A while ago I built my computer and I was getting some random issues, all of which I was able to fix, save one.

When I'm playing games (ranging from UT2k4 to FFXI), the monitor suddenly goes black, as if it's going into sleep mode. A few seconds later it comes back on with the screen all jumbled, and an error message pops up, reading:

VPU Recover has reset your graphics accelerator as it was no longer responding to graphics drivers commands.

I'll have to close the game, and another message will pop up, saying it had to switch to software-something-or-other, and the computer needs to be restarted.

This used to happen to me constantly, almost every time I tried to play a game. I put in a new motherboard (switched from Asrock K7S8XE to Asus A7V600-X), and it happened less, but still happened. Yesterday I downloaded the newest Catalyst drivers and I thought everything was working fine, until, after a few hours of FFXI, it happened again. -_-"

what kind of video card? im assuming its ATI from u mentioning catylysts drivers, but it might help to know that. personally, id start with the drivers, make sure their all up to date, ATI drivers are known to be buggy (im saying that and im a die hard ati fan) next thing to check is make sure its not overheating. anyway yeah.

I was thinkin it could be a power supply issue. I purchased an ATI 3870 x2 and ran it in my system and it would lock up a few minutes into the game. i turned off the catalyst A.I. in the system and it ran fine. I took a couple extra cards out i didnt need, and turned it back on again, and bamb my power supply fried, am waiting on a new one. your card could get to a point in the game where it needs to draw more power from the PSU, and the PSU cant give it, so the card shuts down. check the power requirements of the card, and ur PSU, and dont just check the wattage, also check the amperage needed and how many 12v rails u have running in ur PSU and how much is needed to run ur card. again, me and everyone else would be able to help u better if posted what kinda card u have and what kinda system ur runnin it in.