Nvidia Video Cards + Drivers

Sander Hogendoorn · May 4, 2009

I had the driver-not-responding-but-has-recovered thing twice yesterday and twice saturday

Derek Tatters · May 5, 2009

I have not been able to solve this either. I get it almost everytime on Race/Evo, but rarely on rFactor or any other application.

Nigel Atkins · May 5, 2009

Derek Tatters said:
I have not been able to solve this either. I get it almost everytime on Race/Evo, but rarely on rFactor or any other application.

you answer lies with 7 m8, even when i ramped up my settings to med and full i got micro screen freezers with no after effects and no drivers not responding melarky. the same test with vista would be fatal. i since dropped back to medium and alls fine.

Dietmar · May 6, 2009

I must say since I disabled Aero nearly none, was suprised by one a couple of days ago, but check back when my last post was here, none since then (the mentioned one was the only one)!

Derek Tatters · May 6, 2009

Thanks Dietmar. I think I missed that solution, so will try it tonight.

Derek Tatters · May 7, 2009

Still falling over:sad:

Sander Hogendoorn · May 8, 2009

Now 3 days gone without a single problem, it's sooo strange..

Grégory Cogotti · May 16, 2009

With Windows 7, i never occurred this problem. I think the problem is the combo Vista+GTR Evo.

Sander Hogendoorn · May 21, 2009

Also happens to me in iRacing and rFactor. I was free from it for nearly 2 weeks (disabled aero). Today I installed 9.5 drivers and guess what, even with aero disabled I just got a driver stopped responding thing. Think I'll give Windows 7 a try this weekend

king81 · May 27, 2009

Hi Guys

I'm having the same problem and a simple solution is to enable DX8 in rFactor. Of course that is not possible in GTREVO but for that I have the old drivers that were recommended by the manufacturer (Gigabyte GF 8800 GT 512mb). GTREVO stutters as I go out to track from garage (probably it just reads textures) and then it goes fine. Had a stutter in rFactor though on those drivers but very rarely and never on DX8.

I thnik there should be a guide

1. The power saving option (always off-meaning never turn off the monitor)
2. Old drivers recommended by manufacturers (I use 175,13 by Gigabyte)
3. The services stop (that's a great idea - I will give it a try today evening - thanks for the files Bob).

Lee Downham · May 27, 2009

Nice post ... Interestingly this issue seems to have been OK for me for ages, until just lately when I have had one or to of these rubbish driver crashes :sad:

I think essentially its just Vista having some core instability with graphics that certain combinations of things messes up ... as it happens no matter what card or manufacturer (ATI or Nvid), and across a whole range of drivers and games.

RE: Drivers - I have 2x 8800 GT's in sli and run dual view, so older than 18x drivers is not an option unless I want to run just one screen or one card per screen.
Having said that, I had some drivers that were super stable for ages, but then the only change I see is windows definition update and boom ... I was getting crashes again :frusty:

I have to say ... things don't see so bad with this issue now, but Vista SP2 went in on my machine this morning, so lets see what they have messed up there eh?

Robert McColl · May 27, 2009

Lee funny i stumbled on this post of yours...... i use Xp on my race comp and had a few freezes in the beginning but havent had for a few weeks now.Point i am making is i installed win 7 64bit last week on another PC withan 8600gt card and had a lot of freezes .....still gotta find out where the power saving is in Win 7

Will post something if i find out how to do and what to do for Win 7

Rob McColl

Lee Downham · Jun 1, 2009

Lee Downham said:
I have to say ... things don't see so bad with this issue now, but Vista SP2 went in on my machine this morning, so lets see what they have messed up there eh?

Oh how I spoke too soon ... bloody Vista SP2 seems to have stuffed me up a right treat.
Since I wrote this my graphics drivers have gone to

... bad stuttering and issues with weird shadows in mirrors etc, then last night full on display driver crashes

Looking into it when I get chance, but if anyone else is experiencing issues like this, be nice to hear I am not alone.
I am on nvidia 185.85 drivers, with 2 x 8800GT's in Sli and also running dual view.

Michael Herrmann · Jun 1, 2009

Lee any change you can try one of the old 177.xx series driver ?? not sure if they are able to run sli but maybe worth a try

Lee Downham · Jun 1, 2009

I think I mentioned earlier in this thread (or maybe somewhere else) that pre-18x.xx drivers with SLi AND dual view isn't an option ... its either one or the other ... so not really something I am inclined to do unless it gets totally desperate.

Ben Tusting · Jun 1, 2009

I'm guessing you tried installing new drivers or are the drivers you have new?

Lee do these freezes happen in R Factor as well?
Also could it be down to the Direct x update?

Also has the energy save option turned back on since you upgraded to Vista sp2?

Lee Downham · Jun 1, 2009

Aye have checked drivers (second thing I did after checking power save settings) ... haven't even seen later betas, re-installed existing ones but not had chance to test.
Not checked rf ... again not had chance
DirectX - dunno, not seen anything on updates ... more info be good if you have it sir.
Energy saving is off ... first thing I checked.

Been out all day, just got in, gotta do some stuff, will try and look at this again in a bit. :thumb:

Ben Tusting · Jun 2, 2009

Lee have a quick look through this
[ame]http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1034167995[/ame]

Lee Downham · Jun 2, 2009

^^ not much in terms of fixes ... or did I miss sommat?

Bob Miley · Jun 3, 2009

Lee, sorry if it has already been said (not checked through every post) but have you tried using just 1 graphics card and 1 monitor to see of it still happens? If it stops then swap the cards and if it happens with 1 card and not the other then that is your problem (dodgy card). If the freezes stop on both then the SLi is messed up.

I tried my mates 2 8800 cards in my system SLi and had problems, so got myself a 9800GTX+ and don`t bother with SLi, since then major screen freezes and driver problems have gone, just get the obligatory 2 second freeze just after joining.