HELP! :( Blackscreen Error, Support having trouble with it.

I've been having a problem for some time now and I swear me and support have gone through everything and still it keeps happening. I'm about to buy a new graphics card to test and see if "both" my graphics cards have failed at the same time or what. Here's the situation....

I get a blackscreen of lockup after 5 minutes to an hour and a half regularly. It's quite random. I talked with EVGA to get help with the issue as it must be the GFx card or the motherboard that I have from them. Neither one can be isolated as it happens nomatter which one is primary and which is not in use. So either both my Nvidia 285's are having the same error or its not the GFx card. Temps, btw, are stable. So we rule out the graphics cards because 2 won't fail the same way at the same time.

Try the motherboard. Temps are stable except we are concerned with a temperature reading of 70 celcius which turns out to be the VREG which is always going to be hot and doesn't exceed 79 celcius. Motherboard has the most recent drivers and BIOS so thats all we can test there. We run the intel test program on the processor, it checks out ok. We run memtest on the ram, it checks out ok. We run a Western Digital HD test on the Hard Disk, it checks out. And thats as far as I can get with them since all their stuff checks out.

I try working with Support at NCSoft. We test the temps again. Run the basic diagnostic tool for their game and send a DirectX report in. All clear. Drivers for the Graphics cards are newest and driver sweeper has been run. Installation verified of course and I even went to the point of reinstalling Windows 7 64 bit in the hopes it would fix something and updated all drivers again. I have checked the processes in task manager to monitor my Ram and it does go to 1.3 Gigs of ram before a crash but thats not that much and I have checked my event log to try and find something that triggers it but so far nothing. We even uninstalled all the drivers for my mouse/keyboard/and gamepad and disabled all startup programs before testing and still no improvement.

I need help from a genius here. Everyone I explain this to gets stumped. It won't even run in safe mode but I can still play $t@rcr@ft 2 without a hitch. Whats going on. There is sometimes a sound loop but not always and theres no way to recover other than hard shut down. The randomness indicates drivers/program error/or memory leak. But the blackscreen indicates motherboard/graphics/or memory failure. What to do please help!

CoH Helper!


---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at September 24, 2011 17:02 (-06:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.110622-1506)
System Manufacturer: OEM
System Model: OEM
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 965 @ 3.20GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 6144MB
.Net Memory Report: 4661MB out of 6135MB available
Page File: 10603MB (1664MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD3000HLFS-01G6U0) 203498MB out of 286157MB (71%) free
D Drive: (ATAPI iHAS324 A) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7601.17514 (64-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce GTX 285
Video Memory: 3813 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.12.6089
Driver Date: 10/8/2010 2:47:00 AM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.6449
Driver Date: 8/30/2011 5:28:46 PM

Sound Device Description: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.6449
Driver Date: 8/30/2011 5:28:46 PM

Sound Device Description: Realtek HDMI Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.6449
Driver Date: 8/30/2011 5:28:46 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: EVGA
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: X58 SLI Classified
Motherboard Version: Tylersburg
BIOS Manufacturer: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
BIOS Name: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
BIOS Version: IntelR - 42302e31
BIOS Release: 20110420000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1916x1174
3D Resolution: 1916x1174 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: No
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes


Physics Quality: High
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: Off
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: Ultra quality
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: High


World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: No
Shadow Mode: Unknown (4)
Shadow Map Shader: High quality
Environmental Reflections: High quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: High quality
Occlusion Strength: Strong
Blur: Trilateral
Ambient Resolution: Quality


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.600
Music Sound Volume: 0.600

Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 1.000
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: Unknown bytes/second
Current Game Version: 2060.201108180101.1.0
Installation Directory: C:\Games\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found


Trend Micro!


Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Scan saved at 5:05:12 PM, on 9/24/2011
Platform: Windows 7 SP1 (WinNT 6.00.3505)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v9.00 (9.00.8112.16421)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer\Diamondback\Razer\Diamondback\razerhid .exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ideazon\ZEngine\Zboard.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer\Diamondback\Razer\Diamondback\razertra .exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer\Diamondback\Razer\Diamondback\razerofa .exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\plugin-container.exe
C:\Users\Coneli\Downloads\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\Windows\SysWOW64\blank.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Diamondback] C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer\Diamondback\Razer\Diamondback\razerhid .exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Zboard] C:\Program Files (x86)\Ideazon\ZEngine\Zboard.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe ARM] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Steam] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -silent
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O11 - Options group: [ACCELERATED_GRAPHICS] Accelerated graphics
O23 - Service: Adobe Acrobat Update Service (AdobeARMservice) - Adobe Systems Incorporated - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\armsvc.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\efssvc.dll,-100 (EFS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Driver Helper Service (NVSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\nvvsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\sppsvc.exe,-101 (sppsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\sppsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vaultsvc.dll,-1003 (VaultSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Wat\WatUX.exe,-601 (WatAdminSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Wat\WatAdminSvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)

--
End of file - 5750 bytes

The only things I have off the bat for you are P.I.T.A. thoughts. So you have been warned. ;-)

First, the memory:

Have you run memtest on the sticks individually?
What I mean is, remove all but one, and run memtest on it. Then remove it, and place another in and run memtest on it. Repeat as needed.
The reason:
Sometimes memory doesn't show as failing unless isolated. It is rare, I admit, but it has happened before. Might be worth trying.

Next is PSU.

Do you have another PSU to try out, preferably with more output?
If not, actually removing one of your Video cards might work as a test.
It is possible that your system is pulling more power than your PSU can handle, and if the GPUs aren't getting enough power, they can crap out like that.
Unfortunately, PSUs are a right pain to test, so the most efficient end user way to check is to swap out with another PSU (which sucks if you do not already have one handy.)

Hopefully, someone will come along with a simpler solution to try.

Actually I have tried another PSU, I've been through so many tests with no results it drives me nuts I installed a 1000 watt and ran it with just 1 gfx card just to be sure. No improvement. That ruled out PSU to me. As for the memtest on a per stick basis, I have not tried that but its worth a shot. Anything is on the drawing board at this moment. Thanks for the advice. Honestly willing to try anything so if you have anything else for me let me know. I have practically swapped out everything and tried variations on everything with no results. It's quite perplexing honestly. Thanks Again, keep the ideas coming!

Edit: Also I've recently noticed my screen flickers black randomly and only for a second when I scroll around really fast. and inconsistently but the longer I play the more pronounced it becomes. Indicating me yet again to a graphics card problem. Grrrr frustrating. But 2 cards can't fail at the same time with the same error...?

Oh yes, I've tried a couple now, with driver sweeper as well. I once had a playtime of 2 hoursish that I didn't time with an older driver that was recommended but alas it still crashed. Thanks for the suggestion though

I'm running currently with drivers somewhere inbetween newest and oldest (most stable oldest). These were the drivers found most stable before I changed drivers and problems started occuring, though as I test more the drivers continually appear to not be an issue or have any effect.

Then my next thought is "do you have your OS install disks?"
For clarity, I do not mean a "recovery disk" that pre made computers come with (if anything).

If so, then I would suggest the "sfc" command.
If your system files have been modified at all (even intentionally) this will revert them to their original state.
Warning: This can take a long time if thinks aren't pristine.

Put your install disk in your optical drive, open an Administrator level command prompt (easiest way to make sure is Start > All Programs > Accessories > Right click on Command Prompt > Run as Administrator) and type the following (without the quotes):

"sfc /scannow"

(Note there is a space between the "sfc" and the "/scannow")

It may ask you to insert the install disk, point it at the drive and let it do it's thing.

If things are good, it will only take a couple of minutes.

If things are messed up, it will take a LLLOOONNNGGG time. So bring a book, watch TV, whatever.


Barring that, the only thing that comes to mind is a clean install of your OS (which the sfc scan is supposed to fix without actually going through that hassle)...

Give me a day to think on it. I might get inspired.

I hate to say it I already was advised by support to try a fresh install on a extra hd and since I didn't have one I backed everything up and did a fresh install hoping it would fix any errors in windows. Sad thing is even with all the fresh installs of every possible thing I could get including windows/directx/nvidia drivers/coh itself redownloaded fresh I still have the exact same problem. I greatly fear for a motherboard or processor problem because I can't afford to replace either but I can't find anything leaning towards that.

I have been having a problem with the same symptoms with my Geforce 9600GT.
-Screen goes black, sound continues normally for a few seconds followed by sound looping and hard lockup.

It looks like I've gone through most of the same trouble shooting steps as you have as well.
Stable temperatures, other games run fine, all hardware checks out, reinstalled Windows and CoH.

If I switch to the cheap Geforce 7025 built into the motherboard the crash stops.


Do you seem to crash more often in certain zones and rooms than others?

-I have noticed that I will very frequently crash in the Pocket D Tiki room and dance floor area, but not crash at all if I stay in the entrance halls.
-The first room of the 5th Column base in the first mission of the Dr Kahn TF will trigger the crash if I'm not looking directly at the floor.
-Prior to Issue 21, the burning Arachnos mission map in Field Agent Keith Nance's arc would trigger the crash.
-Prior to Issue 20 the crash would frequently occur in the Rikti War Zone.

Ok so I ran over to the comp store near me and decided it was time to completely remove the gfx card from the error equation. I got another card similar to my GTX 285, the GTX 470. Was able to run the game for 3 and a half hours with no crash first try. Sounds too good to be true but I won't be able to test it again til next week. However I will be notifying EVGA that I appear to have 2 faulty graphics cards that didn't show symptoms until just recently and bot have the same problem. Thats just too weird though.

More details for ya Morgan: Motherboard is a EVGA X58 Classified 3x SLI, I have tried isolating the motherboards individually but they both do the same thing. Haven't tested if one last longer or not cause I don't have the time as each test can take an hour and a halfish, and good idea on thinking it could be the monitor, I've heard that suggestion before as well but I ruled it out given the fact that I get a sound loop sometimes though. I never even thought to think of the monitor quite honestly but when I heard it I thought "duh". But yeah, I had to rule it out. Also I have never seen any flickering lights but I do live in colorado and the power is very finicky, not to mention I live in a 6 story condo. I tried running the minimum power though and it had no effect shutting off everything like lights and plugging the systems powers into seperate surge protectors. No effect.

In all of this I am shocked that the game can't even run in safe mode. I've had these cards for a few years now and only recently they've acted up. I'd think running them on old drivers and tuning CoH back to basic graphics would stabilize even a hardworking graphics card but it seems they have just had enough.

I have had the same errors with this game for the last 2-3 weeks. I have also done the same steps and procedures everyone suggested to do as well.

Two things for me are one, I can run incarnate trails and stay in Pocket D without the game blacking out or crashing, but anywhere else in the game or other missions, it'll happen. The second is that it only happens in this game! I can play games like Dead Island, Crysis 2, The Witcher 2, etc which are more graphic intensive games perfectly fine without any graphic hiccups or crashes.

I'm tempted to just buy new sets of cards, but then I probably would want to buy a whole new rig . But anyways, still trying to find a fix for this problem.

Forcing "performance mode" can help at times. Nvidia control panel, global settings, change "adaptive" to "performance". Lower end cards do have trouble with this game when graphics are set to very high. Settings I've seen that can be lowered and help alot include the, World detail, shadows settings, and turn ambient occlusion completly off.

Before I upgraded to a GTX 460, I had a GTX 260 and by reducing these settings, was still able to get respectable frame rates, over 30, even in Pratoria.

The different zones in this game vary quite alot. Some older, less textured areas are much easier for the gpu to render vs the more detailed areas, ie. Pratoria or Grandville.

Hey ilconke,

I've had similar issues with my EVGA 260 card. It would crash just idling on the desktop or doing light work on the computer. Like browsing a website. But in games like City of Heroes, it would work without fail.

I would suggest that you contact EVGA and get them to RMA you out some new cards. I had to go through the RMA process with EVGA 3 times before they bumped up the computer to a 460 and now they issue is gone.

I think they is a massive issue with the 200 series of cards from EVGA that they are not willing to admit too.

Anyways, I ended up putting that 460 card into another computer and buying myself a new 560. Both cards work great.