# No Input Signal. Monitor Going to Sleep. While Playing WoW.



## flipninjax (Aug 31, 2005)

I only have this problem when playing World of Warcraft. I'll play fine for a couple of hours then all of a sudden the screen goes black. I get a message saying, "No Input Signal" then another one immediately after saying "Monitor Going to Sleep". Then it hits the snooze button and starts counting sheep. So far this has only happened while playing WoW. I've tried to restart the monitor and re-seat the cables to no avail. The only thing that makes the monitor come back on is to reboot. Here is my system stuff:

HP a1730n
AMD 4600 2.4GHz
2 GB RAM
GeForce 7600 GS
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit


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## preyingrazor (Oct 25, 2008)

It seems to be an overheating problem. Try running a more graphics-intensive game like Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for 1 to 2 hours and see if you get the same problem. 

Alternatively, try a different monitor. Narrow down your problem.


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## flipninjax (Aug 31, 2005)

Well, I don't have another monitor right now. I did try it with another game that requires more resources. Timeshift. The same thing happened. Now it happens within five minutes of starting the game. Could this be my video card? You mentioned something about overheating. If the fan on my video card has gone out, will this cause the monitor to shut off? If it is the video card, what would be a good replacement that can handle newer games and that will not drain my bank account?


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## preyingrazor (Oct 25, 2008)

Yes, it's definitely an overheating problem, and yes if the fan on your graphics card has conked out your chip isn't going to last very long. A graphics card processor can easily jump to above 100 degrees centigrade with no cooling.

I had the same problem with my nVidia GeForce 4 Ti 4200. I hadn't noticed that the fan had stopped working and in seconds my screen started flashing and my monitor kept resetting and finally I got a blank screen. When I realized what had happened I had to take apart my graphics card's heat sink and fan. The excessive heat had completely burnt and solidified the thermal grease between the processor and memory banks and heat sink. The solidified thermal grease was now actually acting as an insulator rather than aiding in heat transfer; a sort of blanket if you will. I removed the grease using a commercial grease remover for electronic components and purchased a fresh batch. However, I didn't realize you had to use a pea sized amount and ended up covering the chips with copious amounts of grease. The function of thermal grease is to fill up microscopic scratches and air pockets on the surfaces of both the chip and heat sink, thus ensuring firm contact. The thermal conductivity of thermal grease is more than air but still _much_ less than metal on ceramic contact. I ended up frying the chip and after I realized my mistake I again removed all the grease and applied pea sized portions to each chip. However, I had already done irreparable damage to the components and now my card is only good enough for desktop usage. Even a moderately heavy game crashes the card in a few seconds flat. And you mentioned it's happening quicker now; so I'm guessing the chip is reaching the limits of it's thermal envelope faster what with ever-hardening thermal grease.

What you need to do is the following:

Test your card on a completely different machine before taking it all apart. See if it still crashes. If it does:

1. Make sure the fan on the card is working. Make sure other PC casing fans are working too. If not, replace the fan. 
2. Buy some thermal grease cleaner for electronics (Arctic Silver ArctiClean Thermal Material Remover & Surface Purifier 60ml Kit) and some thermal grease (Arctic Silver 5 3.5g Thermal Paste). Take apart your graphics card by removing the fan first, then the heat sink, and inspect the surfaces. They should not be dry. In any case use the cleaner to wipe them clean again (including the heat sink surface). Make sure you ground yourself properly first though. Reapply a tiny amount of grease to the center of the chips (processor and memory chips). Place the heat sink firmly back on and reconnect your rig *REMEMBERING TO RECONNECT THE FAN*!

That should solve your problems.

However, if you've permanently damaged your card you might want to look for an ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB. It's approximately twice as powerful as your current card [1][2] and will set you back about 100 pounds. But you get maximum bang for the buck with this card. You simply cannot go wrong with it.

References:

[1] Wikipedia Comparison of nVidia Graphics Processing Units
[2] Wikipedia Comparison of ATI Graphics Processing Units


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