81.85 = Death on 6800GT

[AJCrowley]

I've been having trouble with the 8100 series of Forceware since it started circulating in beta, and most recently the 81.85 WHQL. While running these drivers, Windows will freeze a few seconds after I log in, and if I leave it for about 30 seconds, the computer will reboot. I've tried these on a brand spanking new and sparkly clean install of XPSP2 (so no conflicts with existing ForceWare installs), and the problem persists, so it doesn't appear to be related to any software outside of the drivers. It also seems to cause problems with my Directshow, and after updating the drivers (this may be coincidental), I cannot watch any MPEG4 or MPEG2 based video. Rolling back the drivers to the 7800 series allows me to regain the use of my computer, but Directshow still refuses to correctly render video.

I am running (nothing overclocked, everything@stock speeds:
XFX 6800GT (AGP)
XPSP2
Intel P4 2.8GHz
ABIT IC7-MAX3 Mobo
1gb OCZ PC4000 RAM

I can't think of anything else that may be relevant, but please let me know if there's any more info I could provide that may be of use. Normally, I wouldn't care, and would continue to use the old drivers, but there's a number of fixes in the 81.85 for games that I play, as well as the concern that I may be doomed to never be able to use drivers newer than 78.82.

Thanks in advance for your help, this is driving me out of my mind.

AJ

[crainger]

You have a very similar setup to me, when I tried the new 80 series drivers I had alot of video problems, after a few hours trying to roll back my card died on me.

I'm sure the 80 drivers didn't actually kill my card, but its one hell of a coincidence.

I think you'd prob be best sticking the the 78 drivers and cautiously trying new/beta 80 drivers as they surface if you really want the 80 drivers

[TierMann]

Same here on my 6800 GT, it's an OC but the same thing with higher clocks.
The 80's have been giving me too many problems so I'm sticking with 78.03(64-bit). This info might be handy in the 81.85 or 81.87 thread.

What I would do though is add/remove programs and uninstall the display drivers, delete the c:\nvidia folder if you have one, reboot and install the 78.82 drivers (I havn't heard of those but if they worked for you give it a try) because it sounds like the rollback left something behind.

[AJCrowley]

Thanks guys, it's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who's having this problem (it means my card's not buggered).

I'm itching to play Far Cry with HDR and AA enabled, but it looks like I'll have to wait. I haven't tried the 81.87 betas, but I doubt that they will resolve the issue. I usually disable system restore, but after my latest reformat, I must have forgotten, which was a stroke of luck, as it took me only a couple of hours of screwing around to get everything working again.

Hopefully the 8200 series will resolve this issue in the not too distant future.

AJ

[TierMann]

Originally Posted by AJCrowley

I'm itching to play Far Cry with HDR and AA enabled, but it looks like I'll have to wait.

To quote myself from the 81.85 thread,

The release notes for 81.87 say this is "partially fixed" and that a soon to be released patch for the game should fix it completely.

I'd wait and see how much the game patch fixes on it's own with your 78.x drivers.
Did you have any luck clearing up that directshow problem?

[AJCrowley]

Yeah, I used system restore to roll back about a week. I normally disable system restore when I reformat, but I must have overlooked it this time, which was a stroke of luck.

Before the rollback, I'd tried uninstalling/reinstalling various codecs, editing codec settings in the registry etc, all with no luck.

[TB303]

Originally Posted by AJCrowley

Yeah, I used system restore to roll back about a week. I normally disable system restore when I reformat, but I must have overlooked it this time, which was a stroke of luck.

Before the rollback, I'd tried uninstalling/reinstalling various codecs, editing codec settings in the registry etc, all with no luck.

Hi,
I have a very similar set up to yours (XFX 6800GT AGP),
but i didn't have any of the problems you've mentioned, and my machine is Oced (Card at 415/1115).

One thing though, if you have any problems with video playback, don't mess around with codecs, it only makes the problem worse.
I use an open source video player caleld VideoLan - that can play anything you throw at him, without any external codecs!

It's highly recomended and you can find it here: www.videolan.net

cheers, and good luck!

[adpr 02]

the drivers messed up my friend's card. He came to my place to borrow a pci videocard, he then used it to roll back the drivers, and then he finaly managed to use his 6800gt again.

[K-1]

Well, just so other 6800GT owners don't get scared: i've been using the WHQL 81.85s since they came out, played lots of FEAR, Doom 3, Quake 4, CS and DOD Source, and Brothers in Arms: EiB. Not a single problem at all during all that gaming.

[TierMann]

Originally Posted by K-1

Well, just so other 6800GT owners don't get scared: i've been using the WHQL 81.85s since they came out, played lots of FEAR, Doom 3, Quake 4, CS and DOD Source, and Brothers in Arms: EiB. Not a single problem at all during all that gaming.

Is your card AGP or PCI-E?


Also a note with the VLC player. If you're running realtek onboard audio (had this happen on 650 and 850 on 3 different machines) and using nvidia drivers newer than 5.10 I recommend just using realtek's drivers. Latest version is 3.78. Otherwise the sound comes out at full blast and insanely distorted with VLC no matter what the volume settings are at. It hurts with headphones on, heh.

[tieros]

No issues here with the 81.85 drivers and an AGP 6800GT OC@420/1100, except they still haven't fixed the temperature display.

[Delbert]

No problems with the 81.85 set here..... Doom3\Farcry\AOE3 all running fine.