Problems with Windows 7 64-bit and nVidia drivers

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tecninja

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hello,

Recently I had a HD failure, so I started fresh with a new setup of Windows 7 RC. I previously had been using XP SP3.

Anyhow when I loaded the most recent recommended drivers 185.85 I'm noticing that 3D games like Age of Conan look like crap compared to how they appeared in XP.

Also I'm noticing that even in a simple game like Plants VS Zombies that if I don't turn off 3D acceleration it looks terrible and pixelated. I would guess this is a driver issue of some sort, but I've been unable to resolve it. The 186.08 drivers don't seem to behave any differently.

Anyone run into this? Am I just missing something simple I should be changing?
 

tecninja

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It was a pretty general question that wasn't really tied to system specs, but I guess if we have to follow the script.

Its a Core 2 Q9450
Geeforce 8800 GT
4GB of DDR2
Windows 7 RC 64-bit (build 7100)

Now everything ran fine graphics wise that I'm currently considering (Age of Conan, Plants VS Zombies, Media player, Left 4 Dead, ect.), on this exact same system when Windows XP Pro SP3 (32-Bit) was installed a week ago. The HD drive and I took the opportunity to install Windows 7 on a brand new HD and give it a try.

I have tried driver builds 182.50, 185.85, and 186.08

I have not pushed all the games to death messing with the settings, but right off the bat I can tell you that 3D acceleration is failing in Plants vs Zombies, because if you have it set to "on" it looks like pixelated trash. Also rendering details look extremely poor for the few minutes I played Age of Conan.

One thing I don't know is if DirectX 9 and 10 both exist at the same time, and if so which one the programs are trying to use.
 

PCKid777

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NOT A DIRECT ANSWER, OTHER FORUM MEMBERS PLEASE REPLY...

I ask for system specs because Win7 is more resource heavy then XP; for all I know, you could have went from 2Gb of RAM and an OC'd single core to Win7 and that could be a slight issue right there - and no, I'm not gonna look at the specs for each game you listed to guess what you're running; it's just a common thing people like to see on the forums if you have a performance related question.....

DX9 and DX10 run at different times; however, since your 8800GT is DX10 capable, have you checked to see if DX10 was auto-enabled in your games?

Have you looked at the readme files provided by Nvidia to see if the games in question have issues?

I would check the Nvidia Control Panel settings and optimize them if you have not done so.

Otherwise, all I can say is, the drivers for Win7 are still not ready yet, and those particular games do not play well, hopefully someone else can provide a better answer.
 

tecninja

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I think you are correct in the "Drivers are not ready" area. I haven't optimized the settings in the nVidia control panel yet, but I did look them over to make sure nothing was glaringly wrong. For the most part I'm using DirectX 9 in the games, as a couple don't support DirectX 10 yet (or don't do so well). But I'm making my comparisions based on how things looked in Win XP SP3 where directX 10 wasn't even an option, so I'd like to think its mostly an apples to apples comparison.

Really the question was posed in the off chance that someone had encountered the exact issue, and happened to know a tolerable work around. I am noticing that the newest beta drivers behave better in some of the games when you turn off 3D acceleration. Not an ideal solution but better appearance then before upgrading and turning it off.

I could look for some 3rd party drivers, but I'm not sure how far ahead of the curve they are going to be on Win 7 at this point.
 

unclefester

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You may have better luck going with a driver made for W7. I believe driver 186.06 was the first one to be released. Google Nzone and see what they have.

Asking for system specs is usaully the first question that is asked by Forum Members trying to help. Knowing the "build" helps tremendously when analyzing tendencies with certain hardware and/or hardware combinations.
 

MooseMuffin

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Was this ever resolved? I'm running windows 7 with the 191.07 drivers and I can also confirm that full screen plants vs zombies looks substantially worse with hardware acceleration on.
 

EltonFlatley

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Facing the same problem with Plants vs Zombies on Windows 7.
I have the latest drivers for my GeForce 8800GT (191.07) but the graphics still look pixelated.
Absolutely no problems on Win XP, graphics look smooth.
So i guess its a Win 7 issue.
Facing the same problems in Cake Mania 3 as well.

Hope we find a fix soon. :??:
 

Shadowking

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Same issue with latest drivers (195.62) and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. Game pixelates, flashes shadows, colors, artifacts, textures and eventually shuts down due to "...unrecoverable DirectX failure..."

Before I checked online, I thought it was my older PNY 9800GTS OC and bought a BFG 250 GTS, same problem after install. Online video is fine. Haven't loaded any other games yet since rebuilding from Vista 32 to Win 7 64bit. Clean build of Win 7 on new hard drive. I downloaded correct current Nvidia 64bit drivers. Also, error occurs when I attempted to run Futuremark 3d Vantage benchmark.




System:

Intel Quad 9400 - 2.66 w/Zalman 9700 cooling
Gigabyte motherboard - EP45-UD3R
4GB Corsair 800Mhz DDR2 RAM
Western Digital 1TB SATA II hdd
HP DVD R/RW SATA II
BFG Tech GeForce Nvidia 250GTS 1GB
Antec NeoPower 650 PSU
 

Shadowking

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Tried old driver 185.82 Vista 64bit. Not much better. New driver is still in Beta and doesn't seem to address any of my issues. Are there possible conficting programs running in the background of Windows 7 64 anybody knows about?
 

fritzbrad

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I'm experiencing the same issues as stated above, went from XP to Win7 and bam! Plants and Zombies with 3D turned on, looks like ***. I'm running the 64bit ver of Win 7, is anyone experiencing problems with Win 7 on the 32 bit ver? wonder if that is it?
 

emel

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I have the same problem, but more general:
using Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit (build 7600, not RC version), after driver install (installed using nVidia "auto-install" at nVidia page: Automatically find drivers for my NVIDIA products. I think it is 195.62 version)
- When watching online TV picture is sometimes with artefacts, bad colors are displayed (i. e. 75% are green),
- sometimes after log in to system it freezes, and message on monitor appears: No signal and computer freezes
- sometimes after loading NHL 09 computer freezes before beginning of the game.

System specification:
MB: MSI P43T-C51, socket775, chipset iP43
CPU: Intel E4400 (2 GHz, socket 775)
RAM: 2x 1GB DDR2 800 MHz + 2x2GB DDR2 800 MHz
GPU: MSI n220gt 512 MB Active fan PCI-E
Power: Eurocase 350W
HDD: WD 160GB SATA2
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit (build 7600 FINAL, NOT RC)

If anybody has same problems, please let me know.
 

Shadowking

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emel,

Did your comp work well before you added Win 7 64? I didn't think you could mix 1GB ram sticks with 2GB ram sticks. Are the timings the same on both the 1GB sticks and 2GB sticks? That could be an issue.


 

emel

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Hello Shadowking,

it is "new" computer, so I do not know the behavior before installation of win 7... but before installing newest nVidia official driver everything was good (except the fact, that graphic card was not recognized)
I am also not sure, if the problem is in RAM, because windows recognized the proper size of total RAM (6 GB) and also in BIOS I can see 6 GB and during POST is also proper amount of RAM displayed as O.K....
But i will defintelly try to remove 2x 1GB modules and then I will write an update.

Thank you for your suggestions. have a nice day :)
 

Shadowking

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If the RAM is an issue, it may be in the timing. Although Windows recognizes the correct GB's, if the timings are different it could cause some problems. Timing is usually listed on the stick but you can check the company site for your brand. Usually listed something like this 5-5-5-15.
 

emel

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Hello again Shadowking,

my problem is solved: It was caused by PSU. When I switched to more powerful power supply unit, all problems were gone! Now I have PSU of 700W and EVERYTHING is absolutelly stable! (Before it was only 350W with 15A on 12V rail, now it is 700W with 52A on 12V :D )

BTW: timing of memories was not a problem, all memory modules have same timing :)

Thank you againg for your time and suggestions. I wish you a nice day.

 

fritzbrad

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I'm currently running a 450 Antec PSU...do you think if I purchased a more powerful PSU that may solve my issues? My game performance being unstable in such games asPlants vs. Zombies, and in other games such as COD World at War, it "pauses" and lags for roughly 5 seconds and then kicks back in. this "pause" in the games is consistent, happening roughly every 10 mins or so.
 

emel

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Hello fritzbrad,

I am not 100% sure, if the PSU change will help you. It depends on type of your graphics card. If you have a more powerful GPU then you need also proper PSU. Try to ask your friends/PC seller to lend you one just for test. If your problems will gone away, than you can buy it. That was the process in my situation.
As I wrote above, after PSU change all my problems with system instability was solved and now the system is rock stable :)
 

emel

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That is me again...
my problem si here again, but now it is with logon. I am not able to log into windows. When system write :Welcome: It freeze and anly hard reset is available. I do not know why it freezes again, today at morning it was really "rock stable". but after normal shutdown and after few hours later normal start I am not able to log on!!!
I think that the problem is with nvidia drivers. I tried EVERY AVAILABLE DRIVER (whql and also beta) from nvidia site, but without success. In safe mode is everythink OK...
I tried also to change my memory module... without success.
Clean re-install of windows 7 64bit ultimate final... without success.
If anybody have any idea, please write..
 

overbe

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hi all, i have the same problem with new Inno3d GTX 275 like in the first post: Crysis, GTA IV and some other games look like crap, very pixelated, especially edges of the textures and shadows, colors are very blanky, dull, although all settings are set to MAX! But at the same time games like TF2, Batman AA, Global Agenda are running very well.

Specs:
i5 2,7 GHz
Gigabyte P55M-UD2
Inno3d GTX 275
750W PSU
 

roxley

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Hi - I just built an HTPC and am having the same problem as of today. The problem seems to be associated with the display drivers (running the 220 gt card). If I uninstall the drivers in safe mode, I can boot into normal mode. As soon as windows installs the drivers for the graphics card, I get a hang up on the same spot - the 'Welcome' screen.

Anyone have any solutions?
 

gistuff3

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hello everyone,,

I solved this 'black lag screen' issue on win7 with nvidia graphic card from some forum in the internet.
try to disable the scaling feature in NVIDIA Control Panel. Choose 'do not scale'.
this works for me :)
I think the nvdia driver doesnt work well with aero. If you turn aero off, u wont have this lag screen.

Hope this works for u too, guys ;)

p.s: but,, game like Plants VS Zombies still looks terrible and pixelated if I don't turn off 3D acceleration :cry:
 
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