Graphics Problem - Driver Has Stopped Working But Has Recovered

Rasczak

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Hi guys,

I am still paying the price for allowing Microsoft to update my PC automatically...currently with graphics.

I am running Vista 32bit with a Geforce 8800Ultra graphics card (Forceware 178.13 drivers) but am having occasional snags whereby the graphics driver stops working causing the game I'm playing to crash. Over the last few days I have experienced this is STALKER: Clear Sky, Crysis: Warhead and Team Fortress 2 so I know it's not just one game at fault.

As you can see I am running the latest drivers - can anyone recommend any solutions?
 
has the card been fine previously and only recently been playing up? or is it a new card?

is your graphics card overclocked? how are the temperatures. i have found the usual cause of that error message is that the graphics card has frozen because the speeds its running at are not stable. windows reports that the driver is not responding or stopped working because the driver is stuck waiting for a signal from the graphics card which has frozen. this can be caused by pushing the graphics card clock speeds to high. or it can be caused by overheating (due to dust or poor case ventiliation) which causes normaly functional clock speeds to become unstable and often give the same result as pushing the card to high when overclocking. this can also be caused by the graphics card not having enough power available when at full load.

what make and model of the 8800 ultra do you have?
was it pre-overclocked?? (overclocked by the manufacturer)
is there a dust build up in the case? is it time for a spring clean??
what temperature is your 8800 ultra running at idle and load??
some other system specs may be usefull too.
what power supply are you using?

did you notice the problem start after you updated to the latest driver? try going back to an older driver and see if the problem goes away, try cleaning the case and fans out too. the heatsink on the graphics card may be blocked by dust.
 
The graphics card is XFX, not overclocked and was functioning normally. Windows update installed something (I don't know what) and then on my previous drivers (175.19) I started getting this problem. I update to the latest (178.13) but am still getting it.
 
When odd things like this happens and you have tried all the usual things I usually flatten the system and start again. You can spend hours trying to solve it and never find the problem.

I take it you have un-installed the drivers and used driver cleaner? Removed any programs like riva tuner? Your card isn't full of dust and over heating?

If you flatten the system and your still getting problems then the only other possibility is that the card might be faulty. I had a similar thing with my old x1900xt. It would cause my pc to crash when ever the temp hit 70c which it should be able to do with ease. I read somewhere that was a sign that the memory was faulty. In the end I could only play non graphically intense games like cnc3 with the fan on 100%. As soon as it went over 70c it would crash.

I take it this is only happening when your gaming and not when your on your desktop?

Run a fan fan profile at 100% and see if it still crashes and monitor the temps. If it is still doing this after a fresh install I would send the card back under warranty.
 
The graphics card is XFX, not overclocked and was functioning normally. Windows update installed something (I don't know what) and then on my previous drivers (175.19) I started getting this problem. I update to the latest (178.13) but am still getting it.

Can you do a system restore to before the update?
 
Cheers Razor. Based on the comments it sounds as though my problem is a hardware heat issue. Thinking about it this would make sense. I have recently installed a Creative X-Fi card which uses a PCI-e socket right next to the Graphics card.

I shutdown my PC took out the X-Fi and it was extremely hot - so it could well have been causing the 800Ultra to overheat. I've removed the X-Fi for now and have restored my old Audigy 2 which uses a PCI socket a few spaces away from the GFX card. I'll see if teh GFX problem 'goes away'.

Unfortunately I am just exchanging one set of problems for another. Having put my Audigy 2 in the PC I now have no sound. Another dozen hours trying to get that working. One day soon I might even play a game :rolleyes:
 
Cheers Razor. Based on the comments it sounds as though my problem is a hardware heat issue. Thinking about it this would make sense. I have recently installed a Creative X-Fi card which uses a PCI-e socket right next to the Graphics card.

I shutdown my PC took out the X-Fi and it was extremely hot - so it could well have been causing the 800Ultra to overheat. I've removed the X-Fi for now and have restored my old Audigy 2 which uses a PCI socket a few spaces away from the GFX card. I'll see if teh GFX problem 'goes away'.

Unfortunately I am just exchanging one set of problems for another. Having put my Audigy 2 in the PC I now have no sound. Another dozen hours trying to get that working. One day soon I might even play a game :rolleyes:


Rasczak I hope you have now sorted out your graphics problem, let me know how you get on mate. :smashin:

The 8800Ultra should run at about mid 80s at load. You can monitor the temps with rivatuner if you so wish. :)
 
Rasczak I hope you have now sorted out your graphics problem, let me know how you get on mate. :smashin:
Cheers - I'll continue playing STALKER: Clear Sky and see how it goes. Solved the audio problem as well (volume control) :blush:

EDIT: Having played quite a long game of the above I think it's safe to say the system is working now :)
 
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so it was a heat issue then.... another happy customer
 
IMO i think it is the sound card drivers causeing crashing . run the card in analog mode not DDL or DTS
 
Cheers - I'll continue playing STALKER: Clear Sky and see how it goes. Solved the audio problem as well (volume control) :blush:

EDIT: Having played quite a long game of the above I think it's safe to say the system is working now :)

Thats good to hear mate, as for the sound its always the simplest things. :D
 
Well I've been playing a lot of STALKER: Clear Sky now and since I switched over soundcards from the X-Fi to the Audigy 2 the PC has worked flawlessly so I assume it must have been a heat issue.

Slightly annoying about the X-Fi but analogue sound (at the PC desk) is identical from the Audigy 2 and the home cinema PC gaming, for which the DDL connection was for, never really worked out to well anyway.

Thanks to everyone for the help - digital 'thanks' has been given all round!
 
The X-Fi is reknowned for being incredibly buggy, certain combinations of hardware and softrware give you know end of problems.

Scratch that, Creative hardware and software in general has always been buggy!
 
yeah i know what you mean about creative stuff. i had (still have in a box somewhere) a creative sound blaster audigy 2 something or other sound card (special edition with gold coloured connectors) but the sound card kept creating pop/clicks all the time due to compatability issues with motherboards that use the NForce 2 chipset as my motherboard does.
 
not had that pop/crackle since i got the prelude (XFI) even with the first release drivers now with the R8 drivers out you get DTS but i sooner use analog :)
 
the poping/cracking issue i had was specific to the audigy 2 series of cards ( possibly even pinned down to the zs card) on any systems with the nforce 2 chipset, its an actual hardware level fault..... from what i remember it was something to do with the clock check/cycles that get sent over the pci bus being picked up by some part of the sound card and then being sent out through the cards outputs. was very very annoying. ive still got the card actually. im gonna see if ive got a system to put it into if not ill be selling it in the classifieds
 
the poping/cracking issue i had was specific to the audigy 2 series of cards ( possibly even pinned down to the zs card) on any systems with the nforce 2 chipset, its an actual hardware level fault..... from what i remember it was something to do with the clock check/cycles that get sent over the pci bus being picked up by some part of the sound card and then being sent out through the cards outputs. was very very annoying. ive still got the card actually. im gonna see if ive got a system to put it into if not ill be selling it in the classifieds

nforce 4 as well (it was riff with this chipset it caused a big arguement between NVIDIA and CREATIVE) mainley the sli boards A8N32 sli whitch i did have sli ..

+ i had a fatality xfi (same card) with intel x38 had same problem (but not as bad) the main problem the board does not like the auto pci mhz settings and auto graphices overclock or even overclocked systems

i did RMA the card 3 times the secound card they sent me a XFI gamer :mad: whitch they changed all the seriel numbers so i thought i was a fatality w..rers trick so swapped again only way i found out it was a gamer was down to EVERST i had installed on system.

the older drivers on the prelude did show this but newer ones are fine
 

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