Is Nvidia Kernel 355.98 unstable? Repeating crashes

[z1ggy]

I get random black screens or the computer completely crashes. I don't remember updating my hardware drivers, but perhaps they auto updated. I went to the Nvidia site and DL'ed the latest drivers for my card, but the issue keeps happening. Maybe I didn't completely wipe out the last driver 100%?

 

[Charlie98]

Did you wipe the driver and reload?

In the NVidia installer, at the bottom of the feature list, it asks if you want to 'clean install...' or wipe all the old settings and reloading everything fresh.

 

[Burpo]

It is likely that Geforce experience updated your drivers, and the new drivers may be causing issues. Either roll back the driver, or try loading the previous driver and see if problem persists.

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/94208/en-us

 

[z1ggy]

Yeah I was considering a roll back, but I didn't know if I actually got an auto update or not. I will do as you guys suggest and if that doesn't help, I'll post again. Thanks.

 

[Charlie98]

Let us know...

 

[z1ggy]

Rolling back to 355.60 did not help. Computer just crashed.

 

[Burpo]

I'd try a Windows Restore to an earlier date, before you started to have issues.

 

[z1ggy]

Any chance it's hardware related? It's a gtx 460.

 

[Charlie98]

Any chance it's hardware related? It's a gtx 460.

It's possible; I quit upgrading drivers on my HTPC's GTX560Ti (except the last one that had Fermi support) because I was having stability problems with the updates... this on a non-OC'd, mostly idle time GPU. I continue to update the 760 and, of course, the 970 without problems... so I think it's just the old card.

EDIT: I think I stopped somewhere around v344.60 or so, until the latest update.

 

[z1ggy]

Okay did a system restore to Jan 13. Did not help as I still get the black screens and "display driver crash" issue.

What now?

 

[Ketchup]

Four possibilities left, that I can think of ATM:

Video card dying
Video card overheating
PCI-E slot going out
Power supply dying

When was the last time you dusted out your computer? Dusting out the pc and trying a different pci express slot would be the next things I would try.

 

[z1ggy]

Four possibilities left, that I can think of ATM:

Video card dying
Video card overheating
PCI-E slot going out
Power supply dying

When was the last time you dusted out your computer? Dusting out the pc and trying a different pci express slot would be the next things I would try.

It's been a while. I looked inside.. Fairly dusty but nothing crazy. I will vacuum out the case and clean off the card.

I can check my card temps with the temperature monitoring program I have. Reeeallly hoping it's not the card or PSU because I can't afford to build a new machine right now.

 

[XavierMace]

I've had this issue on and off with multiple systems on both 8.1 and 10. So far the only thing I've noticed is that it only seems to happen playing older DX9 games. DX11 and DX12 games don't seem to cause the crash.

 

[MongGrel]

This might sound stupid, but I have had some odd issues related to a 47" tv on an extended screen lately.

Have you tried unplugging the power completely to the monitor about 30 seconds and letting it reboot yet ?

It sounds stupid I guess, but if you haven't give it a try.

Can't hurt at any rate.

 

[z1ggy]

I've had this issue on and off with multiple systems on both 8.1 and 10. So far the only thing I've noticed is that it only seems to happen playing older DX9 games. DX11 and DX12 games don't seem to cause the crash.

I'm still on Win7. Furthermore, this happens at all times, it's not just during gaming.

This might sound stupid, but I have had some odd issues related to a 47" tv on an extended screen lately.

Have you tried unplugging the power completely to the monitor about 30 seconds and letting it reboot yet ?

It sounds stupid I guess, but if you haven't give it a try.

Can't hurt at any rate.

Sure, I'll give it a try...

 

[z1ggy]

Just realized my Mobo only has 1 PCI-E port, so if that port is screwy, I'm pretty sunk.

Additionally, according to the Nvidia drivers website, 361.5 is the latest update. Whatever version I had been running is very much out of date. I DLed the patch and I will make sure I wipe what ever is on there now and do a full clean install of this new driver.

Computer crashed 2x last night, and I got a black screen probably 30-40 times in between crashes. It's a real problem.

 

[Ketchup]

What cpu/ motherboard/ ps do you have? Trying integrated graphics may help, if that is an option for you.

 

[z1ggy]

i3-2100/Gigabyte Z68/antec 550

 

[Charlie98]

Maybe run the iGPU for a bit, like Ketchup suggested... at least prove that it works.

Personally, I don't see a problem running an older driver... nothing has changed. I would wipe everything (again?) and start from scratch. I would (and do) only load just the driver... nothing else (not even GFE.) Once that proves, you can load the other junk if you need.

What card do you have? Are you getting drivers from NVidia, or the vendor?

 

[Ketchup]

One thing to note is that these cards are 5-6 years old. You don't need the latest drivers unless you are running Windows 10, or need them to handle problems with a specific game. Most newer drivers that I have read about are only adding presets for specific games.

 

[z1ggy]

Maybe run the iGPU for a bit, like Ketchup suggested... at least prove that it works.

Personally, I don't see a problem running an older driver... nothing has changed. I would wipe everything (again?) and start from scratch. I would (and do) only load just the driver... nothing else (not even GFE.) Once that proves, you can load the other junk if you need.

What card do you have? Are you getting drivers from NVidia, or the vendor?

Zotac GTX 460. From Nvidia website... Should I go right to the vendor?

I'll run the computer with bare min, see how that works. I'll wipe everything and reload drivers. It's weird to me that a computer back up to a few weeks ago before the problem started wouldn't solve the issue if it was purely software related.

One thing to note is that these cards are 5-6 years old. You don't need the latest drivers unless you are running Windows 10, or need them to handle problems with a specific game. Most newer drivers that I have read about are only adding presets for specific games.

True. Doing a restore and having it not work though makes me think now that maybe that root cause isn't a faulty driver.

 

[Charlie98]

I would try an older vendor-supplied driver first. I had problems with my GTX560Ti and upgraded drivers... so bad I had to recover a backup image (pre driver update) to get it back.

You might be right about the hardware, or, worse, an OS/drive corruption, that's why I thought running the iGPU might be a good system check.

 

[z1ggy]

So I started up the PC, about 5 crashes in a row. Went iGPU and no problems. So, I now suspect it's more of a hardware issue. However, I'm going to go download the Zotac driver for the gtx 460, download and install that over what's on the PC right now, then reinstall the GPU and see what happens. If that still gives me issues, I think I'm going have to get a new GPU. Might honestly just scrap the PC and buy a laptop as I really don't game much anymore.

Edit: uhhh Zotac does not have driver support for their 400 series cards at all...Only GTX 750 and above. Looks like I will have to use the Nvidia website.

 

[Ketchup]

Well, you are down to power supply or video card, but I suspect video card. If you still aren't sure which one, I might recommend getting a power supply from a nearby retailer. Easy to return if that's not the problem.

You shouldn't have a hard time finding a good deal on a slightly-used video card here in the forums.

 

[z1ggy]

Well, you are down to power supply or video card, but I suspect video card. If you still aren't sure which one, I might recommend getting a power supply from a nearby retailer. Easy to return if that's not the problem.

You shouldn't have a hard time finding a good deal on a slightly-used video card here in the forums.

Will my older mobo be compatible with a slightly newer GPU? Will I need to update BIOS, etc?