Every time I run DiagX it says everything is normal ( I have DirectX9c). When my screen goes to black, I must totally reboot my computer before I get anything again. I am not aware that I have any video filters - I have checked for the one you described and I do not see any signs of it. I have tried running the game with hardware acceleration turned completely off and with my resolution set at the minimum (800x600), with no success. Is there anything else I can fiddle with in terms of refresh rate? What is baffling me is that the game initially worked fine and all of a sudden when I tried to run it I got the message that it failed to shut down correctly or some such thing and did I want to reset the config, and that's when it wouldn't work. Subsequent uninstalling and reinstalling were ineffectual. By the way... when I get this message, the "reset" button is not activatable - it is grayed out and clicking it does nothing.. I must just pick a resolution and click apply.. what's the deal with this?? I am completely stymied....