enkianderos

Hey all, brand new to the forum.

Here are the specs:

ACPI x86 based PC
Vista Ultimate Service Pack 2 Beta
Direct X 10.1

Dual Core AMD Athalon 64 X2
MOBO- ASUS M2N-SLI
MOBO CHIPSET- nVIDIA nforce 560 sli, AMD Hammer
RAM- 2048 DDR2
Video- NVIDIA GF 7900 GT/GTO
Drivers- Nvidia 7.15.11.8206

I have been putting a few hours a day, every day, for the past 2 weeks at least into trying to figure out how to solve this issue.

So here is what happened and is happening.

Initially I started getting scanlines while browsing the internet, only when I would scroll up or down. I continued at that point because it wasn't affecting anything. At this point I was still running Aero on Vista.

Then, about a week after the scanlines appeared all the edges of my windows would pixellate and be all shredded. I could still use everything else on my computer as normal and I ended up switching from Aero to Vista Classic, seemed to resolve the issue for a time. Then the blue screens started. Now I cannot run ANY program that is graphics intensive. Corel Painter crashes my system when I select a brush. All I can do is go to webpages, and run a few programs that I will be listing below in my "attempted to fix this" list

The blue screen talks about shadowing and near the end it lists the source of the issue followed by the memory dump stats. The source of the issue is the nvlddmkm.sys associated with my Graphics card located in the win32 files under drivers.

So I began my research, there are lots of strange tweaks and fixes to resolve the issue and I honestly feel like I have tried all of them. Before I get into what I have done thus far let me explain that my setup has run fine for over a year with absolutely no problems, it worked perfectly before, I did not get a virus and I did not download or change anything of note on my computer between it working and it not working...

So, as I learned more about this notorious error I began my quest. To make this easier to write and read I will simply list everything bulletpoint style.

-rolled back display drivers

-updated display drivers

-manually extracted the nvlddmkm.sy_ file into the win32 system folder to overwrite the existing nvlddmkm.sys file

-uninstalled every single vista hotfix and security update from nearly a month before the first scanline appeared

-attempted running card on standard VGA driver

-tried running in classic windows instead of vista

-went from sp1 to sp2 in vista

-ran memtest86 at boot and passed 100%

-obtained, ran, and executed ParetoLogic Drivercure, RegCure, Uniblue Powersuite.

-ran errorcheck on my volume from disk properties

-defragged disk

-went into system configuration/boot/advanced options and activated checkboxes for number of processors and maximum memory

-removed basically every single program from my CPU

-Verified all settings were correct in the BIOS Config from the Post Screen Launcher

-Ran Ntune, NVIDIA monitor and Everest to verify everything is running smoothly. No errors, voltage is good, drivers are fine, no listed conflicts, temperatures are good.

-was never overclocked, actually I underclocked the GPU

-Opened case and switched out power supplies (when I opened the case, although it appeared very clean from the plexiglass cover when I got inside of there I noticed a heavy build up of... kitty litter dust. It was very very very fine, as it passed through the filters I have placed in front of my intake fans, but there was a fair deal of it. I blew it all out and took the fan/heatsink off of my videocard and blew it all out with the compressed air. Also blew out the processor.. I think this may be my answer though)

Now... a little more info on what I am seeing. From the very beginning, at the first post screen when the M2N splash page comes up see random white pixels all over the screen, the pixels also appear on the windows loading screen before the login comes up. So the error is present from the get-go, not just when the desktop is up.

After all of the tuning and tweaking my computer is actually faster than ever, it moves through the boot-up process in literally about 10-15 seconds now. If it wasn't crashing it would be fantastic hahaha.

So, at this point I have basically come to the conclusion that my videocard is fried. I think that the kitty litter residue must have gotten into the fan housing on the videocard and retained the heat it was supposed to be dissipating, thus bringing the temp over the event horizon and frying it.

Now, I am still fairly new when it comes to advanced PC troubleshooting but I believe if a videocard goes over critical temp once that is all it takes correct? Any suggestions on anything else I should try before purchasing another videocard?

If I do purchase another video card I was actually looking at getting two GF 9600 1GB and running them in a mineral oil tank so external debris and contaminants will be a non issue.

If you have no suggestions for how I could resolve this before buying something new, do you have any suggestions or opinions on SLI (better off with one good card or two lower quality cards, etc)? Mineral Oil Cooling (with an external radiator for heat dissipation) vs. fan systems?

I am in no way shape or form made out of money, but if I am getting stuck into a forced upgrade I might as well make it one that will go the distance you know? Buy the right product once instead of the wrong one thrice...

Anyways, I am just rambling at this point. Any input is valued and thank you for your time.

Austin

wrench97

Sounds like a Video card issue to me what temp are you seeing on the card?
What are you seeing for a voltage reading on the 12v rail?
Is it by chance a EVGA card with warranty on it?
One large card is better then 2 smaller ones.
What Power Supply do you currently have?
Stick with the fans and blow out the case and heat sink every couple of months with a can of compressed air, Liquid cooling is a solution in a hot environment but there is maintenance involved with it also.

enkianderos

Card is reading at 46c currently

I am not sure I understand what you mean by the voltage reading on the rail.

My voltage is color coded yellow (which equals 12v I guess)

The card is an XFX. I don't have a warranty for it, got the card from a friend while rebuilding my system last year.

My power supply is an antec 500w.

And as for hot environments, I live in Arizona :)

Thanks for the quick reply

wrench97

If your in Air Conditioning is the summer then that's not going to count for hot:)
Look in the Bios on the PC Health(or similar) page it will list the rail voltages 3.3v, 5v, 12v
and the CPU and MB temp.
Antec's used to be good but starting about 2 years ago now they changed suppliers for the internals now not so good.
Some of those XFX cards had a lifetime warranty also ask your friend.

enkianderos

I have a voltage values page in everest, it says

cpu core: 1.57v

5 v: 5.24

12 v: 12.95

5 v standby: 4.89

vbat: 3.04

Is that what you are talking about? Sorry if I am misunderstanding

wrench97

Use the Bios numbers they are always more accurate if that 12.9v is correct(I doubt it) there's a problem the voltages should be +-5%

enkianderos

yeah, BIOS reads 12.09v

So basically you feel that it is the videocard from the information I have given thus far? It is the only thing I can think of at this point...

wrench97

Yes it sounds like the ram on the card is failing since it's not overheating.

wrench97

Just as a thought you could try removing the card and cleaning the contacts with a clean pencil type eraser and reinstalling.

enkianderos

I honestly appreciate all of your help with this...

Now when you say clean the contacts with an eraser (I have lots of erasers, do a bit of art in my spare time)

Are you talking about the part of the card that plugs into the PCIe port on the MOBO? Just give them a once over with an eraser?

wrench97

Yes the gold colored contacts on the bottom where the card plugs into the board, most of the time it doesn't work but occasionally it is a contact problem.

enkianderos

Well.. thanks a bunch man. You have been very helpful :D

dai

before installing video drivers you first have to remove the old ones

so if you can roll them back they are not installed correctly