Video freezes, nvidia 8800GT, probable driver issue

DarkShadowSwE So it seems to mainly concern steam games , might be something with theri graphic motor that intefer , anyone had any game besides a steam game crash ?

SUSPICIOUS THINGS IN MY PROBLEM

8800GTLEFT FOR DEAD 2WINDOWS 7 64 BIT ENTERPRISE

I am seeing these three things strongly associated with this problem.

My Error specifically

Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered. Error 4101.

The screen jerks several times, and sometimes crashes the game, sometimes it does not. The error log always says that same error.

****Premise:

Ok, a week or so ago Nvidia released the new 196.75 driver, then recalled it because it was killing video cards (limiting fan speed and overheating).  It killed my 9800GT.  I HAD a 9800GT and 8800GT in SLI (DID have two 8800GTs, one died and got replaced with 9800GT).  Since the 9800GT died I took it out and put the 8800GT in the main slot and kept using the faulty driver (at the time I didn't know).  Used the driver for a few days until I found out it was killing cards.  Reverted to 196.21 and now LFD2 crashes on average every 30 mins.  Sometimes 20, sometimes an hr, but generally at least once every 30 mins.

Rig:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cach

EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI

OCZ 780 Watt

Reaper HPC Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRA

XFX 8800GT Alpha Dog Edition

All the solutions I have tried do not work and people say my card may be bad.

I have tried several previous nvidia drivers

Disabling Windows Aero

Setting my max CPU cores to 2

Changing in game settings to all low settings

I have also read that later Nvidia drivers have fixed this problem, and all the forums I read are back before Win7 was released, which is also odd that I am having this problem now.  It looks like it's pointing to the Source engine from LFD2, the 8800GT, Nvidia, and Win7.  These are common points.

My 3D stereoscopic is off, I just tried disabling the service, I will see if this works...

WLooking at their forums, it should become apparent that nvidia does not care about problems their customers are having. Therefore, I have to turn to people they might listen to or work with to solve such problems - Windows and Microsoft.

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (Retail). My video card is a nVidia Geforce 8800 GT.

The issue is that the video is locking up, flickering, freezing, and even sometimes causing the "blue screen of death" - The problem is widely reported, and is also widely misdiagnosed as overheating. The card is not overheating, let me be quite clear on this. The card is also not old and ready to die (Another common misdiagnosis by techs who would brush difficult problems away.)

The issue is: Whatever nVidia has done with their drivers, they do not get along with Windows 7. The issue, if you search the web, is exclusively a Windows 7 problem.

I saw an article earlier regarding something that was implemented in Vista that would detect if the video drivers were crashing, and attempt to close and restart them without rebooting. I can not remember what this feature is called, nor can I find that info again (I found it while at work and did not save the URL sadly) - but it certainly seems like that's what is going on.  The video will flicker while I am in a game, the game will freeze, and then after a second, the screen will go black, then the game will come back up, but at lower graphic detail. Evenually, the game will do the same thing again, and go back to full detail.

That's just a theory, though, of course.

I have tried the latest nvidia drivers, as well as the drivers from Windows update. I have not yet tried the nvidia beta drivers, but have read from other users that there was no luck in using them.  Some users reported luck when using the default drivers of WIndows 7, or the Windows Update drivers, but I had no luck, and many others also didn't.  I may try rolling back to some much older Vista drivers to see what happens.

In any case, my purpose here was less to get an answer, and more to really just spread the word more about this problem. Maybe a Microsoft employee will see this post and report it to someone who can have their people talk to nvidia's people, so to speak, because nvidia people do not frequent their forums. There are threads there with issues unsolved from over 2 years ago, and those are similar to some other issues we still have today with TV-Out. But that's another topic entirely.

What you are describing is a TDR error- I think it stands for Timeout Detection and Recovery. This has been a problem for at least 3 years and it is not limited to nVidia. It is surely a driver issue, and honestly, I think it is also a Windows compatibility issue.

I found the solution!!! (I pray)

Got this reply from another person on another message board, tested it and the flicker is GONE!!!

===============================================================

I was having a similar issue, and I don't know if it's too late to help, but here's my story:

(Win7, ati gpu, intel dual core)

After I installed a PS2 emulator and ran it, I started getting screen flashes, with windows showing "Not Responding" for split seconds. It would flash other windows, or the desktop, with no pattern.

I found removing icons from my desktop helped allieviate issues when dragging windows around. After much searching, I found someone mention "Windows Desktop Manager."

I disabled it, and all the issues have stopped. The PS2 emulator works perfectly now too.

Instructions:

1. Click Start .

2. In the Start Search textbox type Services.msc If prompted by the UAC, provide a password or confirmation. Click Continue .

3. Scroll down until you locate the entry that is labeled Desktop Window Manager Session Manager.
4. Right-Click on this service. Select Stop from the context menu.
5. Right Click once again on the entry. Select Propertiesfrom the context menu.
6. Go to the “General Tab ” to change the start up type to Disabled. Click OK .

I have the same problem, and it is maddening.  It happens under any/all applications at random times.  This happened on TWO brand new laptops, both with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Laptop 1:

Toshiba Satellite A505-S6985 w/NVIDIA GeForce GT 230M

Laptop 2:

ASUS G60vx w/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M

I found the video on YouTube showing EXACTLY what is happening and what it looks like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQA61_jwr4Q

I am so frustrated...after reading this thread I wonder if this will ever get addressed.  Why should I have to pay for a copy of Windows XP so I can have a usable laptop?

Beyond annoyed,

Goldspark