# Crashing After a Full Black Screen

This sort of crash usually occurs right after the game appears to load, or after a part of the game (such as a map or level) tries to load. Crashing after a black screen can be caused by a few different things, including (but not limited to) a incompatible video card, older drivers for a compatible video or sound card, or a corrupted version of DirectX. There are several steps you can try to resolve this issue.

- Ensure that all of the game's minimum requirements are met.

How to find the minimum requirements for the game

- Make sure that you have the latest drivers available for your video and sound card.

How to update drivers

- Make sure that any unnecessary background tasks are terminated. These tasks could interfere with the running of the game.

How to end your background tasks

- Check to make sure you have installed all of the patches available for the game. To check for new patches:

- Click the Start button (Windows button for Windows Vista) on the Windows Taskbar.

- Click All Programs.

- Click the game folder (The default should be in the EA Games or EA Sports folder.)

- Click the Check for Update or Auto-Update icon (This will force the game to check for updates.)

- Occasionally during installation, some files that contain graphics for the background, maps, players, etc. may not be installed or copied to the hard drive from the CD/DVD-ROM correctly. You may need to completely uninstall the game and reinstall it to allow all of the necessary files to copy correctly.

How to prepare your system before an installation