PC freezes - graphics card?

A few days ago i bought a new BFG 8800GTS 512mb and since iv fitted it iv had no end of problems. Every now & then my PC totally freezes, mouse & vista clock dont move and there is nothing i can do but pull the plug. When i do this the graphics card fan spins like crazy & the screens stays black. After a few turn on/turn offs it sometimes starts up again & then gets stuck on random parts of the start up procedure. I dont get any error message or BSODs when the PC finally does start up, just a message sayign the PC wasnt turned off properly.

Since this started when i installed my graphics card im guessing its something to do with this, but im hesitant about sending it back before i can rule out any other possible causes.


cheers guys.

I'd try a few different drivers first off for the graphics card, also try another PSU before sending it back.

Vista 64 is a nightmare with VGA cards, I constantly get the display driver stopped responding and has recovered whilst gaming which causes lockups similar to what you have mentioned.

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Originally Posted by Ferral

I'd try a few different drivers first off for the graphics card, also try another PSU before sending it back.

Vista 64 is a nightmare with VGA cards, I constantly get the display driver stopped responding and has recovered whilst gaming which causes lockups similar to what you have mentioned.

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Really? The only time i've ever had that issue is when i've tried tweaking the gpu clock frequencys too far.

Sounds like graghics card or PSU not up to the job or failing, If you can test with another PSU before taking it back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ferral

I'd try a few different drivers first off for the graphics card, also try another PSU before sending it back.

Vista 64 is a nightmare with VGA cards, I constantly get the display driver stopped responding and has recovered whilst gaming which causes lockups similar to what you have mentioned.

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I use 64Bit Vista and havent encountered that all.

Its more of a case of other things being incompatible i think.

I replaced the 8800GTS with my original 6600GT, turned the PC on again but within 5mins it froze up again and restarted. This time it did come up with a BSOD death, saying something about memory at the top. It then did a very quick form of check (disc/memory? check?) before restarting. That being said, since then (30mins) ago i havnt had any problems, could it have just been caused by 8800GTS drivers & a 6600Gt card?

My zalman PSu was replaced with a Corsair hx520 and i was told in a previous thread that this should be more then capable of powering the system.

I should have added that i am running with Vista 64 & the latest Nvidia drivers off the Nvidia website.

when i replaced my 6600 with an 8800gts i had to rebuild both xp and vista. guess its driver conflicts.

Theres threads all over the net about the issue with Vista 64 and drivers not responding. Bit of a pain really, only does it on certain games though I've noticed as of late.

Witcher is fine but Crysis, Gears of War and Bioshock are the main offenders.

one thing that can affect it is a psu what voltage is the +12v in the bios ?

I played the crysis demo, bio shock demo, half life 2 & portal, and battlefield 2 on the card - all with no problems at all (aside from some shadow issues in BF2).


It is totally random when it happens, be it 20mins after the PC has been turned on or 2 mins when the PC is turned on. With the 6600GT back in iv had no problems, gone a good 90mins problem free. Going to put the 8800GTS back in and have a look at the voltages etc.

thanks again guys

8800GTS wouldnt boot at all, no matter what i tried. Iv put it in my sisters PC which im currently building for her & it works fine. That beign said it took a day or 2 for me 2 realise it wasnt working properly in mine.

Im running out of ideas atm, not sure what is doing it. Looks like the card is fine & my pc is fine with the 6600GT. Thats leaves driver clash/hardware clash? Can anyone offer some advice on this & ways of getting around it?

as i said mate the only way i fixed it was reinstall windows. mine booted then when windows shoulda started the monitor just went black... nothing i could do.

Finally figured it out. It was the drivers clashing.

To get around the 6600GT drivers not uninstalling properlly i reinstalled the 6600GT drivers, rebooted in safe mode & did it that way, then cleared the registry manually (googled ''nvidia driver uninstall'' etc). This worked so i restarted the PC and installed the 8800GTS drivers.....and it worked a charm.

Obviously the first time i uninstalled the 6600GT it didint get everything and the drivers were clashing. Figured id post it here in case someone else is as dense as me & forgot about the botched uninstallation of the drivers first time round.

cheers guys :D