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Windows 7, a GeForce GTX 260, and me

korodullinkorodullin What.Registered User regular
in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
Okay, I don't know if this needs a new thread or not, but I'm worried. I just got in all the parts for my new PC yesterday (Antec Sonata III case, 3 ghz Core 2 Duo E7500, 4 GB of RAM, an Asus P5QL motherboard, and the aforementioned GeForce GTX 260) and put them together. I had no other OS, so I used a Win7 RC1 (build 7100 if it matters) disc I had for a while and got everything set up.

Installing Windows was a breeze, and setup and all went A-OK. Got connected to my home's wireless network and so on, and things were fine. However, after about 30 minutes of doing little things like getting Firefox downloaded and starting to download some driver updates and in general getting used to Win7's UI, I got a BSOD, with an nvlddmkm.sys error. The PC auto-rebooted, POSTed fine, and proceeded to the Windows loading screen. I got the nvlddmkm.sys error again, and it repeated the cycle. I booted into safe mode, and I could do everything in that. I looked around and began to discover that it seems to be a video card driver thing, so I finished getting the latest drivers and installed them. I rebooted and no longer got the error, but the trouble got worse.

My display locked to 640x480, and nothing could get it out of it. There are what I can only assume are artifacts everywhere (it looks like when you get locked into an 8-bit color display), even during POST and in the BIOS setup. I've cleaned out the old drivers, installed older drivers, the newest drivers again, and anything I can think of. I've reseated the video card, and I'm at a total loss here. I have no idea what could be going on, but I'm very worried.

Any idea?

Edit: Going into Device Manager, the 260 has a warning symbol on it, and going into it produces the following: "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems (Code 43)".

korodullin on
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Posts

  • RohanRohan Registered User regular
    Artefacts usually mean the card is overheating... is there a temperature monitor on the nVidia control panel?

    Edit - although that warning in Device Manager could mean something else is at play here... have you tried uninstalling the card, then rebooting?

    ...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.

    Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
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  • korodullinkorodullin What. Registered User regular
    I can't find an nVidia control panel to go in to. I have no idea where it could be on Win7.

    The artifacting also occurs right as the PC boots up as well, even if the system has been off for tens of minutes, and should be quite cool.

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  • RohanRohan Registered User regular
    There should be some control application installed along with the drivers... did you get the drivers from the nVidia site? Try right-clicking on the desktop, or looking in the Windows Control Panel. If there's no control program, it might indicate that something has gone wrong with the drivers install.

    ...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.

    Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
    • Agree Awesome
  • korodullinkorodullin What. Registered User regular
    Well, whenever I do try to reinstall my drivers, I get the error "Stereo Server has not been uninstalled properly", and I found out that that has to do with the stereoscopic 3D stuff on this card, but I can't seem to figure out where I could delete that part in particular.

    Edit: Well, I've tried about everything I and a friend can think of. We made sure it wasn't the monitor, made sure it wasn't the drivers, and made sure it wasn't the PSU, so about the only thing we can think of is that it's just a plain old hardware failure, and that I should probably RMA it.

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  • RohanRohan Registered User regular
    It could very well be hardware failure, but try several different drivers before you RMA it, just to be sure.

    ...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.

    Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
    • Agree Awesome
  • FatsFats Registered User regular
    If it's artifacting at the POST and BIOS screens, it's absolutely a hardware issue. RMA that thing.

    • Agree Awesome
  • korodullinkorodullin What. Registered User regular
    Yeah, here's a (very crappy) webcam snapshot of the BIOS artifacting:
    Spoiler:
    I'm already in the process of getting my stuff together to RMA it.

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  • Lilac CitizenLilac Citizen Registered User
    korodullin wrote: »
    Yeah, here's a (very crappy) webcam snapshot of the BIOS artifacting:

    IT'S HIDEOUS! BURN IT WITH FIRE!!!

    Anyway, I have a GTX 260 on Windows 7 and haven't had any trouble at all with it, except that the drivers from Nvidia aren't very smart about switching to/from TV out. They've had that problem for years though

    So long as you've covered such bases as heat, power supply, and stray pieces of metal on your card, that looks like a replacer to me

    • Agree Awesome
  • RohanRohan Registered User regular
    Yeah, if it's artefacting in the bios it's a hardware failure.

    ...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.

    Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
    • Agree Awesome
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