Black Screen on W7-64
 

Hi all,

when I try to run Marine Aquarium 3 (3.0.1953) my screens become black and nothing happens :( no bubble sound, no music. When it runs windowed it works well.

I have a Radeon 4870 with the latest catalyst 10.1 64bit. The direct X are installed correctly and Direct 3D is enabled on both the screens. Disabling one of them does not change the sitation.

When the screens become black a dialog window, that I was only able to see once, appears saying "Could not find any compatible Direct3d devices". I'm able to click the ok button even if I don't see the dialog.

Any ideas ?

Thank you

Andrea

Normally the first thing I would recommend is to install the latest drivers and check your DirectX version.

Is it possible you have any other DirectX or Direct3D tasks which are tying up the CPU like Folding@Home or any type of remote desktop software?

Hi Feldon, thanks for the answer.

I have passed a couple of hours installing and unistalling device drivers and now everything is updated to the latest available drivers. Unfortunately the problem is still here, but I think I have understood what is causing it.

My second display is a 7" USB monitor from Samsung, they call it UbiSync Monitor (http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/07/h...7-ubisync-lcd/), when I disable the USB monitor MA3 works perfectly, but as soon as I re-enable it ... blank screen.

I have tried to configure MA3 to ignore the second monitor but it does not change the result, blank screen.

What could I try ?

Andrea

Please explain exactly, step-by-step and click-by-click and move-by-move, what you do to get it to fail.

Please explain exactly ... what you do to get it to succeed.

Several of us can test using W7-64, but "when I try to run" isn't sufficiently specific to make sure we're doing it "right".

Hi all,

after a couple of hour of testing I have realized that the problem is caused by my second display. I have a Samsung 2263DX monitor that has a satellite 7" USB monitor, samsung calls it UbiSync monitor.

When the UbiSync is on, MA3 cannot start, even when I configure it for not using the second monitor. When the UbiSync is off, MA3 works perfectly.


Thanks for your help.

Andrea

Can you right-click the Aquarium file and choose Settings or Configure? You may be able to disable the Aquarium on that display.

I can configure it, but even if the second monitor is disabled MA3 does not start. If I turn off the monitor completely from the OS Control Panel, MA3 works correctly.

Thanks

Andrea

It's not terribly surprising - the USB-connected display introduces an additional driver. That USB driver is probably the big stumbling block here.

You've got that 22-inch main display, and the 7-inch display that's on an arm that rotates around the main display, and that 7-inch display can be turned either landscape or portrait at any time. I can't imagine what MA3 would look like on this configuration. :cool:

If windowed mode works, that sounds like your best alternative.

Unfortunately when I configure MA3 windowed, it starts in a small window when I press Preview on the Screen Saver Control Panel, but not as Screen Saver.

Thanks

Andrea

Is the Aquarium set to use "Automatc" for the resolution on both screens? If so, maybe the program is unable to read the capabilities of the USB monitor. If you are able to bring up the Settings screen, try setting the resolution for the secondary monitor to something you know it can handle, like 640x480. If that works, you can keep trying higher resolutions.

Hi Jim,

I have tried to leave automatic and to switch to the real resolution (800x480), both 16 and 32 bit. But it does not make any difference, when the UbiSync monitor is enabled, even if I configure MA3 to not to use it, MA3 simply shows a black screen with a modal dialog, that I cannot see, but I know it is here because I can click the ok button to close the screen saver.

Thanks

Andrea