Screen freezes, Sound remains

I've had this happen several times during gameplay.

The visual will freeze in place, but I still hear sounds/music.
My computer still responds to commands (ALT+TAB, etc.), and GW will minimize, but the game sounds continue to play.
Attempting to restore it either brings it back with the visual still frozen, or causes my computer to freeze.

Any ideas on what could be causing this?
I haven't had any issues on any of my other games.

My graphics card is an NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT.
My processor is a 2.60 gigahertz Intel Celeron.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

sounds like a graphics card issue---I used to have the same exact problem with my old card (and it didnt play well with my mobo so I got a new one)...I think I have a link to my old thread which had basically the same problem....


(edit: here is the link to my old thread--yes I am still a tech noob and ultimately got a whole new mobo and new graphics card which both have been working wonderfully for the last 3 years : http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/g...tml?t=10361824)

How would I go about fixing a video card issue, shy of replacing it?

I upgraded my video card a few years ago when Oblivion first came out.
Prior to that, I still had one above the minimum requirements for GW.

I have never had this issue in any program EXCEPT GUILD WARS.
Is there some yet-unfixed game bug causing this?

as far as I know, there is no fix (you could try turing your graphics in game down to the lowest)....I had to buy a new card ultimately as that one was dying.

Weell, new problem arose today, which may explain my computer's erratic behavior.

A friend suggested I reinstall GW.
I did, and after logging in it froze on a loading screen...without fully loading the background image.

I took my graphics card completely out and air-blasted the inside of my computer AND the graphics card's heatsink, and reinstalled it.

...only to have my computer fail to boot up.

I didn't realize 350 Watts is not nearly enough of a PSU for my computer until checking online on a friend's computer.
The surface of my motherboard was warm to the touch, even with the fans kicking out cool air.

So yeah, I'm thinking this is all the result of overheating due to an inadequate power supply.

If it was working fine before, I doubt it would be the PSU. I would aim at it being the graphics card. May want to try reinstalling the newest driver. Or, if you noticed the freeszing after you updated the driver, revert back to an older one.

I know you mentioned you dusted out your PC and hardware, but did you verify if the graphics card fan was spinning and at a sufficient speed?

The graphics card fan was spinning, but I can't tell from looking what "sufficient" speed is.

The main reason I think the PSU is what is keeping the computer from booting is because removing the graphics card and plugging my monitor into the motherboard's onboard display port yielded the exact same result.

Lol!

Just because your motherboard felt 'warm' doesn't mean it's overheating. It's normal for it to be 'warm' (but not 'hot'). (If the power supply was 'inadequate' in wouldn't have the power to warm things up.)

You may be right though, it could very likely be your power supply that's the problem.

While you were blowing the dust out of your rig, did you clean out the power supply while you were at it? Does the fan in the power supply work?
Dust in the power supply can lead to overheating (of the power supply), which can rapidly lead to complete failure.
In order to properly clean the dust out of the power supply, you'd have to remove the power supply from the computer (unplug the cables, remove 4 screws) and open it up (4 more screws).

If that doesn't help, try borrowing a power supply from someone, just to test it out and/or buy a new supply.
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Most common fans in the power supply or on the video card should be a 'blur' when running. If you can actually see it spinning, it's probably too slow.

Oooook, so apparently it wasn't the power supply.
Or wasn't JUST the power supply.

Got a new one, got it all plugged in...same result.

I found that one of my hard drive-to-motherboard cables had cracked at some point, so that it's incapable of securely locking onto the motherboard.

Gonna replace the cable and see what happens.

Replaced the SATA cable...no change.

It tries to start up, with all fans spinning, but the motherboard never beeps, and the monitor still isn't getting signal, even when plugged directly into the motherboard.

Maybe when you clean up your pc you moved from the right position other things in your pc like:
- other pci/pci-e cards
- memory modules

If the pc is refusing to boot (aka you don't see the post screen, no beeps when the pc start if your case has a speaker/buzzer (i will use speaker for buzzer too below)) usualy you have to find where is the problem and the easiest way is to:
1) try a bios reset, maybe it doesn't like some settings in the bios (as much as this looks useless sometimes it works; basicaly my htpc acts crazy if i set something to enable dispate the fact that enabled is the recomended setting, it basicaly crash random and refuse to boot, it took me sometimes to understand what was wrong, i even tested each component on my main pc and all of them were ok)
2) if 1 fails then, try to start the pc with the minimum required to post (cpu + 1 memory module (you have an integrated video card that's the reason i didn't said about it)), if it post then add one by one the rest and test to see if it works, if it doesn't post then try another memory module and see if it post (in the case you have 2+ memory modules), if you don't have 2+ memory modules then try to start the pc without any memory modules if the case has a speaker you should hear some beeps (memory error beeps), if the case has a speaker and without the memory modules installed you still don't hear any beep i start to think that your motherboard died (but it might not be that), if you hear beeps then probably the memory module is damaged (you can try to clean up the memory module contacts and try to start the pc with it again, old pc parts needs clean up after u remove them cause sometimes when you put them back the pc just don't see them), if the pc case has no speaker then you will have to test the memory to a friend.

When you cleaned up your pc did you removed the cpu fan?

A true power 350w psu shouldn't have problems with your pc (unless you have an army of hdd, neons and other similar stuff), but if it's not true power one then might have problems. A bad no-name psu can basicaly fry your pc components when it decide to die (overvoltage will destroy your components cause that no-name has no protection against such things).

Make sure the reset switch isn't stuck or broken.