Windows 7: Display error, leading to computer lock, with dump

Hello everyone, and thank you beforehand for the assistance



Ever since the 13th this month, it seems my computer (or my graphics card) has been playing tricks on me, and crashes at random intervals. What happens is, mostly during games (World of Warcraft, Just cause 2), at completely random times the screen will go from normal to supper choppy / pixilated / colored squares, making the screen freeze. Most of the times, the computer will lock but sometimes it is possible that background applications will resume (such as Ventrillo), however I can no longer access them and I am forced to reboot.

The error started to occur once, maybe twice on a 6+ hour play through, however it has gotten quite frequent, and at one time I was even unable to go to windows 7, as soon as I got there the same error would occur. I opened up my Computer and cleaned it inside as best as I can thinking it might be some heating problem, but the only improvement was that I could again go to windows, even play for a half hour or 1 hour before the problem repeats itself.
Here is the complete list of things I have tried so far:
- Format / Install fresh windows installation
- Stress tested my graphics card through OCCT / 3D mark vantage (no problem in either tests)
- Tried different windows (windows vista x64)

Shortly afterwards I decided to get to the root of the problem, so I installed the debugging tools for windows, looked for the dumps, and found that the problem is indeed due to the NVidia drivers / graphics card.
What I would beg of you is if there is some way I can fix it without having to resort to RMA ? My system spec is on my profile, but basically I’m running dual EVGA GTX 280 on SLI.
Again, many thanks for whatever assistance you can provide!

I am afraid that these do point to the directx portion of the video driver. I would go to the mfr's site and get their un-install tool to remove all remnants of the current driver. I would only re-install the driver and not all the other junk.

I might also be heat related so I would download cpu-z, and gpu-z (both free) to keep an eye on the temp's

It could also be a PSU problem. what PSU? how many amps on the video rail? etc

let us know if you need help

Ken

Hello zigzag, thanks for the assistance!

I will try to do what you recommend, however (and I forgot to mention) I am tracking the GPU temperature with rivatuner constantly and they do not go above 82º, which from what I read is a normal temperature for such video cards.

And I am afraid I do not really know how to check the PSU, any application you can recommend?

Well I tried searching around for the "mfr's site" but I didn't find anything.. could you be so kind as to give me a link so I can test it?

also, my PSU is a Corsair HX1000 1000W Modular SLI, which I heard is quite a good PSU and should never give me any problems.

Thanks for the help!

Problem still persists, RMA is only option I guess?

If you solve this problem please let us know how as I'm having a very similar problem and as of today I switched back to XP but I would really like to use Windows 7.
Win7 destroys hard drive - Windows 7 Forums