Weird graphics problem...

[rajsujayks]

I recently upgraded from my old nVidia GeForce 8600GT 256MB (It went kaput! after 3 years of 80° C running...) to a spanking new ASUS ENGTS450 1GB graphic card...

And I'm facing this weird problem...All games work fine...But when I reboot the PC and try to start a game, it crashes...Reinstalling the nVidia drivers (version 266.58) makes the games playable again...But again after restarting the same thing happens...Again, reinstalling the drivers makes them playable and so on...

I've got ASUS Smart Doctor and GamerOSD installed...But GamerOSD is disabled as I didn't find it working in Windows 7 64-bit...But I use EVGA precision to monitor frame rates in its place...

What could be the problem...? It's really irritating me...I'm not sure whether it cropped up immediately after the upgrade...It did seem fine after the upgrade...Please help...

 

[abirthedevil]

350watt PSU? which make?

btw check if there is some conflict due to previous GPU drivers and program associations

 

[asingh]

Use Driver Sweeper to clean out the nVidia driver remnants.

Then install them again. Some driver conflict.

 

[rajsujayks]

350watt PSU? which make?

btw check if there is some conflict due to previous GPU drivers and program associations

I guess you're asking that question cause the minimum recommended PSU for the GTS450 is 400 watts... Anyway, as mine is a DELL Inspiron 530 desktop, the PSU is also DELL branded... And upon closer look, I found it to be manufactured be LiteOn...

And I'll check upon your suggestion...And reply soon..

---------- Post added at 06:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 PM ----------

Use Driver Sweeper to clean out the nVidia driver remnants.

Then install them again. Some driver conflict.

I'll try the suggestion...

 

[MegaMind]

even a 600w generic psu wont be enough for gts450.... but a corsair 400w psu will be more than enough.... A psu cannot be judge by the wattage, but by efficiency...

 

[rajsujayks]

even a 600w generic psu wont be enough for gts450.... but a corsair 400w psu will be more than enough.... A psu cannot be judge by the wattage, but by efficiency...

And I say mine is really efficient...cause it's running the GTS450 at max load without any problems... And by the way, if you go to Antec's website and use the power calculator (Antec Power Supply Calculator) it comes close to only 320 watts for my system...

 

[MegaMind]

And I say mine is really efficient...cause it's running the GTS450 at max load without any problems... And by the way, if you go to Antec's website and use the power calculator (Antec Power Supply Calculator) it comes close to only 320 watts for my system...

Is ur psu 80+ certified?
If so your psu is not a prob...

 

[rajsujayks]

Is ur psu 80+ certified?
If so your psu is not a prob...

I'm damn sure my PSU's not a problem...'Cause it works fine after I reinstall the drivers, even when the game settings are maxed up! (Hot Pursuit 2010 and DiRT2) ...

---------- Post added at 09:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 PM ----------

Use Driver Sweeper to clean out the nVidia driver remnants.

Then install them again. Some driver conflict.

Driver Sweeper doesn't seem to fix the problem...It worked after the reboot accompanying the reinstall of the driver after I cleaned it up...But with the next reboot..Same old story!

---------- Post added at 09:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:16 PM ----------

Please help me! This is really irritating in my otherwise flawless system!

 

[MegaMind]

try reseting the bios... i.e, load optimised defaults

---------- Post added at 09:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 PM ----------

hav u tried reinstalling the OS?

 

[vamsi_krishna]

Try a different version of drivers. May be which are a bit old. Don't try just one.. use multiple drivers of different version.

And when it is crashing. Is it a plain error? Or Is it crashing with any error? If so, post the details of the error.

 

[MegaMind]

Is that 'graphics driver stopped working' prob?

 

[rajsujayks]

try reseting the bios... i.e, load optimised defaults

---------- Post added at 09:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 PM ----------

hav u tried reinstalling the OS?

BIOS is fine...No problems there... As for reinstalling the OS, I haven't tried it yet...I want to keep it as the last try, 'cause reinstalling my app collection will be definitely painful...

---------- Post added at 09:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:41 PM ----------

Try a different version of drivers. May be which are a bit old. Don't try just one.. use multiple drivers of different version.

And when it is crashing. Is it a plain error? Or Is it crashing with any error? If so, post the details of the error.

I've tried the older 260.99 and 258.00 versions too...No effect...

And it's a plain crash. I mean, the game startup screen shows (Hot Pursuit) but it goes black then... And in DiRT2, it goes all the way upto the event selection and crashes, plainly, saying DiRT2 has stopped working!

 

[MegaMind]

I think i am 100% right that it is the PSU prob....

 

[rajsujayks]

Is that 'graphics driver stopped working' prob?

No! It isn't...Everything works fine after a driver reinstall...But the problem is, they revert back to being problematic after a reboot!

---------- Post added at 09:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 PM ----------

I think i am 100% right that it is the PSU prob....

Why should a PSU be...? After all, it was very fine for the first two days I after I installed the GTS450...

 

[MegaMind]

Why should a PSU be...? After all, it was very fine for the first two days I after I installed the GTS450...

PSU jus started fading out....
Now u have only one option left,
1. try reinstalling the OS
If the prob persists, i am damn sure it is due to PSU

 

[rajsujayks]

PSU jus started fading out....
Now u have only one option left,
1. try reinstalling the OS
If the prob persists, i am damn sure it is due to PSU

Okay! I'll try reinstalling the OS... But I just like to why the heck this happens...!

 

[coderunknown]

And upon closer look, I found it to be manufactured be LiteOn...

LiteOn makes generic PSU. Dell uses liteon for their inspiron line & Delta for XPS. 350W is low for a GTS450. a 400-450W PSU from a reputed brand is highly recommended but first try install the OS again. if it still don't resolve the issue, change the PSU.

 

[rajsujayks]

LiteOn makes generic PSU. Dell uses liteon for their inspiron line & Delta for XPS. 350W is low for a GTS450. a 400-450W PSU from a reputed brand is highly recommended but first try install the OS again. if it still don't resolve the issue, change the PSU.

Sam, if you check up properly, you can see that DELL uses very high quality components in their PC's and the PSU is actually uprated than what is specified... In DELL's customer support page, there are people who use GTS450 flawlessly in their 350 watt PSUs... And if the problem is the PSU, it should crash when I tax the GPU heavily, right...? But I tried Media Coder CUDA edition, and still nothing happened of that sort...

And sure, I'm gonna reinstall the OS on Saturday (that's when I'm a bit free of college work...) and I'll report on it...

 

[asingh]

Its either not enough PSU power or a bad card. Your choice. Try the parts on another build, or get different parts to try on your. Sorry, but that is what you will have to do. Systematically find the culprit via trial and error.

 

[rajsujayks]

Its either not enough PSU power or a bad card. Your choice. Try the parts on another build, or get different parts to try on your. Sorry, but that is what you will have to do. Systematically find the culprit via trial and error.

For all your suggestions...An OS reinstall solved the problem... !