Rid o' my riG

[Binnatics]

Guys, something must be hounting me. I've had 2 ATI cards that crashed on me the last few years, both high-end expensive cards. Glad I still had warranty so I could get new ones without much costs. Now I have an NVIDIA card, pretty close to high-end, (ENGTX570) and it seemed to be working as a shine.
But now I have another problem: When I turn off my Rig, and put it on again later, the gfx are lagging like Hell.
The only thing that works is re-installing the latest driver. All problems are gone then, for as long as it lasts; until I shut down the system again.  :-\\
I was discussing this with Art, and he pronounced my deepest fear; that there's something else in my system that's eating my gfx cards. Would that be possible? And would it allready affect my new card?

I turned my rig in to the retail shop before I bought this new gfx card to let them have it tested: I'm sure they tested only the gfx card as the most probable failure.

On this new GFX card I have a so called "smart-doctor". It's an overclocking tool plus health-centre. It'll alert me when soemthing's not right. Voltage, temp, fanspeed and so. It says everything is cool. From the start till now. Well what the h*** could be happening then????

If you have any ideas, please help!!!

[Art Blade]

(Already talked to Binnatics) -- my ideas:

Overheating?
Motherboard failure?
failing Power Supply Unit?

But in general.. that rig is cursed  ????

[Binnatics]

Oh and by the way, I did NOT do any overclocking.

[PZ]

What sounds strange is that the problem disappears when drivers are reinstalled, and stays that way until Windows shutdown.  This seems almost like a software problem (Windows).  Yet, you had success with your system for a while, which leans more toward a hardware failure of some kind.

Have you tried leaving your rig turned on until the next day to see if it still operates correctly?  Or, shut down the machine immediately after reinstalling the drivers (when the problem should be fixed), restart and see if the problem reappears?

You might also print your system information (at least the hardware section) and see if something is different when you restart.

Perplexing problem  ????

[Art Blade]

Yeah, strange. I know that he only recently installed windows from scratch so it isn't an old bugged OS.

Good idea there: Install the driver so it is OK and shut down windows. That forces windows to save the new settings without having a chance to alter them while operating programs that might change the setup again.

[Fiach]

I'm sure you are uninstalling the older drivers before installing the new ones, is it possible there are vestiges of the older drivers lurking on your system, you can get "driver cleaner" programmes to remove these, maybe try a registry cleaner too.

Other than that I cant offer anything to the discussion, sorry  :(

Hope you get sorted soon mate.


thank god for 360's.

[Art Blade]

thank god for 360's.

I saw that. :-D

[Binnatics]

Thanx for the ideas mates, I'll try the suggestions.

In fact, what you say Fiach, is interesting. I had a complete AMD system before I changed to Nvidia graphics hardware, but the rest (mobo and processor) still is amd. Maybe these two don't cooperate good due to the fact that I have a half-satisfied driver which still wants to communicate with AMD gfx hardware. Or maybe while removing catalyst cotr. pnl I also deleted a section that controls a chip on the mobo ????

However, I could try to get new drivers for the mobo, and then re-install gfx driver. And then shut down and start over, and see if it works...

Still a lot to try :-D

[Art Blade]

A  new, clean windows installation only this time just those nVidia drivers, done.  :)

[fragger]

Well, good luck Binn, I wish I had the answer for you... :)

[Art Blade]

I wish he had a real proper rig  :-D

[Binnatics]

I just updated chipset drivers for the mobo, and re-installed gfx driver. After a reboot, same s#!t. But what I found out, is that the lagging only appears with GTA IV. Farcry runs like a shine. Didn't try other games yet. Maybe I should try re-installing GTA. But how Am I going to do that through steam???

[Art Blade]

Like this:

How to restore your game to the original settings

Question
How can I return my game installation to the way it was originally?
I installed a skin or a mission pack I don't like, how do I delete it?

Answer
If you need to return your Game back to the exact way it was when you first installed it, here is how.
Basically all you need to do is rename your game folder and let Steam recreate a totally default installation.
You do this by exiting from Steam, then go to (for example):

C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\<account>\condition zero

and rename the condition zero folder to this:

C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\<account>\~condition zero

When you start up Steam and click on Condition Zero in the games menu, Steam will quickly create a default installation which should be exactly the same as when you first installed the game.
You will need to re-configure your key binds if you use any custom settings.
If that all looks fine then you can delete the ~condition zero folder.
If you have any custom content that you wish to keep, you will need to move it from the ~condition zero folder before deleting it.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?s=76a79fc3f07f5e10d96f04b4b37782e8&ref=8296-VSOM-8056

[Binnatics]

I tried 'uninstalling' through the steam menu. Bad thing is that when you do so, Steam erases the entire game from your disc, which means you gotta download it again. That took the afternoon, but I'm ready for a clean install now ;) Hope it works out.

[Art Blade]

at least you've got a fast broadband internet connection. Imagine PZ with his satellite data rivulet had that problem.. good Lord.  :-D

[Binnatics]

That's true. But it didn't bring me any further :-\\

The weird thing is; I know it didn't w%&k from the moment that the game started loading. It takes way too long to load the game. Very strange, all this.
What can a graphic driver change, temporarily? I mean, what more is invluenced by the gfx driver? Maybe windows is preventing my driver from porking properly, as soon as windows 'gains control' over it. After a restart I mean. But why should windows do that?
Still weird, no answers :-\\

Edit:
I searched my device manager to see what windows is saying about my gfx device and driver. Somehow windows says:
"This device is working properly.

Windows did not start a related device driver. To learn more, click the Driver tab and then click Driver Details."

Then I googled that frase, and founs omeone asking about the same issue I'm having. The answer following was:

Un-install the driver and then restart your computer. Then reinstall it, then restart your computer.

Hope that works....

2nd edit:

... shhhhhhh... it might... eventually... 8-X... forget about it. Same s#!t.  >:((

[nexor]

A silly question Binn, do you have the correct power supply for the Card?, I have to replace my 400w power supply for a 500w if I want to run any of the new cards that is available.

[Binnatics]

Silly questions don't exist Nexor! Anyhow, you're trying to help me and I appreceate that!!

I don't think it's the power supply. It should be able to handle this card: it's a 620 watt supply and has all the needed plugs and stuff. The gfx card said you need 600 watt supply to run it properly.

I'm thinking more and more that it's windows that's blocking my system from working properly. When I open event viewer, it contains all sorts of errors and warnings during the past 7 days only. I don't understand much of the issues named there, that's far out of my league. What I should do is a clean install :-\\

[Art Blade]

And throw that vista crap as far out of the window as possible and get windows7 instead. The few people who are happy with vista are as rare as Jews in a Catholic mess.  :-D

[Fiach]

I uninstalled a steam game (E.Y.E.) and reinstalled it, it wiped my save, hope that didnt happen to you mate?

[Fiach]

And throw that vista crap as far out of the window as possible and get windows7 instead. The few people who are happy with vista are as rare as Jews in a Catholic mess.  :-D

Strange slip of the tongue there mate 

[nexor]

Hey!!!!!!! i'm running Vista from day one and happy with it      \:/   :-D

Maybe a complete new install will solve your probs Binn, I will have a chat with my techies as well tomorrow, hear what they say

[Art Blade]

Fiach, LOL    :-X A mass.. you know, in German it's Messe, that's what caused the slip :)

[PZ]

Good one, Fiach!   :-X

[Fiach]

Fiach, LOL    :-X A mass.. you know, in German it's Messe, that's what caused the slip :)

Of course it was, we believe you.... honest :)