Display driver has stopped working and has successfully recovered! Tried EVERYTHING but no success

[hamidraza10]

So I know there are loads of threads and discussions on this topic but trust me, I've come here after trying literally everything.

I bought an ASUS GTX 480, 384 Bits, 1.5 GB three weeks ago and it worked flawlessly without any problem whatsoever. However, since last week, I started getting this error "Display driver has stopped working and has successfully recovered" and the game would crash all of a sudden. This happens as soon as I log into my Windows account and also every time I'm playing a game.

My PC:

- Pegatron ipmsb H61 motherboard
- 610W silencer PSU
- Intel i5 2500@ 3.3 GHz, 6 MB Cache
- 6 GM Ram (4GB + 2GB)
- ASUS GTX 480, 384 Bits, 1.5 GB
- 1 TB Western Digital HDD
- Windows 7 professional, 64bits

!! I have never ever overclocked anything !!

Things I have tried:
- Uninstalling the driver completely and re-installing a fresh and latest driver
- Uninstalled the 3D Card and cleaned the PCIE slot (Which was already very clean)
- Checked each and every cable is installed properly and there is no voltage fluctuation
- Noted the temperature of the Card which is 38C normally and reaches up to 68C when playing games at ultra settings
- Finally, I formatted my C drive and installed a fresh Windows 7 64 bits.. I was VERY hopeful that it would work but alas! The problem persists!

Please help?!

 

[brispuss]

Suspect hardware issue. Try another video card if possible (borrow one if needed). And/or try the Asus GTX 480 in another computer.

 

[LucoTF]

For me this turned out to be a PSU issue. I like brispuss' suggestion first though, test the 480 in another rig if you can

 

[hamidraza10]

Thanks for your replies.

1) Tried GTX 480 in another PC, works absolutely fine.
2) PSU is absolutely find, no problem in it whatsoever

 

[LucoTF]

It's not a driver issue (problem exists after full OS reinstall)
It's not a temperature issue

Go into nvidia control panel > manage 3d settings > global settings > power management mode

Change it to 'prefer maximum performance'

Also as odd as it may sound, try a different cable for your monitor

 

[hamidraza10]

I would be tempted to try another power supply. The silencer seems to be about 7 years old.
I know the symptoms dont point at it as a suspect but if the card ran fine for a while and still works fine in another pc its just possible the psu is the culprit.

Changed the PSU and problem is still there...

 

[hamidraza10]

It's not a driver issue (problem exists after full OS reinstall)
It's not a temperature issue

Go into nvidia control panel > manage 3d settings > global settings > power management mode

Change it to 'prefer maximum performance'

Also as odd as it may sound, try a different cable for your monitor

Let me do that and I'll post the results

 

[brispuss]

If there are still issues, try one DIMM at a time and in different slots.

If the problems persist despite trying all combinations of DIMM's in the slots, try another known working DIMM in each slot.

If the issues are still there then this is looking like a motherboard fault.

 

[hamidraza10]

If there are still issues, try one DIMM at a time and in different slots.

If the problems persist despite trying all combinations of DIMM's in the slots, try another known working DIMM in each slot.

If the issues are still there then this is looking like a motherboard fault.

I don't think it is a motherboard issue because my motherboard has never had ANY issue.. Let's say IF there IS an issue with it, why JUST one problem 'display driver has stopped working', why not any other problem with RAM or processor etc.?

 

[hamidraza10]

@LucoTF I did try "Go into nvidia control panel > manage 3d settings > global settings > power management mode

Change it to 'prefer maximum performance''

No Success but a bit progress, games run a bit longer now before I get the error 'display driver has stopped working.....'

I'm really depressed, can't play any game on my PC!

 

[brispuss]

From previous posts it appears that software may not be the issue, and it seems to be hardware related instead.

Did you try one DIMM at a time in different slots as suggested? This will help narrow down possibility of sources of the issues.

Run memory testing programs such as Memtest86, Memtest86+, Memtest. The tests should be run for at least three complete passes.

 

[hamidraza10]

UPDATE: I don't know if the problem has been 'permanently' fixed or not since I have had this problem only ONE time after I set the 'power management mode' to ''prefer maximum performance'' AND I was able to play FIFA 15 for more than an hour while it used to crash after 2 mins...

 

[LucoTF]

UPDATE: I don't know if the problem has been 'permanently' fixed or not since I have had this problem only ONE time after I set the 'power management mode' to ''prefer maximum performance'' AND I was able to play FIFA 15 for more than an hour while it used to crash after 2 mins...

If it has happened once it can happen again. But the fact that this change has helped suggests it's a power management issue with your card. Do you have a steam account? If you do, search the store for EVGA Precision X and install it, it's a program similar to MSI afterburner that is used for overclocking graphics cards. Use this to increase your graphics card's max voltage a little bit using the slider on the right.

Brispuss is correct that your memory could also be the issue here. You mentioned you have a 4gb and a 2gb, so they aren't a matched pair of sticks. This means they cold be different speeds or different voltages and this could also cause display driver errors. If increasing the max voltage on your card doesn't solve the problem, running Memtest on each stick of ram will be the next thing to try for sure

 

[hamidraza10]

@LucoTF Thank you so much for your replies.
Yes you're right, it CAN happen again. That's why I will replace my 2GB Ram Module with a new 4 GB and I hope the problem doesn't occur again.

Unfortunately, I don't have a steam account so I will use MSI AfterBurner here I guess.

 

[LucoTF]

@LucoTF Thank you so much for your replies.
Yes you're right, it CAN happen again. That's why I will replace my 2GB Ram Module with a new 4 GB and I hope the problem doesn't occur again.

Unfortunately, I don't have a steam account so I will use MSI AfterBurner here I guess.

As far as I know afterburner does not have voltage control. You can download evga precision X direct from evga wesbite too if you don't have steam

If you are replacing your ram to 8gb the best thing to do is to buy a 2x4gb kit, then sell both of your current sticks. This would give you the most stability. But unless your current ram is causing problems (and it may not be!) then there's no need to upgrade.

 

[hamidraza10]

@LucoTF Thank you so much for your replies.
Yes you're right, it CAN happen again. That's why I will replace my 2GB Ram Module with a new 4 GB and I hope the problem doesn't occur again.

Unfortunately, I don't have a steam account so I will use MSI AfterBurner here I guess.

As far as I know afterburner does not have voltage control. You can download evga precision X direct from evga wesbite too if you don't have steam

If you are replacing your ram to 8gb the best thing to do is to buy a 2x4gb kit, then sell both of your current sticks. This would give you the most stability. But unless your current ram is causing problems (and it may not be!) then there's no need to upgrade.

No, I was gonna upgrade to 8 GB anyway and this is exactly what I had in mind; buying a 2 x 4 GB kit of same specs. I will do that in the next couple hours.

UPDATE: Played Watch Dogs AND Shadow of Mordor at high settings, no error as of now. Thank God.

 

[hamidraza10]

UPDATE: The problem had disappeared as I was playing Watch Dogs at high and Fifa 15 at Ultra settings. However, I upgraded my Ram Anyway.. now 8 GB (4 +4) instead of 6 GB. This enabled me to play Watch Dogs at Ultra flawlessly. However, after 2 hours of continuous game-play, the game crashed because of the error "Display Driver has stopped working......"

I checked the GPU temperature and it was just 76C.

Still looking for a permanent fix for it... almost hopeless now.

Still owe you guys for your great help that has enabled me to at least play games for some time!

 

[jokebook]

I've had this problem happen to me three separate times. Every time it happened it was a Video Card issue. Where did you buy the Video Card can you RMA it? I saw that you tried it in another machine and it worked. However, how long did you play with it in the other machine. Since you have gone periods of time on your current rig with no issues a lot of testing would be needed to confirm that the video card is not the issue.

All my experiences and your particular problem would point me to the video card. It's never 100% but that is my experience. Sure fire way is to try another Video Card in your current rig for a significant amount of time.

jb

 

[sla70r]

UPDATE: The problem had disappeared as I was playing Watch Dogs at high and Fifa 15 at Ultra settings. However, I upgraded my Ram Anyway.. now 8 GB (4 +4) instead of 6 GB. This enabled me to play Watch Dogs at Ultra flawlessly. However, after 2 hours of continuous game-play, the game crashed because of the error "Display Driver has stopped working......"

I checked the GPU temperature and it was just 76C.

Still looking for a permanent fix for it... almost hopeless now.

Still owe you guys for your great help that has enabled me to at least play games for some time!

If you are checking the temperatures after a failure I would not put much stock into them... I would run some stress test with the graphic card and see how fast the temperatures climb while under a heavy load.