleand it with aerosol contact cleaner, put the computer back togeather and it works, until, I pulled too many g's in a c202 and blacked out. Ahhhh black screen, the only way back is to hit the windows key then restore ah2, all good again till the next blackout?
I will be trying hard not to black out.

[Denholm]

This sounds more similar to a driver, video card, or power issue than a virus to me. A virus wouldn't stop blacking out your screen because you reinstalled a game. Check to see if there are newer drivers available online for your video card. If there are, use a driver cleaner to remove any traces of your video card's drivers, then install the new drivers. Let us know how that turns out.

EDIT: Are you using Windows Vista?

[phatzo]

vista home premium

[Denholm]

Okay, I would start by ensuring Aces High is not installed in the Program Files folder. Typically it is installed to C:\Program Files\HTC\Aces High II\

If that is the case with you, move the entire Aces High II folder to a different location such as C:\Games\HTC\
That might clear up some issues. Secondly, you will want to disable the following two services:
ReadyBoost
SuperFetch
To disable them, go to the start menu and search for: services.msc
Once the services dialog opens, find ReadyBoost, double-click it, now change the startup type to, "Disabled." Do the same to SuperFetch, then stop both services.

See how the game plays afterward. If it is still giving you trouble, see if there are newer drivers for your video card/chipset. If there are, download them then use a free driver cleaning utility such as this one to remove any traces of your current video drivers. After they have been removed, install the newer drivers and see if they resolve any of the issues you're encountering.

NOTE: The driver cleaning utility locates drivers for more than just your video card/chipset. Don't assume anything listed is associated with your video card/chipset!

[Babalonian]

Helpful info in here, thanks in advance if it helps me with my current problem.


Last night I had AH minimized while I was reading some email.  My new kitten decided at this moment to play with the extension cord that powers my network and computer.  Everything just shut down on me, and then I rebooted.  Started up AH and everything went black screen, but my PC was still processing, so I wait it out for two-three minutes and then either A) windows blue screen of death or B) AH generates an error, crashing to desktop, and then my desktop is stuck in 800x600 resolution and 8-bit color (requiring a restart to fix).

Everything worked fine before my cat decided to play with the shiney "warning, potential for electrical shock" sticker near the end of the plug.

I've reinstalled AH but figure there is a configuration/setting file that may not be removed with the uninstall.

It's actually "video8.cfg".

I'm going to try reinstalling it again and make sure this file has been deleted.

I tried updating my graphics driver too, but I guess it doesn't like my computer (or is a bad driver release) because when I install it and reboot, my computer keeps rebooting after inititalizing windows (reverting to an older driver after booting in safe mode fixed that problem though).

My troubleshooting list for tonight is:
1) reinstall Direct X
2) run a Direct X diagnosis (DXDiag)
3) see if a driver update has been released that doesn't bork my computer
4) remove the video settings file for AH (I've already reinstalled it three times, I doubt I need to reinstall it again and remove the video settings file).
5) pray that one of the above works, because if it doesn't then I get to spend the rest of my evening reformating my HD and reinstalling windows (assuming that it may of been corrupted and is the source of my problems).

Any help would be apreciated.

[phatzo]

looks like our problems are related
I'll be watching your posts

[Denholm]

Did your kitten manage to chew through the cable? I really doubt the kitten had anything to do with this unless the kitten got shocked, then I might consider that voltage really messed with your computer.

I really am out of ideas. I know that the BSOD is caused by some form of internal system error. Either a driver conflict, bad memory, or another component that is overheating/going bad. So you might want to check the health of your system components (and perhaps even your drivers) before you reformat. Hey, if you fix it we both benefit by learning something new about the computer.