video card woes

[Vinda-Lou]

So I have my new computer, but they sent me the wrong card.  On top of that, the wrong card was not working.  I was getting the "display driver stopped responding...nvlddmkm..." error.  Also the screen would sometimes begin to "sparkle" like there was confetti on the screen.

So they send me the new card, install drivers, etc. and Crysis runs smooth for at least then ten minutes I was able to play.  I go off to do things, and when I get back, my monitor is in sleep mode.  With a jiggle of the mouse, the desktop comes back on along with the confetti again!  On the new card!

Is this related to the nvidia driver trouble with Vista?  I'm running Vista Home Premium Service Pack 1, on a Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00 Ghz, 4 gig ram, onboard realtek audio, and a "new" evga GeForce 9800 GTX 512mb.  What else could cause this problem?  I think the power supply is 600watt.  The cpu is liquid cooled, and the case has two extra fans built in for cooling.

Please help!

(Double posted at OO for maximum feedback)

EDIT: This happened with 175.19 drivers and 177.79 beta drivers.


EDIT II: The damn thing is still crashing out of games.  Do I return the computer?  Almost $1400 for this shit?  Do I revert back to XP?  This sucks.

[dmd]

Probably a dumb question, but does the card have two power connections, and if it does both being used?

[Vinda-Lou]

Probably a dumb question, but does the card have two power connections, and if it does both being used?

Yes.  They are side by side on the card and firmly connected.

[Vinda-Lou]

Arise!

Years later, new computer, new graphics card... same problem.  Tried a bunch of fixes and nothing works.  (This "new" computer is a couple years old, but I recently sent my card back to PNY, got a new one from them with same errors)

Sometimes a game will lock up, so I ctrl-alt-del out to task manager, the game gets going again for a bit, freezes again, and I repeat going to task manager.  After a few times, the game will run flawlessly.  This happens sometimes with the "Nvlddmkm.sys Has Stopped Responding" error message, and sometimes not.  When I'm on "Firefox" this also happens - the screen goes white, the browser freezes and finally comes back to life with the same error message "Nvlddmkm.sys Has Stopped Responding"...

I have a GTX 460 (Enthusiast Edition, possibly 2.0).  I'm running Vista 32 bit, up to date I believe.  I have 4 gb ram on a core 2 dual E8400 @ 3 ghz. 

Any ideas?

[KC]

It's stuff like this that made me give up modern PC gaming in favor of GOG.com, consoles and iOS games.  The only exception will probably be Diablo 3, but I understand that you don't need a cutting edge system.

[Purge]

If you want to try something drastic, try pulling your mainboard out of your case so the video card isn't mounted to the case. It could be heat related or even a bad mount point on your board. I've had problems before with the case being poorly made and forcing the card out slightly. Given that this isn't card-specific, it's something to consider.

Is the power a standard 4 pin, or a dedicated PSU line? Do you have a second PSU you could test? It could be that when under heavy load, the system can't keep up with it.

The first thing I'd start with is Memtest86+ though, and also measure the temp of the video card.
Get the card to fail, then power off and use a thermometer to get a reading of the back of the video card behind the chip.
If you get some drastic temperatures you may have a problem.
It is pretty easy and means you don't have to remove any heatsinks, fans, or housings from the card itself.

Is your case open when it fails? Perhaps there is an airflow issue - I assume it's only the CPU that is water-cooled. and any fans moving the hot air out may be creating negative or positive pressure without actually circulating air out.

[TheAtomicKid]

So, tell us about the 'new' computer, the 'new' gpu, and the 'new' power supply.

edit: (e8400 noted, 4gb ram noted, gtx 460 'enthusiast edition' noted) (vista noted)

edit: (this your card? http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1065&page=5 )

Also tell us how hot said gpu is getting during the problem moments. Use software. There are many ways to get the temps.

Need actual make/model, etc. PNY card? But which generation, etc.

Have you ever purged the drivers using Driver Sweeper, and then reinstalled them?

Don't ignore the memtest advice previous, either. I wouldn't try to manually check the temp though... stuff cools off too quickly once you remove the heat source, and it's just easier to use software.

In particular, is it just the driver locking up and resetting, or are you getting actual video corruption? From what you posted, I'm betting lockup/reset, but no corruption this time. green and/or white 'streaks', pixels, etc.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
http://www.piriform.com/speccy
http://www.memtest.org/

Atomic

[Vinda-Lou]

I need to check the power supply again, but it was more than enough when I checked a while back.  Everything else I've done - swept the old drivers, followed advice on the nvidia forums, did a memory test...

I was thinking of upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium with the Upgrade version a while back.  Do you think installing it would help "stabilize" the computer?  In other words, would it help to make things run smoother, give the computer a fresh start, and in a way reset things so any driver problems or inconsistencies are ironed out?  My OEM version of Vista is not working - I was unable to reinstall from the disk.  I don't remember the error message, but I'll try again and jot it down.  I'm hoping a fresh start would get things going on the right foot.