For the sake of my sanity I should probably ask this here as Google has failed me countless times. The rules said computer problems go here too... so here it be ^^"

Currently my computer (in this current state) is unable to play games which require even the slightest use of my video card. I have spent the past few weeks trying to get my computer to run games, even StarCraft, which every modern computer can run.

Problem: When the game (even some flash games) is running it runs for a short time until my screen randomly goes blank. I would generally assume my computer is overheating, but unlike overheating which just cuts the power, the screen goes black and the computer continues to run. After a few moments it shuts off similar to powering down when you use "shutdown".

I've searched online daily with a lot of different ideas, but nothing I try fixes it.

Additional information:

Video card - NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400
Computer is running Windows XP
My computer is an HP laptop (dv8233cl)
All drivers updated
Shuts off at 35.0 degrees

(Anything extra details that are asked for will go up here)

I just asked my mom for advice since she knows people who play games all the time on the computer.

First update the drivers and see if that does anything.

The the most recent official win XP (x86) drivers are here.

It's better to go directly to nVidia, anyways. :)

Tried the driver updates... either I already did or they aren't updating properly...

@ Kinmotsu - This seems to be specifically for a dell though
Guess it wouldn't hurt to try anyways...

Mom's waiting for the guy to finish dinner then we'll be able to get more advice.

Update - Kinmotsu - I installed the drivers, restarted my computer like it asked and tried the game and it still happened...

While we wait for my mom's friend enjoy this. YouTube - Bowser and His Minions

I take it you've already downloaded and installed the most recent chipset drivers, etc from support.hp.com, right? Laptops are so integrated from part to part that there could be any number of reasons the video card is screwing up, right down to the actual video card being broken/breaking.

Also this while we wait. YouTube - Dr. Mario WITH LYRICS

Hmm... yeah I think I did... is it just one update? or a bunch? How would I uninstall them? o.o maybe one of them is faulty?

Select software and drivers HP Pavilion dv8233cl Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

All of your support downloads for your particular laptop are there, including the most recent branded video card driver, which really isn't all that new.

Thanks, I'll try those and report back =)

Still having problems after the updates D: I hope it's not broken...

I guess there's always the outside shot that it's some virus/malware playing with you. Is your AV software up to date?

Yup... not a virus in sight either... using AVG so it should be virus free

By the way I removed my drivers and reinstalled them with no change