Display driver crashes/random restarts

[StarWarsMan93]

I'm starting to feel defeated... I've asked on two sites and no help, so instead of repeating my problem again, I'll copy/paste it here:

So back in July I got a new GeForce GT 640 since my GT 545 was biting the dust. I installed it, updated the drivers to 353.30, and all was well for a week or two. Then I got the "display driver has crashed and recovered" in SWTOR, which a day or two later turned into a BSOD/random restart. So I updated to the newest driver, 355,60, but immediately got display driver crashes, 3 of them, so downgraded back to 353. Everything was stable for a few days again, then display driver crashes/restarts. I then downgraded to 347.52, and played fine all day yesterday, until this morning got a random restart. So upgrade to 350, just got a random restart...

I had 353.30 since last week without any driver crashes or restarts, playing SWTOR for 8+ hours. But yesterday I was playing SWTOR for almost 3 hours then constantly the screen kept blacking out and coming back with the display driver crashed and recovered message. I minimized and then turned the game off, and installed the 347.12 driver. I restarted and played SWTOR all day yesterday with no display crashes or anything. Then this morning I was watching a Blu-ray for about 2 hours, no crashes or anything, and then I put SWTOR on and played for about 20 minutes and got a display crash/recover, and then a random restart/BSOD. When it restarted I installed 350.whatever, the one released for GTAV, and got another random restart/BSOD after playing for like 3 minutes. Then when the computer was done restarting and it was logging me in to Windows, on the Welcome! screen, the screen went black twice and I had two display driver crashes. So I the. Went back to drivers I had before, 335.23, released in March 2014. I played SWTOR with these drivers on my GT 545 from February to May 2015, which is when I got my first random restart/BSOD ever and updated the drivers. But those drivers also caused a random restart too. So I reinstalled 353.30, and only selected to install the drivers and HD audio, none of the other stuff (which I did in the past with clean installs for other drivers). I then restarted and Now I've been playing SWTOR for about 2 hours and no crashes or anything yet. I really wanna know what the heck is up... Like I said, this really only happens with SWTOR. I use to play LOTRO nonstop last year and for some of this year and didn't get any of these problems, and I had the 335.23 drivers. And started SWTOR in February without any problems on my GT 545 and the 335.23 drivers, and I started getting stuttering graphics after 2 months (even on low, which I played on anyway beforehand). Then in May is when I was hit with a BSOD/restart, and I thought it was due to the card overheating since the fan was loud and I was stuttering.

A little more info: had this computer for 3 years and never had this problem until May. It's an HP Pavilion HPE h9 1110t. It's got a 600w PSU so it should be able to handle the GT 640 with ease. All I really do on it is play Star Wars The Old Republic, I don't play any other games, don't really do anything else on it, as I use my tablet for web surfing and such. I'm not overclocking at all, and I don't think it can be a heat problem. The graphics fan is quiet, and the other fans can barely be heard. I put my hand in the back and I feel cool air coming from the PSU and the bottom back fan.

Now what's really irritating is this morning when I went to wake computer from sleep, the computer came on but the monitor didn't. It just stayed in standby mode, and moving the mouse around and everything didn't work. I can only assume it's due to the graphics card or card drivers. This is the first time this ever happened.

EDIT: I turned off the computer and reseated the graphics card, but now when I turn it on I'm not getting any signal from the monitor and it won't turn on. I hit the monitor power button and when it turns back on it says it can't detect a signal and then enters sleep mode. Ugh, what's happening. 🙁

 

[Finkledbody]

In my opinion. You're probably chasing down the wrong problem.
Are you sure all of your other drivers are up to date? There are a lot of them. Firmware up to date? There is a lot of that also.
Which operating system are you using?

Your hard drive could be shitting the bed.
Your SSD could be shitting the bed.
Your motherboard might be shitting the bed.

Crashes are not always a video driver error.

Are you using precision X? Yeah, that could be your problem also.
Using Precision X can cause instability.

What programs are you running in the background? Any one of them can cause instabilities.

 

[StarWarsMan93]

Well, it's the display driver that is constantly crashing, nvdlkmm-whatever it is. Wouldn't that point to the driver/card as the problem? I don't know if all my drivers are up to date, never thought they'd all have to be as my computer has been working great (except for the old dying GT 545 I replaced in May). Seems ever since I've put the GT 640 in more problems have occurred. What drivers need to be updated?

Also, unplugged machine again, blew in the monitor's DVI cable, waited a few minutes and turned computer back on, and the monitor was working. But in reliability monitor, it showed a problem with Driver Software Installation, with the summary saying Installed Generic Software Driver, and the description states Windows installed driver software that supports the basic features of your Standard VGA Graphics Adapter. What does this mean? This must've occurred when I tried rebooting and the monitor wouldn't come on.

 

[StarWarsMan93]

Will using integrated graphics maybe pinpoint if it's a driver/card problem?

 

[Finkledbody]

The problem with older computers is the hardware on them becomes obsolete and they stop supporting it. Firmware, drivers, etc become unstable and become worse so when someone tries to upgrade a old computer with one new part. You're likely running into some type of software/driver conflict causing your system to crash.

Problems like this can be easy to fix. But I might not be the best to spell it out.

If it were me. I would reformat my drives and start from scratch installing everything in order, making sure everything was up to date. If you are still having problems. You know its a hardware issue.

 

[StarWarsMan93]

I'd like to try two things before trying reformatting. If anyone wants to answer these questions:

1) Does my HP computer have integrated graphics? If so, how do I use it? Do I just remove my card, plug, in the monitor to the DVI port where it connects to it, and it'll automatically detect it? And if I put the card back in, will it detect the card and reinstall it? I saw people saying you have to go into the BIOS.

2) If I uninstall the driver through the device manager and restart, will it automatically install default drivers so I can test the card without the newest ones? Or since this card didn't come with the computer will I have to go and install the drivers? The card came with a CD, can I try those drivers? How do I use it?