Sometimes my computer EXPERIENCES a "sleep mode," where the monitor shuts off yet the computer is still "running," but the sleep mode cannot be "exited" out of, alt-tabbed, Alt-F4'ed or anything...except a forced restart.

This occurs randomly at times, but it has a 70% chance of occuring when playing a large, graphic intensive game, such as World of Warcraft. In fact, it's quite nasty as the "sleep mode" KICKS in within 2-3 minutes of launching the game. If the "sleep mode" does not, then a series of flashing, flickering, and lagging occurs for about 4-5 seconds and then for the rest of the session, whether it be 5 hours or 10 hours, the game runs fine. The problem probably is with my video card, a Radeon 9600. The Radeon series has a ton of problems dealing with World of Warcraft, both ATI and Blizzard have admitted this...

So I am asking, can any of you here help?

System specs:

Windows XP SP2
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
1GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 128MB

BTW: I am running the latest Catalyst drivers. I have tried to rollback to older versions before, and the game runs fine with those; however, the graphics are not as good.How do you come to the conclusion that this is "sleep mode" and not overheating or some other hardware problem?I doubt that it is overheating. This is an issue that occurs most frequently at the launch of the game and never during actual gameplay. Here's a few more details:

- I turn on the computer.
- I exit out my virus scanner.
- I load up World of Warcraft.
- I log in, and I enter a queue [Note: most frequently occurs when I'm in queue]
- Five minutes later, the monitor shuts off, but the computer is still running. Forced restart.

I found that if I stayed out of FULLSCREEN, my problem is somewhat solved. I would load up Firefox, load up World of Warcraft, get in the queue, then minimize and bring up Firefox. I predict when the queue will expire, and I maximize the game. If I time this incorrectly or if I maximize/minimize back and forth to check on my queue status, I risk falling into the "sleep mode."

Strangest darn THING ever. It's also costed me several hours of wait time (if anyone plays World of Warcraft, they know that the game is notorious for lag and queues).Quote

.....I am running the latest Catalyst drivers. I have tried to rollback to older versions before, and the game runs fine with those.....