MS Vista & Gforce 7900GTX video issue

[Illuzion]

<p>Hi all, I just decided to upgrade my system and I'm running into some grief.  I installed MS Vista to start with.</p><p> It's a E6850 Core 2 Duo 3Ghz processor, EVGA 7900 GTX 512MB, 4 GB DDR3-1066MHz, WD Raptor 150HD, BFG 650 WATT P/S, etc.  It's pretty solid equipment as near as I can tell when running the burn in tests and such.  I don't really play any other games, so I can't say that it's just EQ, but everything else I do on the computer is fine at this point.  Nothing is OVERCLOCKED either.</p><p> What happens is that I'll get in and start playing, it seems to work OK for a while and then the video starts blipping, weird stuff starts showing up, flashes, lines, etc...sometimes it blacks out for a couple seconds and vista gives a message on the task bar that says.... "Display driver stoop responded and has recovered - Display driver nvlddnkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered'.  Game stays up looks ok initially and goes right back at it.</p><p>Is this a Vista problem? graphics? Should I not be running a GFORCE 7 series directx9 card in vista, should I go to a an series?  Am I going to have to scrap vista?  I've also turned off all the added account security, run the app as an administrator, opened it up on the firewall, disabled aero them, all the typical stuff....  As far as temperatures go, I think things are good and stable, looking at my monitor, it show the CPU at about 50% usage most of the time when running around, 43C system temp, 42C CPU temperature, not sure where to check EVGA GPU temp?</p><p>Lastly, another thing to point out is that I actually have 2 of these 7900GTX cards (used to use them in another system for SLI, I've switched them both in to make sure it wasn't video, they both do it.)</p><p> HELP!  I just want this to all work and I just want to play the darn game in extreme mode, seems like it'll never happen!</p>

[Tebos]

<p>Turn off the in-game shadows featue and tell us if this fixes the issue.</p>

[Deathspell]

I think the OP's issue is way beyond the "turning off shadows" feature.I would try to check the temperature of the graphic cards. Distorted graphical performance is a common result from overheating.But other than that I would try, uninstall the drivers/device in Windows Safe Mode. Reboot. Reinstall drivers or perhaps try other version of the drivers.I guess it wouldn't hurt reinstalling DirectX10 again.But seriously, why not use WinXP? You don't gain anything with Vista, you don't have DX10 hardware, and besides WinXP is definately more reliable.

[Illuzion]

<p>Here is the problem with going back to XP.  Right now, I don't own a copy.  I just paid ~200 for Vista and I really want it for all of the other multimedia features and such.  So at this point, I'd need to go spend another ~$150 for XP, all money wasted on vista.</p><p> The other point is that someone mentioned I don't have a directx 10 card, well I'm really close to just buying an 8800 GTX.  If I do that, do you think it will hurt?  If I do end up scrapping vista in the end, can I use my 8800 GTX card in XP with no problems?</p><p> AND YES...this is WAY past a shadows problem.  Did you read the problem?  I strongly believe it's NOT an overheating problem either.  There is plenty of cooling and the P/S (and power from my APC 1500 UPS) are SOLID as a rock.  The case isn't even on right now, there's 5 giant fans blowing all over, system temp is < 40C most of the time....I still haven't figured out where to check the graphics GPU temperature, but I'm fairly sure it's OK too...it's an EVGA card and has solid stock cooling on it.  I'm NOT trying to overclock anything either.</p><p> I already said, I through it on some pretty intense burn in software that maxes most everything out for the whole night (10+ hours) ...ZERO failures.  This is probably the case of EQ2 incompatibilty with Vista yet again.  I understand I could probably go to XP, but at some point everything's gonna be on Vista...these programmers need to start learning to write software that doesn't need to trounce all over the system to run, ie. program in their memory spaces, that's why such the issue with Vista.  I wish some time could be spent fixing all of the memory leaks, weird issues with Nvidia <6800 stutter from way back, etc etc etc could be fixed before spending it on additional content.  I just want to play the game as it was meant to be played after spending loads of $$$ !!!!  Everytime I build a new system to get better gameplay I fight issues for months on EQ2 and EQ2 only, all the other games and programs work fine.  It's really frustrating.</p>

[Illuzion]

<p>I just ordered a BFG 800W P/S and EVGA 8800 GTX video card.  Once I get these in and put this together, it basically means I have a brand new system.  The +12V supply rail on this new P/S is capable of 54Amps and more than capable of what EVGA asks on their card.  If this doesn't fix it, I'm going to chalk it up to a Vista/EQ2 compatibility issue and I guess I'll have to find an old copy of XP or something.</p><p> Not fun :/</p>

[Vodr]

<p>Vista 64 here with 4 gigs of ram and dual 7600's and I do fine just SLI isn't implemented correctly in the drivers fully yet.  In order to check the GPU temps you can download a 3rd party implementation of the vista drivers like the omega core ones.  Vista really beats on a PC as my computer was fine with XP but once I went Vista I had overheating issues and had to change my cooling solution for the PC.</p><p>Could be the seating of the video card,  is it screw down or the plastic clips.  Plastic clips don't always hold as well as a screw and I had to remove mine from my case as it cause the video card to not fully seat.  Do you have any power cabled running against the video card?</p><p>Generally artifacts are either a video driver issue,  or overheating.  Try running some of the new beta drivers,  and also try reverting down your drivers.</p><p>Another thing that could be causing issues is I see your running 4 gigs of ram,  since xp supports a max of 3 gigs I would have to wager that you added it when you went to vista,  many of the nvidia drivers are funny with 4 gigs of ram with the exception of the 2 most current.  Also you can only use 4 gigs of ram if using the 64 bit version of vista.  Another thing to check is to make sure your bios is current and up to date as something with the change to vista required quite a few boards to update their bios.</p>

[Illuzion]

<p>I had 4 GIGS before, it's just that now I have 4 GIGs of DDR3 instead.  Can't really change that though, if I pull a stick, then I'm down to 2GB and no dual channel.  Same goes for if I revert back to 4 1GB sticks of DDR2.  There isn't a way to disable a portion of it is there?  I assume that I'd get the same problem with XP32bit too though if this was the issue.  Wish I had ordered Vista64 bit, didn't even think it was available yet, but too late now that I've opened and installed 32bit.  <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>As for BIOS drivers and video drivers, I'm up to the most current.  This is the first thing I do when I build a new system.  Although, I'm just using the WHQL ones from nvidia, it's like 160 something, can't recall and I'm not at home to look ....</p><p>Thanks for all the inputs though.  I'll check a few things out.</p>

[Vodr]

<p>162.22 I think is latest whql version,  Try dropping the ram to 2 gigs and dropping the dual channel support "just for testing" and run it slower to see if you get the artifacts.</p><p>Oh and your in luck with the Vista,  you will have to look at your vista but microsoft will send you a 64 bit version for the cost of media and shipping which is usally under 10 bucks.  </p><p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/2057/ordermedia/default.mspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvis...ia/default.mspx</a></p><p>That is the order page for 64 bit vista,  it released when the 32 bit did.  Basically you order the media and I think the key just works for 64 bit as well.</p>

[Illuzion]

OK.  Since my Vista hasn't been activated yet and I'm sure I can find someone to buy it at some point, I bit the bullet and just ordered 64 bit vista as well.  I hope all of this stuff fixes me up good.

[Illuzion]

DOH.  I wish I had read that before I just ordered LOL...oh well.  I'll sell the 32bit to someone at work eventually, it hasn't been activated yet...