08 Jan 2009 at 03:42 - 5
I had a similar problem that just got worse.
It eventually cooked my graphics card, I think.
Logged in, things were ok... screen went black, comp froze... had to hard boot.
Logged in again, things went ok, 5-10 seconds later I saw a bunch of artifacts, froze... went black, monitor actually turned off.... had to hard boot.
Next time I logged in, lots of artifacts on login... froze, had to hard boot... artifacts on BIOS and Windows wouldn't load at all unless in safe mode.
Card was shot.
Replaced card, logged in today... 15 seconds or so, went black... monitor turned off... whole system froze.
Guess I'm done with Guild Wars.