That is very unusual and I would expect other applications might start causing problems.

But for a start, using output=opengl or output=openglnb in your dosbox.conf might be worth trying.

Tried both. Problem persists. Also, I've noticed no other system instability.

Kuro_Neko wrote:

Also, I've noticed no other system instability.

But have you been running other games? Does ScummVM work?

Jorpho wrote:

Kuro_Neko wrote:

Also, I've noticed no other system instability.

But have you been running other games? Does ScummVM work?

Modern games work fine. I'd never heard of ScummVM, but I just downloaded it and it works fine in Windowed mode or fullscreen mode. Keyboard and mouse input work fine. I can play a game fine and exit normally.

No one has ever described a problem quite like this here before.

All I can suggest is updating your video card drivers.

There is no reason to use windows 10, all it has it dx12, of which there are really just three dx12 only games.

Jorpho wrote:

No one has ever described a problem quite like this here before.

All I can suggest is updating your video card drivers.

Drivers are up-to-date.

awgamer wrote:

There is no reason to use windows 10, all it has it dx12, of which there are really just three dx12 only games.

Be that as it may, that's what I have right now and downgrading would be an awful amount of trouble just for this.

Are there any other trouble-shooting steps anyone could suggest?

This isn't on a tablet, is it? Often people have problems running DOSBox on a tablet, though even then the symptoms are entirely different from what you describe. In that case the quick and easy solution is to plug in a mouse, odd as it sounds. Does that make any difference?

Jorpho wrote:

This isn't on a tablet, is it? Often people have problems running DOSBox on a tablet, though even then the symptoms are entirely different from what you describe. In that case the quick and easy solution is to plug in a mouse, odd as it sounds. Does that make any difference?

Nope Desktop PC.

SYSTEM LIST

Motherboard
ASUS Z170-A

CPU
Intel Boxed Core I7-6700K 4.00 GHz 8M Processor Cache 4 LGA 1151

Memory
2x Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB DDR4 DRAM 2400MHz (PC4-19200) C14

Hard Drives
OCZ Vertex 460 SSD 480GB, SATA III
Western Digital WD5000AAKS-FR 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
Western Digital 1TB, 5400RPM, 32MB Cache, SATA II

Optical Storage
LG WH14NS40 14X SATA Blu-Ray Internal Rewriter

Other Storage
Startech 5.25" USB3.0 multi-card reader
Startech 5.25in Bay Mounted 2.5in and 3.5in SATA Hard Drive Docking Station

Cooler
Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

Video Card
ASUS STRIX-GTX980TI-DC3-6GD5-GAMING

Chassis
Corsair 500R

Power Supply
Corsair RM850i Gold PS, 850W

WebCam
Logitech c920 webcam

Mouse
SteelSeries Sensei Raw 7 button wheel Mouse, USB

Keyboard
Azio MGK1-K Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, USB

Monitors
19" Philips 109B6 CRT
15" LG Flatron 563LE LCD
23" HP w2408h LCD
19" LG 20M37 LED LCD

Scanner
Epson Perfection 1660

Printer
Hewlett Packard deskjet 3000, USB (color laserjet)

Speakers
2 KOSS HDM/265 speakers + 1 KOSS SW/100 Subwoofer
Panasonic RP-HTX7 Stereo Headphones

OS Media
Windows 10 Home x64

I assume you're using the official DOSBox 0.74. Do any of the other commonly-available builds react differently?

You can try setting the environment variable SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy before starting DOSBox. (I assume you know how to do that.) That will cause DOSBox to not draw its main window at all. (That also means that you will need to kill DOSBox in Task Manager to shut it down, or start it with the "-c exit" switch.)

Jorpho wrote:

I assume you're using the official DOSBox 0.74. Do any of the other commonly-available builds react differently?

You can try setting the environment variable SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy before starting DOSBox. (I assume you know how to do that.) That will cause DOSBox to not draw its main window at all. (That also means that you will need to kill DOSBox in Task Manager to shut it down, or start it with the "-c exit" switch.)

Yes I'm using the official version. I'm not aware of any other builds. Link?

I'll give your other suggestion a try right now.

edit:
Ok, that suggestion stopped it from freezing my system, but without the main window I'm not sure how I'm supposed to actually use dosbox to play any games.

DO you have dos games?

lightmaster wrote:

DO you have dos games?

Yes of course. Dosbox wouldn't be much use to me otherwise.

Not illegal ones right?

Kuro_Neko wrote:

edit:
Ok, that suggestion stopped it from freezing my system, but without the main window I'm not sure how I'm supposed to actually use dosbox to play any games.

Well, at least that rules out unusually exotic problems.

Let's start with this: the GOG version of Teenagent is packaged with DOSBox, and it's a free download. Does that work?
https://www.gog.com/game/teenagent

lightmaster wrote:

Not illegal ones right?

No. Either abandon-ware, share-ware, or games I actually bought back in the day. I fail to see how that question has anything to do with my issue though.

Jorpho wrote:

Well, at least that rules out unusually exotic problems. […]
Show full quote

Kuro_Neko wrote:

edit:
Ok, that suggestion stopped it from freezing my system, but without the main window I'm not sure how I'm supposed to actually use dosbox to play any games.

Well, at least that rules out unusually exotic problems.

Let's start with this: the GOG version of Teenagent is packaged with DOSBox, and it's a free download. Does that work?
https://www.gog.com/game/teenagent

Problem persists. As soon as the dos emulation window appears the monitors go dark (with the power lights flashing as they do when they have no signal) and the keyboard freezes (lights stay lit but I can't toggle numlock or use the win button or ctrl+alt+del, etc).

Looks like a driver issue, try reinstalling it with DDU.

Kuro_Neko wrote:

No. Either abandon-ware, share-ware, or games I actually bought back in the day. I fail to see how that question has anything […]
Show full quote

lightmaster wrote:

Not illegal ones right?

No. Either abandon-ware, share-ware, or games I actually bought back in the day. I fail to see how that question has anything to do with my issue though.

Jorpho wrote:

Well, at least that rules out unusually exotic problems. […]
Show full quote

Kuro_Neko wrote:

edit:
Ok, that suggestion stopped it from freezing my system, but without the main window I'm not sure how I'm supposed to actually use dosbox to play any games.

Well, at least that rules out unusually exotic problems.

Let's start with this: the GOG version of Teenagent is packaged with DOSBox, and it's a free download. Does that work?
https://www.gog.com/game/teenagent

Problem persists. As soon as the dos emulation window appears the monitors go dark (with the power lights flashing as they do when they have no signal) and the keyboard freezes (lights stay lit but I can't toggle numlock or use the win button or ctrl+alt+del, etc).

Aside from legal factors which are also at play, avoiding "abandonware" is also policy here to simplify troubleshooting. With genuine titles (either shareware, freeware, or purchased software), we have a baseline as far as configuration, directory contents, and file versions. Unofficial software (such as "abandonware") isn't necessarily pristine.