Hey, I have an INTEL GMA 900 Onboard graphics chip. The only game i play is age of empires 2. I have celron D 331 Processor. When i exit the game, 6 out of 10 times, the screen will hang black. When i quit the program, and the computer transitions back to the desktop, the screen just stays black, but i dont know why. It only happens when i quit. Is it the processor, the graphics card or somthin else. I have winxp, 512mb ram, 80gb ide hd, 52x cd/rw and 8 channel hd sound onboard. i have a feeling its the cheap arse cpu of mine.....People say celeron d is respectable, but i dont think so really. i havnt seen anything good from it yet.... Any help apprisiated, thanks....

Hi granto2000

To be honest it could be related to either you CPU or RAM, it sounds like the game is "chewing" up all your resources which is why when you exit it can't bring up your desktop.

Would you be able to run a full scandisk and defrag on your computer, this can help to keep your files in the correct order and make it easier for the PC. It could help with the game.

Let us know if it helps.

Thanks man for tha help. It only seems to happen when i play the game for long peroids of time usually, but it has happened when i have paused th game and alt + tabed out of it, to check my msn. Thanks...

Hello, and welcome

Do you per chance know the model numbers for your hardware? In particular, the CPU, RAM and of course the Motherboard. I have a feeling one is not liking another.

It could well be the CPU not being able to handle sending memory to the onboard graphics, particularly if you have PC2700 or better. I don't know for sure, but I assume Celeron D is comparable to a decent AMD Athlon XP processor?

If you happen to have or can easily acquire a decent AGP graphics card, even of 64MB, you might notice an improvement if you use such rather than the onboard.

All this said, I'm only basing it on my own experience of onboard graphics (64MB, nForce chipset), which caused my machine to reboot when the CPU struggled with 333mhz RAM. Never had a problem since plugging in a 64MB ASUS card.

HTH,
M_M

I agree with M_M while onboard graphics are more than adequate for business use they usually aren't designed for the rigours of gaming, consequently, the amount of ram on a card is NOT the final determining factor in how good it is. Other important factors are:

1. Core clock speed
2. Memory clock speed
3. Pixel shader pipelines (very important)
4. DDR ram on the card or SD (most cards are DDR)

Note: this list is not complete...sorry very tired (see sig.)

Also, are you playing the game at the same resolution as your desktop settings? If you are using a lower resolution then your desktop, your chip may be having trouble initializing your desktop resolution on the fly try lowering your settings to the same resolution as your game is running in and see if the black screen remains.

Hey, I have asked a question before about my screen staying black when i exit a game. I have nutted it down to when the computer switches resolutions. Even when i change the system resolution in windows xp from 800 x 600 to 1024 x 768 it usually locks up, well not locking up, but all i get is a black screen with a white curser that i can move. and when i press ctrl + Alt + delete, i can notice that the pc is still working behind the black screen. It has got somthing todo with the graphics card i have. it is onboard, the intel GMA 900 with 128mb, the new one found on pci express mother boards. i only play age of empires, so i dont need an agp car or pci express card, plus i cannot use them as my mobo doesnt have the slot for one. Has anyone ver had this with an onboard graphics card.... The rest of my pc is as follows:

celeron D 331
PC2700 512MB RAM
80 GB HD IDE
INTEL 900 GMA ONBOARD GRAPHIC
REALTEC 8CH HD AUDIO
CD/RW/DVD DRIVE

THANKS GUYS, GRANTO2000...CHEERS