Did my 7950 GX2..."die"?

[OrangeTomatoe]

Long story short, I was playing TF2 and the screen got all funky and then my computer got the BSOD. I didn't have time to see what was wrong and just shut down my computer and thought I could fix it later.

Anyways, I couldn't even boot into safe mode because I couldn't see anything. I could see the options for safe mode, with command prompt and safe mode with networking yadda yadda. I tried my friends video card and the same thing was happening. I sent my computer to Fry's to have them diagnose the problem. Basically their non-refundable diagnosis didn't do anything and they got $70. They told me to reinstall Vista, which I had tried and wasn't working. I tried one last time and it worked, no idea why. I tried to download the latest drivers for my 7950 GX2 the 190.38 drivers. Halfway through the install the computer screen goes into standby and then BSOD. I have tried many different drivers dating back to 2006-7. Every install results in the screen going into standby and BSOD soon after.

After the Vista reinstall I tried my friends card again and it is working. I was able to download and install the most recent drivers and have it working, unfortunately it sucks and can't run games too well. My card works too, but installing drivers crashes my computer. The current drivers are from August 2006. In TF2 with my card I get like 12-20 fps. With my friends 3450 HD 512MB I get 40-50. I have used compressed air to clean it and have tried almost anything.

If you got any ideas please do share them. Thanks for the help.

-Orange Tomatoe

System
Intel Core2 Duo X6800 = CPU
Corsair 4GB PC 6400 = RAM
Vista 32 bit = OS
160GB & 500GB = HDD (both 7200 RPMs)
Nvidia 7950 GX2 = Graphics Card
Asus P5N32-SLi Premium = Motherboard

 

[fpsdominator]

Whats your power supply?

 

[OrangeTomatoe]

550W. Been running this setup for about 3 years, no hardware problems at all, well until now.

 

[hardwaretechy]

Have you ever been able to see what the BSOD error is? This info should be viewable in two ways -- if you can get the OS loaded, then it should be in the System Event Log -- look for an error (red) thats usually a Bugcheck -- write down the code and Bing/Google it.

Second method is to disable the automatic reboot upon BSOD.

Here's How:

1. Click on Start and then Control Panel.

Tip: In a hurry? Type system in the search box after clicking Start. Choose System from the list of results and then skip to Step 4.

2. Click on the System and Maintenance link.

Note: If you're viewing the Classic View of Control Panel, you won't see this link. Simply double-click on the System icon and proceed to Step 4.

3. Click on the System link.
4. In the task pane on the left, click the Advanced system settings link.
5. Locate the Startup and Recovery area and click on the Settings button.
6. In the Startup and Recovery window, locate and uncheck the check box next to Automatically restart.
7. Click OK in the Startup and Recovery window.
8. Click OK in the System Properties window.
9. You can now close the System window.

Again, write down the error code and look it up on the internet -- sometimes it gives the driver name thats causing the problem -- in your case probably nv4disp.sys or similar.

It certainly is odd behavior that reinstalling the driver seems to work but then it crashes again. However there are two things that you need to do. Using your friend's card (since its stable) load up the OS. Uninstall all ATI and NVIDIA video drivers completely. You can use the DriverCleaner Pro for this (should work in Vista too i believe). Once you do that, shutdown. Replace the video card with yours. Turn it on. Now load the newest graphics drivers, or the last version that had any changes for your card (since you're on the 7xxx series).

BSOD's can be caused by driver conflicts especially if old drivers were improperly removed, also from having both ATI & NVIDIA drivers installed at the same time.

My personal advice to you is to get a newer video card if you enjoy playing TF2. You can get fantastic cards now for $100 or less that will play TF2 with max settings (see ATI 4770, 4670, 4850 even sometimes with a good deal, NVIDIA 9500/9600). If you are short on cash i do believe that the 9500 can be had for $50 or less (and yes, while the 7950 GX2 was a great card in its time, all of these cards beat it by leaps and bounds).

Good luck!

 

[OrangeTomatoe]

I was able to take a picture of the BSOD before I reinstalled Vista and it read Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed.

STOP: 0x00000116 (0x9c667510, 0x8e211e80, 0x00000000, 0x00000002)

nv1ddmkm.sys- Address 8e211e80 base at 8e206000, Datestamp 48d14495

I don't have my card right now, I gave it to my friend to put in his system and see if it works with the new drivers. If it works my computer is messed up somewhere other than my graphics card. If it doesn't work, then my graphics card is done for most likely.

I have deleted my Nvidia folders and tried the new drivers - 190.38, and the same thing happened as before.

There are a TON of Red Errors in my Event Log. TONS.

 

[OrangeTomatoe]

178.13 or 178.15?

Assuming 178.15 because it's newer...

 

[OrangeTomatoe]

178.13 and 178.15 did not work. Same problem.