I have a Geforce FX 5200. Everytime I play Need For Speed Undrground or Medal of Honor Allied Assault the game freezes for about 30 seconds. Also when I go on my desktop every so often the screen goes black for about 2 seconds. I reasonly got a new Relisys TF770 Monitor. It isn't that is it? Plus my graphics card was making a very loud noise a a few weeks ago for a few day now it has stopped. Please can u help me is it a hardware or software problem? Thanks Ryan

There are multiple causes for a system to lock up, especially under intense graphical situations. First of all, verify that your system supports the minimum requirements provided by your graphics card manufacturer. Primarily, make sure that your motherboard meets the AGP 2.0 specification.. Also, your system should be running at least a 235-watt power supply (250-watt is preferred.) If your motherboard does meet the AGP 2.0 specification, then check that your motherboard is using the latest BIOS. You may also need to update the AGP controller drivers for your motherboard. Without the latest Motherboard drivers for the AGP Controllers, PC tend to lock up when running in 3D mode. Please check with your motherboard manufacturer for the make and model of your PC chipset, and download the latest chipset drivers from their Web site. The drivers are available from: If you are upgrading a graphics card, then make sure the drivers from your previous graphics card are properly uninstalled. Please contact the manufacturer of your previous graphics card to find out how to properly uninstall the drivers. If the drivers are not properly uninstalled, they can conflict with other installed drivers, and slow down the performance of your graphics card. Be sure that there are no programs running in the background that can affect the stability of your system. Virus protection programs, peer-to-peer software, and crash guard utilities can affect the stability of your system when playing 3D-intensive applications. Disable these utilities and any other programs before you run any 3D applications or games. Make sure your Graphic card has no IRQ conflict with any other device. Some components do not like sharing IRQ's and can lead to system lock ups. To check this, click on the Start button -> select Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools and then choose System Information. Click the plus "+" sign next to Hardware Resources to expand the list and then click on IRQs. Look for your graphics card on the list. Generally, the graphics card should have its own IRQ and not be sharing one with any other device. The only thing that should be sharing the same IRQ as the graphics card is an “IRQ holder for PCI steering.” If you have anything else sharing the same IRQ as the graphics card, you must change that device's IRQ assignment. The easiest way to do this is to simply to move the device, which is sharing the IRQ with the graphics card, to a different PCI slot. Make sure the Computer has enough Functioning Cooling Fans and all vents remain free for the ventilation.

If you're sure it was the video card that was making the noise, you need to open the case and take a look at it. It could be the cooling fan has died or is being blocked by the cabling inside the case.