Graphics errors/crashes (mainly video?)

Siouxsie said:

Hi there,

I assembled this computer from parts bought about 6 weeks ago, have had no problems with it until yesterday.

Suddenly, I was experiencing a multitude of graphic glitches and general lag when using the computer. Engaging the graphics processor in any way seems to provoke these glitches. From a fresh restart everything looks good, but if I try to play a video file in VLC I get flickering, flashing screen, freezing, weird purple noise appearing all over the Windows 7 interface. More often than not, the nVidia driver crashes, and it's not only when playing video, performing a "Windows Experience Index Assessment" also produces these errors. So far, I've gotten four blue screens, so I'm looking for any help I can get from you guys!

I'm on Win 7 Professional x64 (downloaded through MSDNAA), with an ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics card. I've tried a few different things already, including:
- Restarting computer, obviously
- Upgrading to the latest beta graphics card drivers (290.36)
- Rolling back to latest stable graphics card drivers (285.62)

Hopefully someone here can pinpoint the issue from the provided data (all according to the sticky post) and help me solve it. I think I noticed the same .dll mentioned in all the blue screens, but I never really had time to confirm this as they occurred.

Also, please see the attached "example.png" for a demonstration of the "purple noise".

Thanks beforehand,
Siouxsie

"It's not a true crash, in the sense that the bluescreen was initiated only because the combination of video driver and video hardware was being unresponsive, and not because of any synchronous processing exception".

Since Vista, the "Timeout Detection and Recovery" (TDR) components of the OS video subsystem have been capable of doing some truly impressive things to try to recover from issues which would have caused earlier OSs like XP to crash.

As a last resort, the TDR subsystem sends the video driver a "please restart yourself now!" command and waits a few seconds.

If there's no response, the OS concludes that the video driver/hardware combo has truly collapsed in a heap, and it fires off that stop 0x116 BSOD.

If playing with video driver versions hasn't helped, make sure the box is not overheating.

Try removing a side panel and aiming a big mains fan straight at the motherboard and GPU.

Run it like that for a few hours or days - long enough to ascertain whether cooler temperatures make a difference.

If so, it might be as simple as dust buildup and subsequently inadequate cooling.

I would download cpu-z and gpu-z (both free) and keep an eye on the video temps Let us know if you need help

STOP 0x116: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR troubleshooting

Thank you for the very swift and informative response!

What temperatures should you expect? Should I also keep an eye on any other of the plethora of stats measured by GPU-Z?

I haven't tested much yet, everything looked fine when I installed GPU-Z, so I fired up Minecraft since I figured Java 3D rendering would stress the GPU quickly. At around 45 °C the purple jitter showed up on my desktop (and from the moment I started Minecraft the rendering in-game was messed up to the point of un-playability).

I'll come back to you after I've inspected the insides of my rig for dust bunnies and the likes.

Thanks again, for selflessly helping others in forums like this!

Siouxsie said:

Thank you for the very swift and informative response!

What temperatures should you expect? Should I also keep an eye on any other of the plethora of stats measured by GPU-Z?

I haven't tested much yet, everything looked fine when I installed GPU-Z, so I fired up Minecraft since I figured Java 3D rendering would stress the GPU quickly. At around 45 °C the purple jitter showed up on my desktop (and from the moment I started Minecraft the rendering in-game was messed up to the point of un-playability).

I'll come back to you after I've inspected the insides of my rig for dust bunnies and the likes.

Thanks again, for selflessly helping others in forums like this!

For specifics you are going to have to go to the mfr. Might be as simple as dust bunnies (thought I was the only one to use that grin) or it might also be a driver, directX, power, or VRam.

zigzag3143 said:

For specifics you are going to have to go to the mfr. Might be as simple as dust bunnies (thought I was the only one to use that grin) or it might also be a driver, directX, power, or VRam.

I opened the computer (no visible dust on the inside, only on top of the case), and temperatures stay below 60 °C with the GFX fan at < 30 % during moderate stress (Minecraft + VLC).
I checked that driver tool, says all my drivers are up to date, the nVidia ForceWare driver also reports no errors.
VDDC values for the card are between 0.95 V and 1.012 V, averaging at 1.0076 V, I have no idea if this is good or bad though.
dxdiag says that everything is in order, and I just ran a Vram stress test (log attached) for 7 hours with no errors found..


I guess I'll close the case again, see if I can reproduce the errors, and in that case ramp up cooling.
I'd rather this be the case than them randomly disappearing, since that would mean they can randomly reappear at any time.

Would you suggest just installing another fan, or should I try to increase the graphic card's minimum fan speed? It apparently only uses a third of it's capacity at 1500 rpm.