nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail?

[Raduque]

Getting some serious graphical corruption in games in full-screen mode. System specs at the end of the post. It's hard to describe the corruption, so I've included a pic.

Things I've tried: Changing the video card (7900GS to 6800NU, with a drivercleaner and reinstall in between), changing the drivers (drivercleaner to remove all the old ones), reinstalled Vista, backed off my overclocks and loosened up memory timings, ran memtest (passed a 16-hour test), and finally (as thought might have been a power draw issue) placed all my fans on a separate power supply. I'm still not ruling out the PSU entirely, though.

The only thing that's a bit odd, is that I only get the corruption in D3D games, and ONLY in full screen mode. If I put the game in a window (even a window the same size as my LCD's native res, 1680x1050) it looks normal. OpenGL games look normal whether full screen or windowed. Performance is not affected in the slightest.

Picture of said corruption

System:
Intel E6300 C2D @ 2.8
Gigabyte S3
2gb g.Skill DDR2800
nVidia GeForce 7900GS/GeForce 6800
4 SATA drives, 1 IDE DVDRW
4 80mm fans on separate PSU

Anybody have any ideas? My next step I think, is to take nVidia out of the equation. I'm looking at getting a cheap ATI pcie card, like an HD2400 to test with.



I?m locking this since Raduque has solved his problem but the thread has degenerated into personal attacks.

I would suggest those of you launching such attacks refrain from doing so in the future or further action will be taken.

Video Mod BFG10K.

 

[taltamir]

its a driver issue, older games are gonna have them in a newer os. Just run it in window mode (same size as desktop and center it properly).
AMD might work for this game, who knows. You can always install the OS it was made for (I am guessing XP) to play those games, and then go back to vista when you are done.

 

[Raduque]

It's not an older game, it's ANY D3D game. Bioshock, Hellgate:London, NFS Pro Street. I only used the picture of 3dmark because it's the only thing I took a picture of. The corruption is the same in any game, and I don't have any of the others installed anymore till I fix this issue.

 

[IlllI]

nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail?

that about sums it up

 

[DerekWilson]

obviously this is an error to do with your system as many of us routinely run d3d games on nvidia hardware under vista.

i'd try /under/ clocking everything a bit ... i've seen similar issues due to video memory overheating, but it seems unlikely as youve tried more than one card and gottent he same results.

you could try underclocking the graphics cards as well.

it could be some component either near the card getting too hot and subsequently heating the card as well ...

dunno, just throwing things out there.

 

[redlinez33]

You have tried 2 different graphic card, so that should be ruled out.... Come to think about it, doesnt vista come with a light version of directx 9? If this is correct, try installing the full version of directx 9.....

 

[Raduque]

reoloading dx9 is something Ive thought about, as ogl games dont have this issue. It all started after I played Bioshiock, but a reformat shouldve undone whatever it may have done.


Oh and just after I posted this OP i tested HGL and didn't get any corruption. Will test again when I get off work.

 

[redlinez33]

not exactly.. Google directx 9 and vista. Vista comes with a light version of directx 9. Some times games want the full version.. Might as well give it a try, cant hurt anything

 

[taltamir]

of the three you mentioned the only one i didnt play was NFS Pro Street. Bioshock and Hellgate:London had absolutely no issues for me whatsoever (with multiple driver revisions), and I played them in vista64bit with both a 7900GS+X2 3800 AND+nforce570 ultra and again after upgrading to a 8800 GTS 512MB+E8400+P35.
EDIT: actually bioshock END BOSS had corruption when I played it back when it just came out on 7900GS. And I didn't finish the game in the 8800GTS 512MB. But nowhere else in the game did I have any graphics corruption.

Sounds to me like you have defective hardware. Try memtest, if you pass a FULL suite of tests with memtest do a clean vista install and then install the latest drivers, or even the beta drivers from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/
Here is a more direct link, you need to check their FORUMS for the latest downloads http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/...index.php?showforum=89

If that still doesn't work then you have some defective hardware. Cause I am not seeing any issues.

PS. you DID install the latest DX update from microsoft right? Here is the march 2008 update:
http://www.microsoft.com/downl...7ed1a91&DisplayLang=en

I know you have vista and DX10 but you still need to update the DX9 files for MANY games to work properly. And because microsoft keeps on calling it 9.0c every time (it is released bi-monthly) it will NOT autoinstall in many games unless they know to properly set it to run REGARDLESS of weather it is installed or not (which most of them do NOT, for example jade empire did NOT work in windows vista64 until the november 07 update, and it did NOT install it automatically when you installed the game)

 

[Raduque]

Well, updated the DX9 to the latest and no change. Hellgate still gives corruption and Prey is still fine. Looks like I'll just wait till this weekend when I can get an ATI card and see if it's just that my system doesn't like nVidia cards.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: clandren
nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail?

that about sums it up

Please don't talk crap,I have about 70+ games installed in Vista x64 all running great,sounds to me like a driver or hardware issue, have you installed lastest motherboard chipset drivers?

Yes its always wise to keep your DX version updated,a lot of people forget that(I know you tried it).

Hellgate still gives corruption and Prey is still fine.

Those games run fine on Vista x64 ,I can vouch for that with my Nvidia card so it does seem you may have defective hardware of some sort if its not a driver issue.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

Dude, pls do tell if this corruption only takes place where there is a overdraw and bright spots get corrupted or is this the case for the whole frame.

 

[taltamir]

I had an evga 8800GTS 512MB show corruption, and replacing with an IDENTICAL video card solved the problem. Getting an ATI card will most likely solve your problem, cause most likely its a defective card. RMAing it will ALSO most likely solve your problem.

 

[Raduque]

taltamir, I replaced a 7900GS with a 6800NU that was running perfectly in another computer (and A64 running XP MCE). I've run memtest for 16 hours, as I mentioned in my first post and my ram passed with flying colors. I've reinstalled Vista once already and it didn't help. The problem seems to go away after a reboot, but after running the game once, or letting the monitors go into powersave, the corruption comes back.

I don't need laptop drivers, this is a desktop.

ajaidevsingh, video. it's small and crappy (from my cell), but you can clearly see the corruption on the menus and loading screen of Hellgate: London. I start the game in full screen mode, go into the char select screen, then back out, change the game to windowed and go back into the char select screen. DO NOT blow up the video or you'll miss the details.


edit: Also, with the 7900GS I had weirdness on the desktop and during post, too. Lines that ran through everything, "sparklies" like when you OC too high (and the ram clock was turned way down), and the driver was constantly resetting itself. During post I had color corruption (some white text was random colors). Those issues were fixed with the 6800nu, but the game graphical issues persist.

 

[taltamir]

that website doesn't limit itself to laptop drivers, its got an inf that allows you to install any nvidia driver with every TNT, quadro, geforce, and laptop card ever made.

It also has a tool to customize your drivers with specific fixes.

 

[redlinez33]

Well I havent read the whole thread currently. Put your processor back to stock speeds and take out any extra PCI cards if you have any. Its probably some kind of driver problem, but might as well try this.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: redlinez33
Well I havent read the whole thread currently. Put your processor back to stock speeds and take out any extra PCI cards if you have any. Its probably some kind of driver problem, but might as well try this.

I guess by "thread" you meant "first post"? I mentioned I did all that already. I don't have any cards except the video card, and I backed my CPU back down to stock speed and also set my ram timings to auto.

I'm 99.9 percent sure it's not overheating. Only about 80% sure it's not my PSU, though. It's hard to test though, 'cause as I mentioned in my last post, the issue disappears after a reboot and it takes some time for it to come back. I either have to try and start\quit games multiple times or let the computer shut off my LCDs a few times.

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: Mem

Originally posted by: clandren
nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail?

that about sums it up

Please don't talk crap,I have about 70+ games installed in Vista x64 all running great,sounds to me like a driver or hardware issue, have you installed lastest motherboard chipset drivers?

ok weirdo. look at the topic title? "Topic Title: nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail? "


i'm repeating what the first guy wrote.

 

[redlinez33]

I had some corruption in vista and a 7900GTX in bioshock, but thats the only game. That was the only game I tried with that card in vista before I got a 8800GT and havent seen it since.... So its probably something to do with directx9 cards and vista.... My brother has my old 7900GTX now and he gets the same problems in bioshock, but he doesnt have any problems in HL2 games (orange box)... He doesnt have any of the other games you mentioned though.... No problems in 3dmark though....

cant wait to hear if ATI works fine.. Maybe nvidias drivers in vista for 7900 series and older have problems. With a clean format and it only happens in directx, this pretty much narrows it down to driver issue/setting. GL.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: clandren

Originally posted by: Mem

Originally posted by: clandren
nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail?

that about sums it up

Please don't talk crap,I have about 70+ games installed in Vista x64 all running great,sounds to me like a driver or hardware issue, have you installed lastest motherboard chipset drivers?

ok weirdo. look at the topic title? "Topic Title: nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail? "


i'm repeating what the first guy wrote.

I suggest you learn the forum rules.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: Mem

Originally posted by: clandren

Originally posted by: Mem

Originally posted by: clandren
nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail?

that about sums it up

Please don't talk crap,I have about 70+ games installed in Vista x64 all running great,sounds to me like a driver or hardware issue, have you installed lastest motherboard chipset drivers?

ok weirdo. look at the topic title? "Topic Title: nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail? "


i'm repeating what the first guy wrote.

I suggest you learn the forum rules.

Don't the forum rules say something about threadcrapping, Mem?

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: Mem

Originally posted by: clandren

Originally posted by: Mem

Originally posted by: clandren
nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail?

that about sums it up

Please don't talk crap,I have about 70+ games installed in Vista x64 all running great,sounds to me like a driver or hardware issue, have you installed lastest motherboard chipset drivers?

ok weirdo. look at the topic title? "Topic Title: nVidia + vista + D3D = epic fail? "


i'm repeating what the first guy wrote.

I suggest you learn the forum rules.

Don't the forum rules say something about threadcrapping, Mem?

He was trying to turn your problem into another Vista flame post with no constructive input.You on the otherhand had good reason to post details etc....

Anyway did you try latest chipset drivers,PSU as you meantioned I would not rule out, its possible a faulty motherboard as well if you get same problem with an ATI card,however I would go PSU route first after trying an ATI card.

 

[Raduque]

Intel doesn't have any new drivers that I can find for my mobo. I'm hesitant to try a new bios as I didn't always have this issue, it's fairly new (since around Bioshock came out. I built the system before then). I ordered an HD3870 so I'll see what happens in a few days when I get it.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

it can very well be related to Vista... the OS can lead to corrupting files within the Nvidia Driver. (that is just one reason i can think of) it can very well be nvidia's own problem with their drivers.

 

[Raduque]

I formatted once and the issue persisted. I doubt the OS is gonna corrupt the driver twice in a row unless it's a driver incompatibility issue - with just about every driver nVidia has released since the 101.X drivers.