PC constantly hanging/display driver stopped responding then recovers

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jb223

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Aug 1, 2011
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The problem started a few days ago while playing CS:GO. I'll usually get no more than 60 seconds in to a game when the screen will go black and I'll get a sound-loop for a few seconds, then it recovers and carries on fine briefly before the same thing happens again.
I thought maybe it could be just specific to that game as I'd only just bought it, but I tried another game which has always worked fine and the same thing was happening.

I went in to Event Viewer and found this warning whenever it had happened: "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered."

I've since fitted an older GPU (after reformatting and reinstalling everything didn't work) and the problem seems to have gone away.

Before I go ahead and drop a load of cash on a new GPU, could it still be something else that's the problem? i.e. the PSU not supplying enough power to the beefier card but is okay for the less powerful one.

The GPU seemingly at fault is a GTX 770.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Forgot to mention. I ran MSI Afterburner while I was playing and noticed that the power usage shot from 60%-70% to 98%/99% when the freezing occurred.
 
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I only took it off the other night to try help it.

I've been out and bought a Fractal Design Define R5 today. Spent most of the afternoon swapping components over. Just booted it up now so I'll see how it goes this evening.

It's night and day how much neater and how much more space there is inside this one compared to my last. I'm hoping it'll help run at least a little cooler.
 
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That's a nice choice. Very nice case. You said you had some fans that were not working. Did you replace those with working versions or at least swap the working fans from the other case over to this one so that most if not all of the front, top and rear fan locations are populated?
 
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No. The bigger side fans on the old one were broken and the two top fans are tiny. I thought I'd see how the case went with the standard fans then think about buying some more.

I'm not 100% sure I've got the airflow correct though. At the moment I have the PSU at the bottom with the fan facing down and I've got the CPU cooler facing towards the RAM or away from the rear case fan. I wasn't sure whether the case fans direct cold air in or warm air out.

I'm about to hop into a game and set the graphics back to max to see how it does.
 
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Tried the game. On the lowest settings it reached about the same temps as before. Put the graphics to max and it crashed before I could really see how high the temps were gonna reach. It did the same as it did a while ago though in that the screen just went black and the GPU fans went into superspeed mode until I switched it off.

Starting to get depressed now. 😛
 
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Nope. That's wrong. I'm assuming you mean the PSU VENT is facing down, which is right, as you want cool air intake INTO the PSU, but the fan is at the back of the case and that's where it exhausts at. SO that should be right if you have the intake vent for the PSU facing the bottom of the case.

The CPU cooler however should be blowing THROUGH the CPU heatsink, towards the back of the case. Always. That way the cool air that should be coming from your intake fans located at the front, bottom or side of the case, or all three, gets sucked through the CPU cooler heatsink, cools the heatsink and discards hot air towards the back of the case where it should exit by way of the rear exhaust fan. Top fans should also be exhaust because heat rises and any additional heat, or when too much heat is exchanged via the CPU and GPU coolers, for a single rear exhaust to handle, those top fans will suck that heat out of the case as well.

Have more exhaust fans than intake will result in a negative pressure situation, which make it's easier on any intake fans as they won't have to struggle against as much resistance while bringing air into the case. Positive pressure configurations, with more intake fans than exhaust, help to minimize the amount of dust that accumulates in the case, but is harder on fans especially if they're not specifically high static pressure fans, and doesn't cool as well as negative pressure. I like to have as close to a balance as possible, and just FYI, the fan on the PSU is a separate system and does not factor in when determining this.


So, front, bottom and side case fans should be intake (in). Rear and top fans should be exhaust (out). CPU fan need to blow FROM the front TO the rear, switch that fan around so the fan is mounted on the side of the heatsink closest to the front of your case and make sure the arrows on the sides of the fan are facing the back or that it's blowing towards the rear.

2reskrc.jpg



Also, if you've removed the CPU cooler and have not cleaned the previous paste application off and reapplied new paste, a very small (snow pea or half a normal pea) sized amount in the center of the CPU lid, you should do so. Cleaning should be done with isopropyl alcohol applied to a clean lint free cloth or coffee filter. There are plenty of tutorials on doing this and I can provide links to a good one if you need it.
 
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Sorry, I must not have explained myself well but that's exactly how I've got it. :) I cleaned the paste off and applied new stuff, too.

Anyway, I've confirmed that it is just the GPU that's dead/dying. Took it round to my dad's and tried it in his computer. As soon as we tried any game with it the exact same was happening. Black screens and the same error in Event Viewer.

Pretty pissed off considering the card isn't that old, but at least now I know where the problem is and I don't have to keep messing around trying to fix it.

Thanks for all your help anyway. Now I'll just have to see how long I can last with the 560Ti before I buckle and find myself going out to buy a 970. 😛
 
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I thought you said you were experiencing the exact same thing when you installed the 560 TI though? Pretty doubtful that you'd have the same problem with two different cards. It's entirely possible that they're both faulty, but a lot less likely than it being something else. If your card is more than 3 years old then it's already exceeded the minimum expected lifecycle as most manufacturers indicate a 3-5 year lifespan for a gaming card that sees heavy use.

Most graphics cards are warrantied for 3 years, so yours may still be covered depending on when you purchased it and if you purchased it new or used.
 
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I don't know what to think now. I'd forgotten I had an error when using the 560Ti. Pretty sure it only happened the once though. I'm going to stick with the 560 for a while and see how it performs over the next few days.
 
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It could also have been that perhaps the driver installation for the 770 is not necessarily the best choice for the 560 TI. I'd do another clean install using the DDU and then install the drivers recommended for the 560 TI on the Nvidia site according to the card model and OS version and see if there is still an issue.

Of course, if that card was originally replace because it too had issues, that may not tell you much and problems would be expected since it surely didn't "heal up" since being replaced. If it was only replaced for performance reasons though, it might.
 
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I've run DDU each time I've swapped out the graphics cards so that shouldn't be a problem.

There was nothing wrong with the 560Ti when I replaced it. I don't remember it running this hot though. Getting up in to the 90s and making quite a noise. No problems so far this evening though.

I'm thinking to myself that I should have tried the hotfix drivers posted earlier when I tried the 770 in the other computer. Maybe it wasn't working in that one either because of the dodgy drivers that people have been experiencing TDRs with? It really barely worked though when we tried it in the other. A lot worse than it was in mine. At least the last time I tried it.
 
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I'd RMA it if it's still under warranty. You might be best off to just bite the bullet and get a new card. At least then you'll be a little more certain that it's not just the card since the 560TI seems to be working. Make sure you've set the proper fan profile for the 560 TI using whatever tweak utility you like. I also think maybe you should adjust your case fan speeds in the bios. I'm somewhat confused though because you clearly said earlier that:

I've got the CPU cooler facing towards the RAM or away from the rear case fan.
Click to expand...


Which is exactly opposite of how it should be. Unless you just meant that it's MOUNTED on the opposite side of the heatsink from the rear exhaust fan but is in fact blowing through the heatsink TOWARDS the rear exhaust fan in which case, it would be right.
 
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Yeah, as in the fan is on the side of the heatsink that's more towards the front of the case taking in cool air to pass over the heatsink I imagine.

Don't think I can RMA it as I've no idea where the receipt would be. Think I'm just gonna wait until I get paid at the end of the month and decide what to do based on how the 560Ti is coping.
 
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Another option, that often resolves issues not easily solved, is to back up any important data, files, music, movies, settings, etc., and do a fresh install of windows. Sometimes there are corruptions in the file system or registry that will simply not be cooperative in being resolved aside from a clean install. Rather than buy a new card, I think I would first try a clean install if you have installation media or a recovery partition, followed by a clean install of the drivers.
 
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Yeah, that was one of the first things I tried after the problems started.

To be honest, I've just been paid so I'm trying to decide whether to pull the trigger on a new GPU or try and wait a few months for the next generation cards.

It's between a GTX 970 and R9 390 at the moment I think.
 
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