Video Driver Card Issues

I too just tried it and was easy. Now for the test, lol.

People keep saying this. It's not necessarily true.

I had a frequent crashing issue a while ago. I blamed it on the last RC. Turns out it was due to overheating and clearing dust out of my fans and slots took care of it.

SL was the only thing I ever ran that pushed the computer to the edges of the temperature envelope, so it was the only thing that crashed.

Ok, but, if it's actually giving you the Nvidia error message, about the Driver not responding and has recovered (to the desktop) then the crash probably is indeed really related to that, right? There are threads on the tech forum going back to 2007 on this exact issue, with Nvidia and the other driver (forgot it's name) Even with these known issues, LL still has these drivers listed on it's 'systems requirements' page, to successfully run SL. I don't understand that, they know there are problems with these 2 drivers and graphics cards.

Whenever you upgrade your drivers, whether ATI or Nvidia it is essential that you uninstall the old driver package first. Uninstall it, restart your pc. then install the new saved driver you downloaded to desktop. 99% of the time an error like this is caused from a driver upgrade that did not completely overwrite the old software. Also there are some 3rd party nvidia/ati tweakers out there that can substantially increase video persormance. I personally use rivatuner. However, some of the tweaking options in these suites can toast your gpu if you don't know what your doing. Aside from basic clockers and such which you should always ignore unless you have some dimes in your coinpurse to replace the smoking ruin that possibly now inhabits your video slot(s)


If you have not touched your drivers in some time and are getting these errors. You should first try upgrading the drivers, and check for dust as a previous poster suggested. Dust holds heat, heat smokes hardware. also, some windows updates write to the system new architecture used to control hardware. have you folks recently applied a windows update? Could check into that as well.


)Post script( also, SL uses openGL for it's graphics. openGL, in a word. bites. But it does allow for crossplatform usage that you just could not get with d3d and emulators. But, many modern videocards simply hate it. It's an old standard. ATI cards in particular think openGL is the devil due to thier gpu architecture. Make sure your card is running at least openGL 1.3 or better. 2.0 or better will usually suffice. But again the aTI cards will still hate it.

"Your video card has stopped responding but has recovered" message is almost always a sign of trouble or trouble brewing with your video card/chipset. A removal of the driver and a reinstallation would be the first step to take.......however, if you've had no hard system crash or major hiccup recently that step is usually futile. Heat is the next thing to check........a good cleaning would help a great deal after reinstalling the drivers. And if your problem keeps coming back I hate to say it but your card/graphics chipset is likely failing on you. Graphics stopping for no apparent reason is not something to ignore.......even if it recovers. You will notice it recovers after SL crashes......that's just taking the 'trigger" away so it can recover.

Is SL causing the problem? Tricky question. In a way it is........simply because it pushes your graphics like no other program available to the public. But, a well designed and maintained computer should be able to withstand that challenge.......actually, a modern computer can do that quite easily. But, the cause of the problem is really something connected with your graphics hardware or drivers. Spending time searching for viewers that don't put so much strain on your system is not fixing your problem.......that is ingnoring the problem. And it will progress to a point where a failure will occur and you will be out some real money to get it fixed.

Personally I find your post less than funny and in no way lending help to the situation, as in the previous post you make.. Find your thrills trolling someone else. I have no time for it.

As someone who gets payed to troubleshoot hardware problems, THIS ^^^ is a major factor in dealing with issues pertaining to a particular stressfull game or program. Pushing the equipment to it's edge reveals weaknesses that normally won't be seen until it truly becomes an issue. On most of my home calls when this game or that game keeps freezing/crashing, usually it's dust bunny buildup inside the heatsincs. Might not be that, but it needs to be ruled out before one can say for sure it's NOT the cause.

I have in fact cleaned my pc and do on a regular basis.. I spray some windex inside and wash it with a towel I know is clean, because I just pull it from the dryer...
I also run a celing fan that is a good 8 feet from it..


Just kidding, but I do blow it out and am careful of dust bunnies as i have a long hair dog and cat.. also I do run a floor fan on it.. because I "thought" it actually might be a heating issue.. But I dont know.. it seems odd that it kinda pops up after so often of running well.... and also, it seems a bunch of people are complaining of exactly what I am...

It is odd anyway, the drivers I have tried all versions and the ones that actually fixed it came from the box... I was running well for weeks...


I am about through with nivida cards actually but as I used ati and really like those, I see there is much wrong with SL and it to.. I just dont know what to get on the budget I have.

no idea how to clean mine as it's a laptop.

http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/usingyourlaptop/a/cleanlaptop.htm

Well, I just spent about 45 minutes in SL, jumping & flying around.

No crashes.

Running an Nvidia GTX275 with latest drivers.

Thank you, Tarina. Last night I uninstalled and reinstalled Nvidia, and also uninstalled and reinstalled SL. Still crashing with the Driver not Responding and has Recovered message. I'll try cleaning it.

New interesting problem.....Still crashing with the Driver not Responding error but not as frequently.

Last night I logged on and was fine, tp'ing around. I left my sim, Cape Able, and went to a store. After shopping, I came back to Cape Able and was there about an hour, doing stuff, (not IMin'g or talking to anyone though) and suddenly noticed, after a good hour back there, that the top of my screen, where the sim name/info should be, said 'Beauty Avatar' which was the store I'd been at earlier. I flew around the differnt parcels on Cape Able, including my own land, and the Beauty Avatar remained up there. I tried IMing someone to see if I could. They did not see my IM. I had crashed! With no notice and no consequences apparantly, while on Beauty Avatar Island over an hour before but was still able to move around and do things.......(changed clothes, etc, once I was back on Cape Able).

So I tried logging off and then and only then received the 'Driver Stopped Responding' error message. This time I Had to reboot the whole thing to be allowed to log in again, and when I did, all was fine and normal with the sim name showing correctly.

How can you crash and not know it??? lol