Unknown error NVIDIA Graphics Driver

[lexonex]

Greetings,

Every so often, and then sometimes not for several months and then every so often, I go to turn on my PC and my screen goes nuts....The first time it happened, I called Gateway Support and it turn out to be my power strip. After replacing the power strip with a "Back-UPS ES 750" from APC which prevents surges and provides a battery back-up the problem went away for a very long time...

Now it is back......

At first I thought it was caused by my original power strip by not providing enough power or starving my PC...Now, I am not sure....I get the SAME problem now with my screen going nuts and after the fix and error reporting to MS I get the message: "unknown error occurred in NVIDIA Graphics Driver"..

The fix is to simply turn off my power source wait several seconds and turn it back on, and then turn on my PC...Strange..Any help?..Thanks

 

[lexonex]

MS Windows XP
Media Center Edition Version 2002
IE7 SP2

Gateway FX510S Intel(R)
Pentium® D CPU 3.40 GHz
3.4 Ghz 3.25 GB of RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 6600 Graphics Card

I did search for an "update" to my driver through my device manager...Nothing..mine are up to date...went to the Gateway support site and there are no updates for my grphaics card...I'll check with Gateway again...I still think it is a "power" problem....mmmmm..

 

[Fulmar]

What version of nvidia drivers are you using?

Try checking and downloading drivers off nvidia's website.

 

[lexonex]

Driver:
NVIDIA
02/24/2005
7.1.8.4

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Your Power Supply Unit (PSU) might be getting old, and outputting less power than it used to.

Having a UPS will not help counter this (well maybe, just a little bit).

Hint: You might want to post your PSU and UPS specs here mate.

 

[lexonex]

PSU?...In my PC?...Just bought this thing in 04/2006.......Again, this error does not happen ALL the time...but, does happen say 3-4 times a month or more......Could it be the power supply to my wall outlet?...But, I have battery back-up and why would not that take over?.....mmmmmmmmmm

 

[lexonex]

600 Watt Power Supply

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Who made it ?

What are it's specs ?

Can you get a photo of it posted ?

etc...

If it is a rebranded, rebadged, refurbished 600 watt that is only "somehow" (cough) under 40% efficient then yeah - it'll hurt.

 

[lexonex]

Who made what?
Specs to what?
Photo of what?

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Your PSU and UPS

 

[PCAnalyst]

Open your computer and try to find a name that is physically on your power supply... you will probably have to take it out.

SHUT down, then - Turn off your computer via the switch in back. Remove the screws on the back of your case that holds the PSU and then pull the PSU out of the box.

Once you get it out of the box look at the top of the PSU and find a brand name... if no name just find model# or any identifying marks and post those here.

There should also be rail info in the form of Voltage and amps - Ex:3.3v 30A and so on.

List those numbers in order here if you cannot get any other information for it... a model number should allow someone here to be able to look up the specs for that PSU and help determine where an issue may be.

And if that doesn't work Take a picture and host the picture on photobucket or some other free web hosting site, and create a link to the picture here using the Img or URL tabs at the top of your post a reply window.

Good luck

 

[lexonex]

Open your computer and try to find a name that is physically on your power supply... you will probably have to take it out.

SHUT down, then - Turn off your computer via the switch in back. Remove the screws on the back of your case that holds the PSU and then pull the PSU out of the box.

Once you get it out of the box look at the top of the PSU and find a brand name... if no name just find model# or any identifying marks and post those here.

There should also be rail info in the form of Voltage and amps - Ex:3.3v 30A and so on.

List those numbers in order here if you cannot get any other information for it... a model number should allow someone here to be able to look up the specs for that PSU and help determine where an issue may be.

And if that doesn't work Take a picture and host the picture on photobucket or some other free web hosting site, and create a link to the picture here using the Img or URL tabs at the top of your post a reply window.

Good luck

You are quite insane if you think i'm going to do ALL that......

 

[lexonex]

Update: Went to the Gateway Download Center and downloaded the “download helper” and the latest download for my Graphics Card and rebooted my PC..I don’t know if it took..When I go to My Computer-My System-Hardware-Device Manager-Display and check the properties of my card it has the same date as BEFORE I did the download…..Should this date of the driver been changed with the downloading of the update? I don’t know……

Oh, and NEVER, NEVER turn off the power to your PC…I should have, and always will from this point on, turn off the PC using the Tower on/off button……

 

[lexonex]

no offense to PCanalyst

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

We're just trying to help (for free and all) -

Sort of assume everyone here is handy with a phillips-head screwdriver at the least.

Mmmmm...

What is the exact model of Gateway PC you have ?, what country are you in ?, and anything else that might help us narrow it down (eg: How long have you had this PC ?, and how old is the PC ? (if someone sold it to you 2nd hand for example).

 

[PCAnalyst]

You are quite insane if you think i'm going to do ALL that......

:? :?

 

[lexonex]

“Cha-Ching”…Just finished updating my Driver off of the “my downloads” of the Gateway support site…

Of course, I had a bad tech on the phone who was of no use on helping me of this process. Did it myself.

Bottom line for those novices like myself; go to the “my downloads” on the support site of Gateway and find the latest video download. This should be downloaded to your desktop. From your desktop click on the downloaded program and run it which will unzip it and send it to the proper file. Does NOT mean you have completed the process.

Close all running programs and go to my computer-view my system-click on hardware-click on device manager-click the + on display adapters-click on properties-drivers-then update driver…YOU MUST chose to install the driver yourself and type in your particular download. My was C:\Cabs\Nvidia8314 after you have clicked “finished” restart your PC..Your driver now should show the new version..my now says version 8.3.1.4

Hope this stops my problem…keep your fingers crossed for me…..Thanks for all and your help…Lexonex

(Oh I did NOT have to do an uninstall....Again, no offense meant)

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Or get version 93.71 from here:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71.html

This is only for Windows XP or Windows 2000, and only for GeForce video cards.

If your "PC" is a laptop, then you'll need a different driver to this.

(This is more if the Gateway recommendation of a very old driver fails to work).