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Black screen of death constantly encountered playing games using Windows XP
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Tennessee
Status:
Offline
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Hello,
I have been to countless forums asking for help about this, and so far, no one has been able to help me. This place seems like a fairly active, helpful forum, so I figured I would try here as well.
I'm using a 15" dual core MacBook Pro. Here are its specs:
2.8 GHz Dual Core Intel Processor
512 MB 9600M GT nVidia GPU
4 GB RAM
Windows XP Home Edition SP3 (pretty much the same thing as Professional)
I am bashing my head against a wall trying to figure out what is the problem.  Some of my games work fine (GTA IV, Fallout 3, Battlefield 1942, Counterstrike Source, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, and Ghostbusters are all pretty much ok), but others do not (Dead Space and Wolfenstein). Lately since I've been at college, I've been playing single-player games because the internet here doesn't allow online gaming. So I've been particularly wanting to play Dead Space and Wolfenstein. But I digress.
I have tried updating my drivers through nVidia's website to no success. My Boot Camp version IS 2.1 as well, in case you are wondering. I have tried lowering my video card settings, propping up my laptop and pointing a fan at it to allowe more air flow to no success as well.
So you can understand my dilemma. I just want to take advantage of my sweet specs to enjoy gaming here at college because there's not a lot else to do. I appreciate any help you can provide, as long as it takes. Thank you very much in advance.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Virginia
Status:
Offline
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Regarding Dead Space
Do you have ZoneAlarm or another security suite running...it seems ZoneAlarm causes a conflict. Also, it seems installing the game anywhere except the default location causes issues as well. Some other people suggest killing all unnecessary processes but this seems extreme and annoying to have to do...
Regarding Wolfenstein (2009)
Some people recommend disabling desktop effects (Vista), there's a slew of things to try here (along with another link)...seems the screen resolution and/or refresh rate (refresh rate would be a weird cause) have been reported to be the cause.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Tennessee
Status:
Offline
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I have tried running both games with my AVG closed to no success. I installed Dead Space to its default location.
Regarding Wolfenstein, I am trying the solution to problem 9, but whenever I try to add this: +set r_displayRefresh “85″ +set r_customwidth “1024″ +set r_customheight “768″
to the target line, it says it's not valid or something. Any help would be appreciated.
I also have a sneaking suspicion that this problem is related to Boot Camp and its configuration of drivers, so I doubt these fixes would help. But I will try anything anyone posts here nonetheless. I appreciate your help.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Virginia
Status:
Offline
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I installed BootCamp initially, then nVidia released a newer set of video drivers which I installed on top of Apple's drivers with no problem (I was prompted to install them by Windows)...
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Tennessee
Status:
Offline
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What version of nVidia's drivers do you have? I have the absolute latest ones...
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Sep 2009
Status:
Offline
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Sure you didn't already pcik up a virus?
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Tennessee
Status:
Offline
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Originally Posted by diverz3d 
Sure you didn't already pcik up a virus?
Why would a virus be the problem? And yes, I'm sure that is not the problem...
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Virginia
Status:
Offline
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Originally Posted by Rogue15
Why would a virus be the problem? And yes, I'm sure that is not the problem...
Is that because ZoneAlarm reported all clean  Can you try disabling your security software and trying to run a game that previously didn't work?
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Tennessee
Status:
Offline
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Tried disabling my AVG, didn't help matters. Thanks for the help, though.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Tennessee
Status:
Offline
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Just wanted to give everyone an update. After browsing several support forums, it seems this issue occurs due to a faulty GPU. So I contacted Apple, and they said they'll have to replace the entire motherboard. I'll be sending them my MacBook Pro on Friday and expect it back in a week. They said they would also run strenuous tests to make sure it works before sending it back as well. Luckily this repair is covered by my limited warranty.
I'm just happy the problem will finally be fixed. There was literally nothing I could do from my end. Hooray for Apple Support.
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