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Random GPU shutoffs and crashes "nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successful recovered"
Synthesis
Honda Today!Registered User regular
Honda Today!Registered User regular
Basically what the title says: I'm running a pair of EVGA GTX 470 in SLI, and periodically in games (including Skyrim, but not limited to), the cards will shut off. On the bright side, they almost immediately recover--my monitor registers a lack of input for a second, before it comes back.
More of an annoyance than anything, but I'm wondering what might cause it. I'm not a PSU expert by any means, though I did get a new one to run these two new cards in the first place, and they ran fine for about nine months without any problems. I was hoping that updating the drivers might address the problem, but that doesn't seem to help either. Hopefully this isn't an early sign of a failing PSU or video cards (thankfully, I've got EVGA's lifetime warranty on these things).
Anyone have thoughts as to what might be causing this?
EDIT EDIT:
So, now I'm getting very frequent crashes when I shut down, restart, or start the PC.
On shutoff: PC crashes right before the system should shut down, just hangs.
On restart/start up: PC crashes immediately after "Starting Windows 7" screen finishes loading, just hangs.
I'm fearing I've got a few weeks or days before this becomes a universal, rather than frequent, experience. Getting a lot worse, really fast. Thanks EVGA (Or Nvidia, if it turns out the widespread 470 chipset complaint I've run into are related).
More of an annoyance than anything, but I'm wondering what might cause it. I'm not a PSU expert by any means, though I did get a new one to run these two new cards in the first place, and they ran fine for about nine months without any problems. I was hoping that updating the drivers might address the problem, but that doesn't seem to help either. Hopefully this isn't an early sign of a failing PSU or video cards (thankfully, I've got EVGA's lifetime warranty on these things).
Anyone have thoughts as to what might be causing this?
EDIT EDIT:
So, now I'm getting very frequent crashes when I shut down, restart, or start the PC.
On shutoff: PC crashes right before the system should shut down, just hangs.
On restart/start up: PC crashes immediately after "Starting Windows 7" screen finishes loading, just hangs.
I'm fearing I've got a few weeks or days before this becomes a universal, rather than frequent, experience. Getting a lot worse, really fast. Thanks EVGA (Or Nvidia, if it turns out the widespread 470 chipset complaint I've run into are related).
Synthesis on
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Something like that would happen with my 8800 on my previous machine, went away when I replaced my RAM because my motherboard was killing my RAM at higher speeds.
Once every few weeks, I used to get corruption/artifacting crashes, but I was on beta drivers that I've since replaced.
Does it happen when SLI is turned off?
The PSU is about 1.5 years old, if I'm remembering (same age as the cards), so I guess that's also a possibility, though I wouldn't expect an immediate recover in that case.
In the meantime, I switched the cards themselves, cleared out the dust, and returned the clocks to normal speed (they were hardly overclocked that much to start with, but hey, you never know). Nothing yet, on the bright side.
Going to stop playing WoT (I actually hate the game a lot, but I have premium time I don't want to go to waste), so I'll try a complete driver wipe as well. Hope it's worth the trouble of reprogramming all my 3D settings.
Anyhow, I did my standard thing with GPU fail/recover errors and lowered memory/GPU clock a bit (by 100 each I think) to see if it fixed it, and it did. So I expect a thorough cleaning of the HSF will correct my issue. I've got cats and I overclock my gear as far as I can so I'm pretty used to this sort of thing cropping up as a problem once dust (and disgusting cat hair) accumulates.
edit: Just wanted to point out that I'm not a slob, it's just that I run a completely open case and dust/hair gets sucked in there easily, not helped by my asshole cats napping right next to all my heatsinks any time I'm not around to shoo them away.
Might want to give it a try. Just takes installing forceware then hopping into the 'performance' section of your nVidia control panel to adjust things.
Turned out, for some reason, 3d vision got turned on. Not sure why that made me have to cut my clocks or get GPU fail/recovery, but it did and I've confirmed that the problem comes back when I enable it.
Weird. Don't suppose yours got turned on my accident, synthesis?
It happens once a day, like clockwork. Literally. It seems to always happen at 12:30. Except I never have anything schedule for 12:30, last I checked.
As of late, I've always been playing Skyrim that late in the evening, so I'm going to stay off Skyrim for the next few days. If I can isolate it to one buggy-as-hell Bethesda game, I'll call it a minor victory.
EDIT: Nope, happened in WoT as well. So, once a day, always at night. No idea why.
Is your PSU plugged into a filtered powerboard, or straight into a plug?
My PC is plugged into an APU-brand power supply--which, I suppose could be the cause of the problem. I'm pretty sure "night" as a whole is due to the fact that it's the only time I've been playing several hours in a row due to my work schedule. It doesn't seem to be heating problem, because in an hour or so, my GPUs hit a roof with the fans running at full power and stay there for however long I'm playing.
On the bright side, I don't think my PSU is dying--the 12v rail is still at a pretty healthy 12.16v or so.
And so, the puzzle continues.
I'm trying to think outside the box here because, even with some pretty in-depth Google-fu your issue is as unique as they come.
This time, checked the event log, and actually found what I'm pretty sure it was--I quit out of the game immediately, and did get error message in the system tray. The record in the event viewer is as follows:
"Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered."
It is, in fact, a display issue, it seems--didn't think it was a PSU issue. Oddly, I regressed to slightly older beta drivers because, on Friday, I was getting catastrophic crashes and errors--boot ups leading to complete restarts after the Windows screen, artifact corruption, etc., and system restore sent me back a few versions (thankfully, I'm not having the issue again).
One more clue, I guess. On a side note, apparently, EVGA is demanding a receipt for a possible RMA--a receipt from a purchase two years ago. Funny thing they don't warn you about when you register the product on their website, I guess. I'm beginning to see why most of my friends have given up high-end PC gaming.
I really didn't see any such option two years ago when I first registered the cards on EVGA's website--I could have missed it though.
I didn't own a scanner two years ago (I still don't, since filling out a warranty usually does not imply scanning your receipt--what if you got it for a gift?), so I guess it's redundant. I could have taken a photograph of the receipt, but even that sounds a little silly for a warranty. Guess "lifetime warranties" are different. Then again, it was probably unrealistic to assume EVGA was that much better than the other GPU manufacturers.
I've moved in the last year, so I'm not surprised that those particular receipts are lost. I guess that's what I get for not treating PC hardware receipts like insurance and passport documents.
It's the thickest divider in the cabinet, even bigger than tax records for two people for nearly a decade and a half...
Granted, a meteorite could flatten the store, and then I'd be in trouble. But then the online account would hold, I think.
I don't own other really large appliances (come from an apartment culture, which means the largest appliance I own is a TV, and small toaster, rice cooker, and appliances that aren't eligible for return with or without a receipt in a short period). And I didn't have A/C until I moved into an apartment that came with one permanently affixed. Didn't know people still used portable ones outside of dormitories.
Then again, I doubt I have many receipts from before I moved to the United States either. Anyway, back on topic: crashes, GPU black-outs, and freezes.
I spent a week or so running without SLI, and got no errors whatsoever. $10 and a new SLI bridge later, and I can confirm it is not the SLI bridge (I had a bad SLI bridge a few years back that basically made my two 8800GTs not work for a ridiculous number of games).
Voltages look completely normal. It's possible that my 2nd GTX 470 is simply bad.
Meanwhile, I'm sitting on a few hundred dollars (not to mention the price of the PSU itself) that is bugged in some way.
You're right inasmuch as it would be more convenient. Though Skyrim runs significantly better with the second card (particularly outside, unsurprisingly). I'll keep pestering EVGA in the mean time.
I played about 6 hours of ME3 on Tuesday, no hiccups there.