8800 GTX Lockups, Only When Not Gaming

[krotchy]

Rig:

A8N32-SLI
FX-60
Silverstone Strider - 750W (The 2 PCIe Connectors are on Rails 3 and 4)
EVGA 8800GTX (replaced an X1900XTX)
2GB DDR
2x 1280x1024 LCDS (Soon to be a 2407WFP)

At the moment, I have nothing overclocked at all, and CoolNQuiet is enabled (though it was with the X1900XTX and that was problem free)

I am experiencing a rather weird issue. I can game and use this computer for hours at a time. However if I walk away from it for 5-10 minutes the desktop locks up and requires a hard reset/boot. Two things can happen.

1. Image Freezes, and I see the same thing frozen forever, power management never kicks in to turn off monitors.
2. Monitors turn off (according to my power management) however I cant get the screen to come back up when i move the mouse (AKA frozen with monitors off)

However I have yet to have a single crash, error, lock up or particle from the 8800GTX when gaming or doing anything processor intensive.

*Update* I formated my computer, the original install had the 97.02 drivers, after format I insalled the 97.44. Yet I am still experiencing this problem. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[JAG87]

just format when you have time.

 

[Pugnate]

I think it may be the PSU...

Just kidding. It is more than enough. The fact that games run fine is a good sign. Try this:

Click START
Click RUN
Type msconfig and hit ENTER
Click STARTUP
Click DISABLE ALL

Try running your computer and see if everything goes OK. If it does then it is a good idea to turn one of those things on and experiment till you identify the problem.

If none of those are the issue then search back in these threads for the procedure on completely removing your NVIDIA drivers. It involves editing your registry. It was in a thread with a title that said something along the lines of,"I think my 8800GTX isn't ok".

Do that, and then reinstall drivers. Should do the trick.

I have to tell you, the drivers that come on the eVGA disc worked horribly for me. However the latest ones work better, which is really really odd considering everyone has reported the opposite.

 

[krotchy]

bump after update

 

[krotchy]

unresolved bump

 

[Captante]

Just a guess that maybe for some reason your card isn't automatically lowering clockspeeds when running 2D applications, but for some reason the fan is spooling down & its overheating ... try going into NTune & manually adjusting the 2D clockspeed way down right after you exit your game & see it that helps... you could also see if manually lowering the 3D clock helps, just remember to raise them again when you want to game.

You can also try running with the case-cover removed for awhile & see if that helps ... again I realize it seems illogical for high temps to cause lockups in 2D but not under stress in 3D, but you should still try it & see what, if anything happens ... also I suggest you install a utility called NVTray v1.0.5.1 or higher, as it will allow you to moniter GPU temps more easily.

Even if it these basic steps don't help, I'd say that the most likely issues are either tempeture or power-related ... the bad news is the only way to test that theory is to start swapping out parts & while a second motherboard might not break the bank, I'll bet another GTX would, so you might need to RMA your gpu... at least you bought from EVGA so you shouldn't have problems there.

 

[Aikouka]

Are you doing anything in particular when your video output freezes? Whenever my video output freezes, it's when I play a game and watch a video at the same time (and it happens after a minute or so).

I've had my output on my card shut off twice (black screen), but they immediately came back on.

Maybe you simply got a dud?

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Does disabling Cool N' Quiet help?

 

[jim1976]

Do you have hibernation enabled on your system? If so remove it it might be causing you issues...

Anyway FYI 8800 series don't have what we call 2d/3d speed.. More like a hybrid mode in which they operate all the time, thus the consistent high temps

 

[krotchy]

Well to answer some questions:

My power management is as follows: monitor off at 3 minutes, hard drives at 15. No screen saver/hibernation/sleep mode ever.

Freezing occurs only when I am *not* doing anything intensive. I can watch 12 movies at once to my hearts content, and never lockup.

Also I have noticed the lockups seem to occur more often when my computer is actually cooler (AKA I might lock up faster if I boot up after it has been off a while)

p.s. no issues happened at all with my X1900XTX, and memtest, superpi and all that still run fine. I just dont get why this new 8800GTX can game like a badass, but it cant handle itself when im idling.

Im gonna download ntune and see what is going on with temps now I guess.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: jim1976
Do you have hibernation enabled on your system? If so remove it it might be causing you issues...

Anyway FYI 8800 series don't have what we call 2d/3d speed.. More like a hybrid mode in which they operate all the time, thus the consistent high temps

Interesting because I could have sworn they did clock down in 2D mode, also the driver still shows seperate 2D & 3D speeds.

 

[krotchy]

hmm, i disabled the nvidia control panel at startup, and I havent locked up since. yay for the retarded new CP.

 

[Captante]

Did you also install NTune, because I've read in the Nvidia forums that its a requirement with the 8800's.

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: Captante
Did you also install NTune, because I've read in the Nvidia forums that its a requirement with the 8800's.

I installed ntune, and it causes instant lock ups when i open it

so I removed ntune from my comp, and the CP from startup, and I seem to be doing better,

I don't think ntune is required, but its the only way to check your vcore temps.

 

[krotchy]

k, still locking up with the CP disabled

 

[Kyanzes]

Couldn't it be the screensaver or the monitor standby mode? Try to disable both.

 

[XNice]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
Does disabling Cool N' Quiet help?

??????

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: XNice

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
Does disabling Cool N' Quiet help?

??????

no, it didnt help at all.


Also there is no screen saver, but the lockups occur prior to the monitor turning off fairly often too.

 

[beggerking]

Turn off power management?...

 

[jim1976]

Originally posted by: Captante

Originally posted by: jim1976
Do you have hibernation enabled on your system? If so remove it it might be causing you issues...

Anyway FYI 8800 series don't have what we call 2d/3d speed.. More like a hybrid mode in which they operate all the time, thus the consistent high temps

Interesting because I could have sworn they did clock down in 2D mode, also the driver still shows seperate 2D & 3D speeds.

*edit Some programs are showing different clocks because they weren't made for G80 O/C.. Where exactly do you see the different clocks ? Ntune?

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: jim1976

Originally posted by: Captante

Originally posted by: jim1976
Do you have hibernation enabled on your system? If so remove it it might be causing you issues...

Anyway FYI 8800 series don't have what we call 2d/3d speed.. More like a hybrid mode in which they operate all the time, thus the consistent high temps

Interesting because I could have sworn they did clock down in 2D mode, also the driver still shows seperate 2D & 3D speeds.

And ATI tool shows 2D/3D clocks but that doesn't mean that the G80 has..But where exactly do you see the different clocks?

They also show up in the clock frequency tab of the classic control panel, but I'm not 100% sure they're enabled either... I havn't bothered changing any clockspeeds from defaults yet.

Theres only one clock setting showing in Ntune, but I suspect thats only for 3D applications.