Civ 4 quit working

[Narnia]

My computer overheated a while ago and it has been having one problem after another ever sense. Most recently when playing Civ4, my screen will go black and then turn back on after a few seconds. It will remain on for about a second before going black again. If I minimize the game I will see an icon at the bottom right hand side of the taskbar that looks like an orange triangle. If I hover my cursor over it, a message will pop up that says something along the lines of "the graphics something has failed and recovered". Any ideas about what is wrong with my computer or how to fix this? Thanks

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Exactly what it says. Graphics driver has crashed. Install RealTemp or Rivatuner and check your GPU temperatures while you're running civ 4. If you're lucky, its simply overheating and causing a driver crash -- something that may be solved with a can of compressed air.

On the other hand, if that overheating fried your GPU, there's nothing you can do besides get a replacement. You could try reinstalling the drivers, but I have doubts as to whether that would work.

 

[Tarkhan]

My GPU suffered an overheat due to a clogged fan, and now I get splotchy green dots (screen artifacts) and graphical glitches whenever a game is running.

When a GPU overheats, the driver will compensate by killing the process that is using it, to avoid further damage to the card.

I would take the card out and clean it, and see if that fixes the problem. If it doesn't your only option is a replacement.