- Jan 1, 2014
- 16
- 0
- 10,510
Specs:
CPU: Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz
RAM: DDR3 SDRAM8 GB
Motherboard: CLEVO CO. W150HRM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M
Note: This is a laptop, not a desktop.
I've searched around for this answer for a long time, finding plenty of people with the same issue and have tried multiple things to figure this nonsense out. I'll try to start from the beginning and show you my steps up until this point.
The Problem
It started on a simple reinstall of Windows 7 for reasons unrelated. Games would run for an indeterminable peroid of time before experiencing discoloration, distortion and screen tearing before one of two things would happen. The screen would black out and recover to either a white screen(for fullscreen games) that could be alt-tabbed out of, or a white window(for windowed games) with a message stating that my video display drivers had timed out and recovered. Or the screen would black out, and eventually blue screen stating that the drivers timed out and failed to recover. I seemed to be able to have a say in the outcome of which would happen, if I was able to shut the game down before the blue screen happened.
The Drivers
When I reinstalled Windows, I installed drivers via my original CD, and then updated them using GeForce Experience to the Game Ready 331.82 driver (the latest, non-beta drivers for my card). If I remember correctly, the first thing I did to attempt to troubleshoot was to install 331.93, the beta drivers, to no avail. After this, I attempted to reinstall Windows 7 again, thinking something had gone wrong on install. I reupdated to 331.93 and the problem seemed to disappear for about 24 hours. It returned abruptly, as if it had never been fixed. After a little more research, I saw multiple threads point to 314 drivers, which are incompatible with my card sadly. However, the idea of rolling back sounded good so I rolled back to 320.46 which seemed to slow the problem down for a short period of time but it still persisted. Then someone on the NVIDIA forums suggested I use the drivers that the manufacturer(iBuyPower) supplied me. So I rolled back to 260.44, the drivers on my CD. That didn't fix the issue. Currently, I am running 320.46. I have also tried to uninstall GeForce Experience, the PhyX drivers, and everything outside of the drivers themselves.
Other Troubleshooting Steps
I've tried changing the outlet I was using, someone suggested power insufficient but it seems to have no affect. Someone has suggested overheating, but I know when this computer gets hot, and its not hot. I also find this highly unlikely due to the fact that the problem doesnt seem to discriminate based on graphical intensity. It'll crash Crysis just as fast as it will crash Minecraft, Gone Home just as fast and CS 1.6. And Garry's Mod just as fast as Rogue Legacy.
Potential Theories of Mine
Is it possible that bad thermal paste/pads, dust build up within the heatsink would cause this? It feels unlikely, but also feels like a possibility.
One thing seems viable to me is the monitor itself is cause the issue. Being that this is a laptop, I sometimes hook it up to my TV or a bigger monitor and the issue seems to go away. Further testing would be required on my part to validate this, but it seems possible, however unlikely, to me.
Any assistance would be amazing. I'm practically at the end of my rope with this bad boy.
CPU: Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz
RAM: DDR3 SDRAM8 GB
Motherboard: CLEVO CO. W150HRM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M
Note: This is a laptop, not a desktop.
I've searched around for this answer for a long time, finding plenty of people with the same issue and have tried multiple things to figure this nonsense out. I'll try to start from the beginning and show you my steps up until this point.
The Problem
It started on a simple reinstall of Windows 7 for reasons unrelated. Games would run for an indeterminable peroid of time before experiencing discoloration, distortion and screen tearing before one of two things would happen. The screen would black out and recover to either a white screen(for fullscreen games) that could be alt-tabbed out of, or a white window(for windowed games) with a message stating that my video display drivers had timed out and recovered. Or the screen would black out, and eventually blue screen stating that the drivers timed out and failed to recover. I seemed to be able to have a say in the outcome of which would happen, if I was able to shut the game down before the blue screen happened.
The Drivers
When I reinstalled Windows, I installed drivers via my original CD, and then updated them using GeForce Experience to the Game Ready 331.82 driver (the latest, non-beta drivers for my card). If I remember correctly, the first thing I did to attempt to troubleshoot was to install 331.93, the beta drivers, to no avail. After this, I attempted to reinstall Windows 7 again, thinking something had gone wrong on install. I reupdated to 331.93 and the problem seemed to disappear for about 24 hours. It returned abruptly, as if it had never been fixed. After a little more research, I saw multiple threads point to 314 drivers, which are incompatible with my card sadly. However, the idea of rolling back sounded good so I rolled back to 320.46 which seemed to slow the problem down for a short period of time but it still persisted. Then someone on the NVIDIA forums suggested I use the drivers that the manufacturer(iBuyPower) supplied me. So I rolled back to 260.44, the drivers on my CD. That didn't fix the issue. Currently, I am running 320.46. I have also tried to uninstall GeForce Experience, the PhyX drivers, and everything outside of the drivers themselves.
Other Troubleshooting Steps
I've tried changing the outlet I was using, someone suggested power insufficient but it seems to have no affect. Someone has suggested overheating, but I know when this computer gets hot, and its not hot. I also find this highly unlikely due to the fact that the problem doesnt seem to discriminate based on graphical intensity. It'll crash Crysis just as fast as it will crash Minecraft, Gone Home just as fast and CS 1.6. And Garry's Mod just as fast as Rogue Legacy.
Potential Theories of Mine
Is it possible that bad thermal paste/pads, dust build up within the heatsink would cause this? It feels unlikely, but also feels like a possibility.
One thing seems viable to me is the monitor itself is cause the issue. Being that this is a laptop, I sometimes hook it up to my TV or a bigger monitor and the issue seems to go away. Further testing would be required on my part to validate this, but it seems possible, however unlikely, to me.
Any assistance would be amazing. I'm practically at the end of my rope with this bad boy.
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