Bug drivers

[Benway]

so i'm back to my old boilerplate "newer != better", as you might read recommendations "try the latest WHQL drivers" on this forums, rather skip latest 191 geforce whql http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx (i do not refer to black pbss and other nuisances, rather to working/not working). No idea about 195 Beta though, i just rolled back to GeForce 185.85 WHQL.

Here is what i got (with xp32bit, i7 + evga GTX285 ftw) with the sparkling latest 191.07_whql: all DirectX (updated ofc) games quit running on a regular base for ~ 1/2 minute, followed by a windows popup "nv4_disp.dll took a piss, consider to reboot"

 

the Pisa-Skyscrapers are supposed to be trees, the floorboards are supposed to be a snowy landscape

 

another one, oops ...

[Piggy]

How the hell did they break Generals so bad? :blink:

[Benway]

SysEvent log says:

[20:51:02] Event ID: 108, Source: nv, Type: Error

The driver nv4_disp for the display device \Device\Video0 got stuck in an infinite loop.

This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly.

Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates.

[20:51:05] Event ID: 26 , Source: Application Popup, Type: Information :P

Application popup: Windows - Display Driver Stopped Responding : The nv4_disp.dll display driver has stopped working normally.

Save your work and reboot the system to restore full display functionality.

... in retrospect i wonder how i was able to get this reproducible w/h a single BSOD or freeze :rolleyes:

[Ice Man]

no issues so far with this driver other then smoke in cod5 being wacky at times... also it may render your temperature useless (found a fix though)

[injuneer]

I had real bad overheating issues with any driver higher than 186 so far.

[RoadWarrior]

Interesting observations. Windows 7 64x Ultimate, I went to the beta drivers because I was getting BSOD's and driver-stopped errors.(Will literally freeze the game for 2-10 seconds before it recovers), and an annoyance at best, most of the time. Usually just get the freeze, black-screen, driver-recovery. Temps for my 285GTX SLi setup are not to off-the-mark at all. Pushing in-game, maybe 80-90C and that's not really an off-the-wall temp for a gfx-card while in-game. My single 9800GTX SC+ ran a lot hotter. I did find gaming a lot more stable in the RC version of the OS, but maybe it was just the drivers themselves. I'll be re-verting to the older ones tomorrow as a test. Would be good research, to be sure.

 

RW

[McBain{TibeT}]

I've been using the WHQL 191.07 drivers on Vista 64 HP with my GTX260 for quite a while now. No problems for me with any games so far :blink:

[RoadWarrior]

I didn't have any problems on Vista 64x Ultimate. Being the type of guy that I am, though, I'm gonna flog Win 7 for what it's worth, and see where the improvements come in.

[Benway]

vista 191 drivers are a different DL, so cant/didnt comment on that.

 

I had real bad overheating issues with any driver higher than 186 so far.

This would make sense, the errors always set in after several minutes and alt-tabbing out fixed it - well, sort of.

Was thinking of overheating as well, as the evga FTW layouts are clocked to the utmost possible/stable in 3D-performance mode ex factory, though with 180.87 (stock drivers), 185 and 186 all ran rock-solid stable; So i rechecked and indeed: NV 191.07 WinXP whql will create 10+x °C higher GPU and GDDR Temperature levels :

 

[Everest UE 5.30.1900 System Stability Test] remark: too pricey to 'burn in' Resident Evil5 Benchmark ;P