GTX670 3 Way SLI Event 14 Blackout with Freeze

[DesertDrydock]

I get random freezes, usually with a blackout to soon follow. The only way out is to hold the power button until the system powers down and do a restart. This happens when I am in Flight Simulator X (FSX) with no real pattern. Other quirks in the system are screen flash during FSX, Google Earth and FireFox also the system fails to power down sometimes. The crash doesn't seem to be heat related as far as my CPU and GPU temps. I have read many forum posts but I can't seem to find a solid solution in any of them. The latest Event Viewer log is posted below.

The description for Event ID 14 from source nvlddmkm cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

The following information was included with the event:

\Device\Video10
15b0(1f3c) 00000000 00000000

This is smoking my brain, I've been chasing it for months now with no solution.

 

[Boozad]

What drivers are you using for your cards?

 

[DesertDrydock]

GeForce 335.23

 

[Boozad]

I take it it's been happening with previous drivers too?

 

[DesertDrydock]

Yes it has but for a while there was less screen flash. The freeze and blackout has been random all along. Sometimes I would just get a warning after a freeze that the driver failed to respond then it would start working again.

 

[Boozad]

My first port of call if I was in this position would be to uninstall all three cards then add one back in and perform a clean install of the drivers, see if the problem presents itself with just the one card installed. If all's OK add the second in SLi and run that for a while, again to see if the problem presents itself again.

It's certainly a driver issue, maybe it's pertaining to the tri-SLi setup but I don't know for sure.

 

[DesertDrydock]

Big bummer, they are married with an EK SLI bridge but I have to do what I have to do to figure it out! I started with just one card and had the screen flash, I honestly can't remember if the freezes started then or not. The flash has defiantly been an annoyance from the beginning. Before I installed the nVidia I had a GIGABYTE GV-R797OC-3GD Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card and had the screen flash with it.

 

[Boozad]

If you've had the screen flash with two different cards that may point to a problem with the monitor itself, could you try another monitor or even through an HD TV to see if that problem persists? It still doesn't account for your driver problem though.

 

[DesertDrydock]

I have three 27" monitors, two Samsung S27B350's and a ViewSonic. I have ran them all individually from each card, one at a time and still have the flash, weird ah?

 

[Boozad]

That's really strange, two different cards, three different monitors and the same problem. That's really got me stumped.

 

[DesertDrydock]

I'm about due for a coolant flush so I'll take the cards apart and run them individually to see if I have my freeze and crash problem with one particular card and go from there. Thanks and I imagine I'll be back because I really want to figure all of this out.

 

[Boozad]

I can well imagine, yeah definitely let us know how you get on.

 

[smarteyeball]

Other quirks in the system are screen flash during FSX, Google Earth and FireFox also the system fails to power down sometimes

So the flash is basically the screen quickly turning on and off like a driver recovery error?

And by system not powering down, it sort of sits there at the shutting down screen for ever? (Sounds like a hung process)

maybe it's pertaining to the tri-SLi setup but I don't know for sure.

I don't believe so. I had a tri 670 SLI and never had issues like this. In fact the driver issues sound like a symptom and not a cause.

I started with just one card and had the screen flash <> Before I installed the nVidia I had a 7970 Card and had the screen flash with it.

hmm.

I have three 27" monitors, two Samsung S27B350's and a ViewSonic. I have ran them all individually from each card, one at a time and still have the flash, weird ah?

Yep, weird. Did you use the same cord for all screens, or different ones? And was this while SLI was enabled or disabled?


This is definitely an interesting one. All the screens check out. It's happened with both a single card in Slot 1 and 3 cards in all 3 slots.

The only consistent clue is the driver seems to keep failing.

For eliminations sake, maybe try a driver uninstall, then clean and re-install.

Download @ install Driver Fusion. Uninstall drivers normally, run Driver Fusion to clean both AMD and Nvidia entries. Reinstall nvidia drivers.

Is this a pretty new build? Like the issue has been happening since you built the rig?

Was it a fresh Windows install?

 

[DesertDrydock]

Hello Smarteyeball, I think I'm connecting with your train of thought here; this looks like it could be a leftover driver from my original 7970, it is where the flash started. The flash is an instantaneous white flash that lasts only a couple tenths of a second if that.

If I look over my build invoices I started my build in January of 13 where I had a SanDisk 240GB SSD as my main drive and the 7970 as my GPU. On the first of may I changed to the GTX670 and then a couple weeks later I got a 2TB HDD, removed the SSD and installed Windows on the 2TB drive so it looks like the 7970 was not installed on my current drive. But I am green as spring grass when it comes to these matters so I'll leave the rest of the logic to you. I get a sense of deep understanding coming out of your post and I really wish I had you sitting here with me.

Should I purchase the premium version of Driver Fusion or just run the freeware?

Do you think this is possibly a motherboard issue? Or memory? Both have been with it since the beginning.

 

[Boozad]

There won't be any AMD driver remnants left over if you've changed your hard drive since installing the 670 as they were obviously installed on the SSD. That pretty much rules out driver conflict. To perform a clean install of the NVIDIA drivers follow this tutorial by essenbe. That will give you the cleanest installation of NVIDIA drivers possible.

 

[smarteyeball]

My apologies for the response delay.

Should I purchase the premium version of Driver Fusion or just run the freeware?

Freeware. Premium is not needed.

Do you think this is possibly a motherboard issue? Or memory? Both have been with it since the beginning.

If I had to lean towards a component for now, I'd be inclined to say memory.

As Boozad mentioned, it wouldn't be a driver conflict since you'd done a fresh Windows install with the 670.

With the memory, did you select the X.M.P profile or enter the timings/voltages manually?

To test the memory download Memtest86+ and either create a bootable CD or Flashdrive. When the PC restarts, let it boot into memtest and let it run. I'd suggest overnight as it takes a while to do several passes. Ideally you want 6-8 passes.

If any errors occur straight away, you can stop the test. If there are any errors in the morning we're onto something. Don't worry about the error codes themselves. All that matters if the are zero or any errors.

If the are no errors, it's time to focus on something else.


Also in Control panel>Device Manager are the any unkown devices or warning symbols?

(When you installed Windows, did you also install all the motherboard chipset drivers from Asus site?)

Motherboards - P9X79 PRO


You could also try updating to the latest BIOS. 4608 is the latest.