Looking for some help

[Karne]

So last year built a new PC. It was running fine, but about a month or so ago I have started experiencing what I believe to be a video card issue. I bought a NVIDIA GTX660 card and for whatever reason it is shutting down in most games. (Not that I've been gaming much or able to spend much time on the computer) I have gotten a variety of errors from a driver kernel to a windows error.

I have already done the following.

1. Checked Bios settings
2. Upgraded card drivers
3. Downgraded card drivers to previous version
4. Upgraded them back
5. Tried to input a windows fix from a forum post

Am at work so realize I should probably offer more detail, but was curious if anyone has had any similar issues with new NVIDIA on Windows 7.

Karne

[Diggles]

what do you mean by 'shutting off'? do you mean the entire computer is rebooting itself? OR the game is crashing out back to desktop
Does this happen in ALL games? 3d games? 2d games?

Is computer restarting or freezing/locking up within the first 5 minutes of play? or is it after you've been in game awhile 10 mins~+

Most video card problems are drivers, which do not cause shutdowns.

If you dont have a see thru case, open it and watch the fans when computer boots up, are they all running? I assume your computer has at least 2 back fans and 1 front?
Open case, run a big fan on the computer blowing air at a 45 degree angle toward the back of computer. What happens when u run games like that?


This has nothing to do with BIOS, dont touch it.

[grizzle]

Can you describe what you mean by "shutting down"? Does the computer crash, or is it just the card (as in, it kicks over to onboard video or something)?

Is it maybe your PSU? (maybe the new card consumes a lot more power than your previous card)

When you downgrade the drivers, or upgrading drivers, are you uninstalling the last version entirely? (maybe legacy files corrupting new driver install)

How long ago did you buy the card? (maybe the card itself is faulty - exchange it for a new one)

[Snowreap]

check the heatsinks on your video card, underneath the fan(s). if the heatsink is clogged with dirt, it won't matter much whether the fan is running or not -- your video card is going to overheat and shut down.

if your computer reliably crashes in certain games after a certain time, then try opening your computer case and aiming a large, powerful, and probably noisy, fan directly at your video card and see if the behavior changes any. if keeping your video card a little cooler allows your system to run a little longer, then heat is very likely your problem.

I have a couple of Antec spot coolers that I keep on hand in case a particular component develops a heating problem. Last time I used one was on a Radeon HD 4870 card that did just fine cooling the GPU and RAM chips on the 'component' side of the board, but had a problem with the RAM chips on the back side of the board getting too hot.

also, if you have an infrared laser thermometer, that's a useful tool to use to locate hot spots in your PC.

-ken

[Slamz]

If it's sudden, general lockups for no apparent reason, in and out of games, bad RAM can be a culprit.

If it's only in games it's more likely heat but could still be RAM.

There are pain-in-the-ass RAM diag tools out there. Maybe Diggles knows a good one. Easy method is remove half your RAM, run with it, if it locks up, try the other half.


If you mean a sudden shutoff (as in not a lockup but bam, hey, my computer is turned off) it sounds like power supply (but could maybe still be heat? don't some motherboards shut you down if heat gets too high?). Usually heat/RAM/driver issues cause lockups, reboots or bluescreens; not sudden power offs.

[Diggles]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.memtest86.com/">http://www.memtest86.com/</a><!-- m -->

Download the iso and burn to cd for a bootable cd memory tester
typically getting up to test 6 or so (10 mins) gives a good indication of whether or not there is anything bad.
run it for 20-30 minutes if your paranoid

[Karne]

So in 3D games it will shut down the game and send me to a black screen. In some instances it has not unlocked and I have had to hard boot computer. In others, it will just shut down game. In most scenarios it happens quickly upon entering the 3D world. Although, I have had instances where it will run for 30 minutes and all seems well. Also, if I reduce the settings down to low levels it does not seem to have as much problem. BUT what's the point of a high end video card if I can't run the system at higher settings....

I will try your suggestions and look at it more tonight.

[Zirak]

Try running a 2D game. I had a graphics card failure many years ago that prevented me from playing any 3D games but I could still run 2D graphics just fine.

[Snowreap]

it sounds very much like you either have a video card overheating problem, or you have a marginal power supply that's not able to keep your system powered when your GPU starts to draw a lot of power. in many cases a power supply issue would cause your whole system to shut down, but if you have a multi-rail power supply and only the GPU rail is having problems, then your system might keep running.

heat seems the more likely culprit. a high-end graphics card won't be able to actually run at higher settings if you can't keep it cool. for some users with extreme performance demands this means removing the stock heatsink/fans and replacing them with liquid-cooling systems. for more mainstream users, this means making sure that the GPU fans are running and the cooling fins aren't clogged with dirt.

-ken

[Skelas]

Karne, what is the wattage on your power supply? Your card is either overheating, or you just don't have enough juice. if you have less than 500watts that could most definately be the issue.

What is the wattage on your power supply?

[Karne]

I don't think it's power. It's a 650 watt power supply. It could be heat but it's pretty immediate so not sure how heat is building quite that fast.

[Snowreap]

only 650W? I thought you had a high-end graphics card.

my machine has a 910W psu; my wife's is 950W.

-ken

[Karne]

Nvidia 660 GTX requires a 450 power supply.

So I played with the precision X tweaking this morning and increased the power. I was able to run a 3D game with only one minor graphic glitch. Perhaps I had the settings to low for power input to card in the setting. Anyone familiar with their Pecision tweaking program?

[Snowreap]

I did some checking and the 660GTX appears to use only one 6-pin PCI Express power connector, which a 650W psu should certainly be able to deliver.

in terms of power consumption this put it in a similar class to the Radeon HD 4850, and I've been able to run those easily on ~500W power supplies for years. compare that to the 4870 which has two 6-pin power connectors, or the 7950/7970 which have one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector.

-ken

[Karne]

Found this out there on a geforce forum with people apparently experiencing same issue. Am wondering if should just try and RMA card and go with something different at this point.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/525806/geforce-drivers/310-70-whql-crashes-continuosly-306-97-whql-runs-great-/5/">https://forums.geforce.com/default/topi ... -great-/5/</a><!-- m -->

[Karne]

Looks like they are releasing new drivers on the 18th which are downloadable today. Will try those tonight when I get home.

[Snowreap]

according to that thread, it doesn't sound like you need to go with something different, you just have to avoid using that driver version.

but all of my machines are using Radeon cards so I may not be qualified to offer advice on this.

-ken

[Karne]

Yeah, but I have already removed the driver scrubbed tried a previous driver and had the same issue. So am not sure that it is A. Completely the Driver, B. Everything was removed when I deinstalled and "wiped" the driver , C. Basically, back at square 1. Which brings me back to about ready to RMA it and go with something new.

[Snowreap]

I can't help but wonder if the new driver silently upgrades the firmware on the card, or changes settings that the old driver doesn't know to change back. clearly going back to old drivers isn't enough once the damage is done, but hopefully you can avoid the damage on a new card by avoiding the new driver.

-ken

[Karne]

Yeah, am thinking something like that may be true as well. There is hope that the driver being released somehow fixes the issue, but am not holding my breath. Definitely has been frustrating.

[Vanraw]

I have had issues with microslop auto update loading in correct video drivers. For the hello of it go to Microsoft restore and load to a point prior to the lock ups. If that doesn't clear it, its probably hardware. I would suspect the did card is bad.

[Karne]

I have an RMA in on the card now.