NVIDIA question

From time to time NVIDIA freees up my machine. The only thing I can do is turn off the computer and reboot. It is not game related. It does it if I am working on any program or even on the Internet. Sometimes I can have the machine for hours with no problems, sometimes I start the PC and in a short while it does. There does not seem to be in consistency. I have recently updated the driver and it still does it. Does anyone have any idea why it does this?

Might be an obvious question, but how do you know for sure that it is being caused by the NVidia card / driver?

Also please post your specs - processor, memory, exact graphic card, other cards, version of Windows etc.

Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer HP-Pavilion
System Model AY602AA-ABA HPE-140f
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20GHz, 3201 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 5.03, 11/12/2009
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
NVIDIA GEForce GT 230

When I restart I get a message that NVIDIA has caused a forced closure of the system. but nothing to help with the problem. When I run diagnostic or maintenance programs they say everything is fine. I don't know if NVIDIA can help or not. I haven't found them very helpful in the past. The same thing happened on my old computer and I was assured that this one was much better.
HP Pavilion is the computer. I do not recommend it. Has all the features I wanted and a few too many.
Windows 7 Home

To be clear, is it the NVidia drivers that are causing the shutdown, or the NVidia 'console' (the control panel or whatever they call it)?

If its the latter, you could try disabling it from your startup programs, since you only actually need it when you want to change something. They tend to set themselves up to load on startup for some reason - which is a bit annoying. Try getting rid of it from your 'boot up', that might make a difference if it somehow got corrupted and is causing problems.

If that seems to help you could uninstall that program and reinstall. That might get rid of any 'corruption'

If its the drivers, and you've updated them to the latest, then I don't really know what to suggest....

Thank you, Paul. I'll try disabling the program and see if that helps. Since this happened with a different NIVIDIA Card that might be it. Some NIVIDIA problem.

However, since it is so irratic it could also be corruption. I go go for days with no problem and then get it happening several times. Rebooting seems to usually help. At least for a while.

I think that thing is called "Display driver service" or something. Hit run in your start menu and type "services.msc". Look for something called "NVidia display driver service" or something, double click on it, and select "Startup type: DISABLED" and STOP the "service". Doing so will prevent the fuckhead from running. I've been using ATI graphics card for aeons, so I could be wrong on this one, though.

Thank you, TON and Paul. I reinstalled the NVidia recent driver. It will be several days before I am sure that solved the problem but I played Oblivion for several hours and have left the computer running for hours and so far (knock wood) have not gotten the freeze up/blackout. If this works then it was a corruption of some sort. If it doesn't work I'll try NVIDIA again. Or just learn to live with it.

The problem was getting worse, much more frequent.

Some good advice here. It's never a bad idea to check for more recent drivers.

Have you by any chance tampered with your settings? Check the Nvidia control panel if there is something amiss. It's unlikely that you've been editing stuff in there but still.

There may be some incompatibility somewhere.

Aha, I did that yesterday. I I am not sure what the default setting was but I noticed that one setting was set to run the video display instead of the Nvidia display. I changed it to Nvidia to see if that helped. Nope. So far )break a leg) the machine is behaving.

Testing the mod will also be a test of Nvidia because NVIDIA does have a black screen, several actually, glitch with Oblivion. There are mods that help fix that but I haven't installed them in this game which is for testing purposes only.

I am very caustiously optimistic. I have left the computer on for about 7 hours, played some Oblivion and no problem.

Good news. It's hard to foresee what can happen. I like Nvidia and I use different computers and the experience really differ (even with the same OS). It's crazy. The more I think about it I believe that computer stuff is like black magic... One of the dark arts. Goetia is probably less hermetic.

The professor of the only programming class I took told us right at the start that "Computers are high speed idiots". Not too sure about that now, I suspect they are sneaking up on us, more intelligent than we think and as Asimove said will eventually rule the world. Regarding Control freaks think what that would mean, scary.

With the internet computers are probably high speed e-diots.

Well, I never had that kind of problem with NVidia drivers, but if the issue persists, I would recommend uninstalling the old driver first.

Go to control panel, Programs and Features and uninstall everything from NVidia, Do not reboot yet.

Right click My Computer, open device manager, click view and select “View” – “Show Hidden Devices”
Go down to “Display adapters”, if your NVidia Adapter is still there, right click and select uninstall, confirm the selection click OK, empty your recycle bin and reboot.

The PC will restart with a standard VGA adapter (likely with low resolution), install the latest NVidia driver and reboot.
That should resolve your issue.

One more thing, do not use the NVidia driver that “Windows Update” sometimes recommends always use the drivers from NVidia.

It may be also a good idea to update your DirectX installation via

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=2DA43D38-DB71-4C1B-BC6A-9B6652CD92A3&displaylang=en

Download the file to any directory of your choice and run it from there.

Crash

Thank you, Crash. If the problem continues I will do that. I will also use the link you give.

I hope Crashpilot is alright. His suggestion to update directx was a good one. It seems to be helping a lot. I have no idea why but the computer seems to be more stable (knocks on wood). We will see.

Thanks, Crashpilot, where ever you are.

Last I heard he was ok but the situation in Japan is not going to solve itself in a few months. Gaming stuff is certainly not a priority for him.

Right. The important thing is that he and his family are alright.

Carabas wrote:

Last I heard he was ok but the situation in Japan is not going to solve itself in a few months. Gaming stuff is certainly not a priority for him.

You are right; Gaming stuff is not a high priority but it does help to relax.

Well, the situation here in the Tokyo area has (almost) returned to before disaster status with the exception that energy saving did become a major issue in daily life to avoid the blackouts that TEPCO introduced shortly after the quake. One of the funny things here in Japan is the fact that the country is divided in a 50Hz and a 60Hz electrical power part, and that makes rerouting power distribution a challenge.

The only problem for me and for most of the foreigners that still live in Japan is the almost daily aftershocks that still shake the country; I read somewhere that we had around 500 of them since the quake. In addition, of course the handling of the radiation issues by the government, but with the help of the US that may come under control.

It is interesting to see the international support Japan receives. While most of the Europeans seem to be more concerned about the effects this disaster may have on their own life the US seems the only country that actively supports not only the efforts to bring the Nuclear Plant under control but also the people who lost their homes and their work. The US forces here in Japan have dispatched a lot of men and material to help the local authorities in the search for the still missing people and with clearing up the hardest hit areas. In addition, Mrs. Clinton has been in Japan several times for discussions with the Japanese government.

Thanks a lot for that! In times like this, one can see who the real friends are.

Another thing that really impresses me is the spirit of the Japanese people; even the people who lost relatives, homes and their livelihood are only talking about rebuilding and how to start anew.

We are currently in the Golden Weeks holidays here in Japan and the NPO I am working with announced that about 35.000 individuals went to Tohoku to work there as volunteers. They do that on their own expense, not only paying travel expenses but also bringing along their own tents, working clothes, tools and food for this time.

I wonder how many of my own country mates would go to this length in a similar case in Germany.

Crash

Thank you for that update, Crash. I am glad that hte USA is doing what it can to help the Japanese people.

35,000 people is an impressive number to do that. I wonder out of the millions here in the USA if we have that many who would do that.

Please keep us updated if you have the time. Newscasts not only are getting scarce but are rather cold information. Having someone who is there and involved makes a big difference in the information. Keep safe and be well.

Thank you for letting us know about the situation Crashpilot. I think the difference for Europeans is that we are still traumatised by the Chernobyl disaster. I was eight at the time but I remember all the lies that the government and the media told us...

Anyway, what I've seen about the way the Japanese people are handling the situation is amazing. Such a display of courage and self control in the face of adversity is commendable.