rFactor lockups with latest Nvidia Drivers?

[itgl72]

This has happened a couple times recently when in rFactor.

My whole system just LOCKS after 20-30 minutes. When it pops back to windows I'm in 640x480 and it says something about the display driver but it shuts down too quickly for me to read what it says exactly.

I'm hoping my 8800GTX is not about to fail on me. I recently updated drivers but think it might have happened to me before that once or twice. Hard to tell or remember.

It looks like in XP the error says STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER from MS KB#293078. I'm using the Nvidia driver 182.06.

Anyone else having issues with the latest drivers like this? Any comments?

[NoClue48]

I'm having the same problem running two EN8800 GTX 768 MB cards in SLI. Are you running Wombat's nVidia framerate "fix"? I've tried that and it crashes after a few minutes of running--similar to your issues.

I am definitely blaming the issues on the drivers as I had fairly early drivers (from about a year ago, when I assembled this machine) and it ran rFactor (and many other sims) like champ--WITHOUT the Wombat fix. My problem is that I don't remember which driver I was using, so can't really go back.

I've also tried tuning with nHancer and the nVidia control panel, but can't get the in-game framerates above about 4 or 5 fps when there's more than one car in my field of view. Two-car races aren't all that much fun

I've searched the rFactor Central boards and can't find anything that is similar to our problem.

Any help from the community???
Thanks!

[Butch Nackley]

Hi

Did I read that correctly, 4 or 5 fps?
Something is seriously wrong.
For what it's worth, I am using 181.22 with good results in all the games I am playing. Give it a try, it seems to be a good one. GTX 285 here.
The 8800 may like older drivers better than the newer ones. My old 6800GT worked much better with with older drivers. I mean much older ones too. Like the 81.94, I think it was. You shouldn't have to go back that far, but if the 181.22 doesn't work well, try something that was current when your card was new.

itgl72
Take the cover off and look closely at all the capacitors for any signs of leaking. I had a card that did the same thing you discribe and it had leaking caps. THEY CAN BE REPLACED! so don't throw the card out if you find any leaking. Take it to a electronics shop and have them order the correct capacitors and replace them.

The stop error may be caused by a registry fault.
See here for more details.
http://www.errornerd.com/error.php?seed=0x000000ea
I have never used this, I found it when looking up your error.

Hope this helps and good luck

[NoClue48]

Thanks for your referral... but the program recommeded (RegCure) didn't work. HOWEVER, I have fixed my problem--it was definitely the dirver. Here are the steps I took:

1. I went to the site recommended by Butch and downloaded the program RegCure and ran it. It found ~850 "issues" with my installation during the scan. When I went to have RegCure clean up the "issues", I was rudely informed that, while it can and did identify issues in several areas on my machine, the freeware version only addressed problems in two (2!) areas. I only had a few issues in one of the "free" areas and none in the other. So... I went back to the site and paid US$29.95 for the full package and had it clean up the mess. The result? NO CHANGE, but I now have a super clean registry; which can't be all bad.

2. Then later in the day from the fog of my brain, I remembered a screen flash that I saw that indicated where the nVidia drivers were being stored after downloading and extracting from nVivia--C:\NVIDIA. So, looking in there, I found folders named Win2k and WinXP. Looking in both I found still more folders named 169.21 (Win2k); 180.48, 181.22 and 182.06 (WinXP). Checking the dates of the folders' creation, I found the 169.21 had been created in March of 2008--about the time that I built the box. So...

3. I installed the drivers from that folder and all is well. I have been running rFactor for a few hours this evening and it looks like I'm back to a stable video system. Now all I have to do is tweak it a bit.

iotgl72, I hope yyou can search your folders and find the original (or, at least, an older set of drivers so you can get back to your prior state.

Good luck!

[Sisko]

CCleaner is a good free alternative to regCrue for anyone reading this who has issues
iv used it a number of times to fix reg issues

[Sisko]

double post

[Butch Nackley]

Originally Posted by NoClue48

I went back to the site and paid US$29.95 for the full package and had it clean up the mess.

I'm sorry mate, I didn't know that was one of those scam sites
Had I of known, I would have recommended RegSupreme Pro. It has a free 30day trial, but only cost like $12-13 for a license. It's a good tool too and I don't think the license ever runs out, meaning I think, you can update the program for any newer versions for free.

I simply googled the error code and that site came up saying it could be fixed. Again, I'm sorry for linking it. I don't like those types of (what I call) scam scan sites. You know, like Finally Fast . com.

Anyway, I am glad you got it working.

[NoClue48]

No problem, Butch... things like that happen and it wasn't like it broke the bank--although I am unemployed right now.

Regardless, I hope our dialog here helped out others with nVidia driver issues.
later
lf

[NEChris]

The 182.06 drivers give lots of lock-ups for me too. Single 8800GTX on a MSI P6N SLI V2/Ultra mobo, WinXP SP3. Back to the 181.22s, quite stable (169.21 are good too).

[pain-less]

Originally Posted by NEChris

The 182.06 drivers give lots of lock-ups for me too. Single 8800GTX on a MSI P6N SLI V2/Ultra mobo, WinXP SP3. Back to the 181.22s, quite stable (169.21 are good too).

That's enough for me!! I'll stick with the 181.22's also

[NEChris]

Originally Posted by pain-less

That's enough for me!! I'll stick with the 181.22's also

Well TBH, so far I haven't seen any nVidia drivers that don't freeze rFactor, even the 169.21 and 181.22 do occasionally. I've checked all WHQL drivers from 169.21 to 182.06 but the latter are the worst. nVidia <=> rFactor compatibility issue

[KwikF1]

The 182.06 are the 1st drivers I've tried that haven't given me any problems.8800GTS 640mb M2N-e XP SP3

[pain-less]

Originally Posted by NEChris

Well TBH, so far I haven't seen any nVidia drivers that don't freeze rFactor, even the 169.21 and 181.22 do occasionally. I've checked all WHQL drivers from 169.21 to 182.06 but the latter are the worst. nVidia <=> rFactor compatibility issue

Now that's interesting. I have never had rFactor freeze on me.

[GTking]

Im having similiar probs with the lock up, about 10-15 mins in the game the FPS drops to about 7 but then it goes back up after about a minute. Another problem im having is i unplug my p.c from the socket (thunderstorm etc) when i try to boot the machine the fans start up, and an orange light glows without the pc actually booting. so i unplugged the DVI connector to my monitor and plug in a VGA cable and the machine boots no problem! this never happend with my old drivers, the card is an 8600GT 1gig. any idea's why it 'forgets' my monitor? (Samsung T260)

[overdoserob]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one having these nVidia issues! I own an 8800GT and the below drivers seem to work well so far as suggested.

Originally Posted by NEChris

The 182.06 drivers give lots of lock-ups for me too. Single 8800GTX on a MSI P6N SLI V2/Ultra mobo, WinXP SP3. Back to the 181.22s, quite stable (169.21 are good too).

[RMi Release Group]

i have started a thread at Nvidea forums
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=90741

[S.Moss]

I'm back on some 175.19 drivers by Nvidia. Never had problems with them. Keep trying the latest but always lock ups. The main problem is the latest drivers are overheating the ram on the card, which causes the lock ups.

If you use RivaTuner and turn the card up to 100% fan speed it does cure it for some while, but its rembmering to turn the fan speed right up all the time

[NoClue48]

Thanks to whomever at RMi for setting it up on nVidia's front door. We need the clout of those who use their products for more than just a hobby and eye candy. I definitely agree that it REALLY became a problem with the 18X.xx series of drivers. I never had to fiddle with parameters or anything with the 169.21--never! Let's hope we see some response from nVidia. If there's anything I can do on my end (testing?) please let me know.

[timex]

Hmm. Wish I had read this before tonight, but I probably wouldn't have listened anyway. I tried installing 182.06 ? (I think) tonight and have been fighting it ever since. I finally had to do a system restore and go back to 180.42 (I think).

Hiccups, super glossy surfaces, windscreens missing from some cars but showing on others at the same time on the same track, etc. DX issue? Shouldn't have been. Ran through the config multiple times to double check myself. A whole night wasted when I could have been racing.

All seems well now though, after going back to the older driver.

Running a single 8800GT. Hurumph. Maybe ATI next time.

[RMi Release Group]

please respond and add to the NVIDIA thread, lets get them to address the GMotor2 platform. Hopefully they can add it to the WHQL tests / drivers, who knows mabey they will throw in some shader tweaks for us!

[S.Moss]

As you said Timex, maybe ATI next time