Problem - Resolution change causes black screen

[LordGorzul]

I just recently started having this problem with the game Prey - and HL2 Episode one.

When I exit the game, I get a black screen and I can only see my mouse pointer on the screen. The system isnt frozen I can move around hear sounds etc., but can't see anything and therefore have to do a hard reboot.

Apparently it has to do with the change in resolution.

I run Prey at 1024x768 - but my windows resolution is 1280 x 1024 @ 85hz

I am running the latest Forceware drivers 9.33 on a Geforce 7600GT, windows xp sp2, samsung syncmaster 900 ift monitor.

Any ideas why it does this, and more importantly, how do I get the black screen off without having to reboot?

 

[Smartazz]

I used to have this problem too, then one day it just stopped, I'm curius to know what causes this.

 

[LordGorzul]

I've read about this happening quite a bit particularly with Prey - many people have complained about it, but I have yet to find someone with a solution, or atleast some way to exit the black screen.
It just seems like all of windows is running fine behind that black screen, but you just can seem to "refresh" and see your desktop.
One of the times I just stated typing frantically on my keyboard, and got rid of it - got back on the desktop.. but was never able to repeat. There must be some kind of key stroke that gets you out of that...

It's weird no one's able to come up with a solution.

 

[The J]

I've had this happen a few times, too. It happened a few hours ago when exiting MAME and it's happened when I changed resolution from something back to 1280x1024 (in the nVidia panel). It happened to me with the 91.28 beta drivers and it happens with the current 91.31 version. With the betas, I switched back to the stable 84 drivers. Maybe I'll do that again and see how it works out.

 

[LordGorzul]

84? isn't that a lot behind? The problem is, with the 84 drivers I lose the ability to have DualScreen, cause I've connect My PC and TV to the card. It doesnt work it's all messed up with the 84s.

So that rules out the 84 driver for me, anything else works though.

Have you tried switching your desktop size one notch down?
Maybe this only happens with 1280x1024 ?

Also is there a NVIDIA driver that isn't Beta, a stable one other than 84? but something more or less recent.

 

[The J]

I meant to refer to the previous stable driver; the last one with the normal control panel. I thought it was 84, but maybe not.

Anyway, I've used a monitor + TV config with success for quite a few driver versions. What do you mean by messed up? Are the colors on the TV messed up?

 

[LordGorzul]

Yeah that's it, like the bottom half of the image on the TV is all messed up, bunch of colored lines. Did you have something similar happen?

 

[EliteXen]

Originally posted by: LordGorzul
I just recently started having this problem with the game Prey - and HL2 Episode one.

When I exit the game, I get a black screen and I can only see my mouse pointer on the screen. The system isnt frozen I can move around hear sounds etc., but can't see anything and therefore have to do a hard reboot.

Apparently it has to do with the change in resolution.

I run Prey at 1024x768 - but my windows resolution is 1280 x 1024 @ 85hz

I am running the latest Forceware drivers 9.33 on a Geforce 7600GT, windows xp sp2, samsung syncmaster 900 ift monitor.

Any ideas why it does this, and more importantly, how do I get the black screen off without having to reboot?

I had this problem when I first upgraded my 7900GT to the current forceware drivers. Especially when exiting Starcraft.

For me if I pressed Win+L (logoff), it would return to normal then I could just log back in without losing anything.

 

[The J]

If you TV colors are messed up, try the following:

1. Go into your nVidia Control Panel (the classic one) and go to the nView Settings section (where you can select dual display modes and stuff like that). Set it to clone mode and click Apply.
2. Now, right-click on the TV and a menu should pop up. There should be an entry that allows you to change your TV format type (NTSC, SECAM, PAL, etc.). First, make sure that is set correctly.
3. Then, look at the very bottom of that menu (with the display formats in it) for an option labelled "Advanced...". Click on it and a new window will appear. There should be an option that lets you select the type of output jack you have (RCA, S-VIDEO, and Auto Select). Change it from Auto Select to S-VIDEO and click Apply. If that doesn't work, try Composite or RCA.