Nvidia 8800GT [or related] strange problems

[ModaFlanker 0]

I've noticed two issues with my Nvidia 8800GT since I've been using it with ArmA, that I didn't run into with my ATI x800xl.

If any of you have run into the same problems, lets post them here. I'm curious how many also experience this, and with what cards. I have heard people comment on the freeze happening on their 8800GT's too.

1) The "freeze"

Everything freezes as if the computer has entered a hard lock. If you do nothing, it appears to stay frozen. In order to break the freeze, you need to hit alt-tab, alt-enter, or ctrl-alt-del.

When you hit those keys, it does not switch immediately, but approximately 15 to 30 seconds after you do, it then brings you to Windows.

ArmA is still running on the bottom, so clicking it to get back into ArmA will bring up the "Receiving..." screen and you are safely back in the game and able to play again.

I can go whole games without that freeze, and then its back... not sure what sets it off.

I've played nothing but Warfare with this card, so no idea if that also happens on other maps.

2) Graphical Glitches

This usually happens when I've played on a Warfare map that has gone on a long time. I have not had this happen early in any game... it's always late-game Warfare.

Certain things will explode into a graphical mess... for example an enemy player might become a huge star mess of undecipherable lines and polygons. A bunker or camp that I am in suddenly explodes into this mess.

Fixing that mess is often a matter of moving away from the precise spot where I was experiencing it... and then I can see normally again.

Its always those certain spots... I can fly over the entire map and never experience it, die a few times, play for quite a while, then go back to those spots and the graphics go haywire.

[Guest RKSL-Rock]

1)  The "freeze"

...

2)  Graphical Glitches

...

I have an EVGA 8800GT KO:

1) "The Freeze" is caused by Battleeye peice of crap.

I've run ArmA without any lockup without battleeye install since 1.14 came out.

I installed Battleeye last night and i had 9 freezes in 3 hours. Ditch Battleeye and all will be fine.

2) "Graphical Glitches" are usually indicative of overheating. If you manually increase the Fan settings in the NVidia Control panel so that the fan runs at 100% you should be ok.

[Horus 83]

@ModaFlanker  I have same problems but they all disappear when i install 177.66 driver. And don't forget to install this on "clean" system.

Quote[/b] ]Old Driver Removal

Now we move on to the simplest, and yet most commonly mishandled part of using graphics drivers - the removal of previous Nvidia graphics drivers. To do this successfully, you need to follow some simple steps which will help guarantee that your installation of the drivers is 'clean', and leads to trouble-free performance. I particularly recommend this procedure if you are experiencing graphical corruption or strange behavior. To completely remove your existing graphics drivers and all traces of them from your system do the following:

1. Uninstall any existing graphics drivers. To do this, go to Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs in XP or Control Panel>Programs and Features in Vista. Select the 'Nvidia Drivers' (or similar) item if available and click the Change/Remove or Uninstall button and follow the prompts, rebooting as required. If you happen to have any other graphics drivers left over from previous hardware, such as ATI graphics drivers, uninstall them from here as well. If you have an Nvidia-based motherboard, when uninstalling the Nvidia drivers you will have to specifically select the 'Remove only the following' item, then only select the 'Nvidia Display Drivers' box. If you cannot find any Nvidia display-related entries (e.g. a fresh install of Windows), you are probably using the default Windows graphics drivers, which means you can skip to the New Driver Installation section further below.

2. When you reboot, you will find Windows will detect your graphics card as a new device and attempt to find appropriate drivers for your card. Cancel out of all such attempts. If you can't then don't worry about it, but it is preferable if you can prevent this from occurring.

3. This step is optional, however it is strongly recommended if you are either (a) downgrading your Forceware drivers to an older version, or (b) experiencing problems and want to ensure you have a complete 'clean' install of the Forceware drivers. Basically the aim is to find all the individual Nvidia graphics driver files and remove them manually. Note that if you have an Nvidia nForce motherboard, it is recommended that you undertake this step with great caution, as you may accidentally delete Nvidia driver files which relate to your motherboard and not the graphics card. The instructions differ based on your OS:

Automated Removal

For less advanced users, or for those who want to take less of a risk, you can remove older driver files using the free and fully automated Driver Sweeper utility.

Manual Removal

If you are still experiencing problems after using the automated method, or you want to be certain you've removed all driver debris, use the manual method below, though it carries extra risks:

Windows XP: For nForce users, the only file you can safely delete is nv4_disp.dll which relates to the graphics driver - skip to step 4 below after that. For all non-nForce users, to manually delete the Forceware drivers go to your \Windows\System32 and \Windows\System32\Drivers directories, and find and delete all files beginning with 'NV...'. You may notice that some of these files keep recreating themselves - don't worry, these are just the default XP Nvidia drivers which are protected and can't be permanently deleted. Just delete all the Nvidia driver files and let Windows decide which default files the system should keep. Alternatively you can use the Windows Search function (Start>Search), with the search string NV*.* to make searching and deletion faster. Importantly however, do not delete the files under the \ServicePackFiles or \Lastgood directories, or under any game or application-specific directories. Just stick to files found under the two directories mentioned earlier.

Windows Vista: See the 'Viewing, Updating or Uninstalling Drivers' section of the Windows Drivers chapter of the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion for Windows Vista. It is trickier to manually remove driver traces in Vista, so you must read the instructions carefully to see how it's done. Generally speaking manual driver removal in Vista shouldn't be required unless you're experiencing problems.

Note: If you want to know the exact filenames of all the Nvidia graphics driver files in use on your system, prior to uninstalling the drivers open the Forceware Control Panel and click the 'System Information' link in the bottom left corner of the new Forceware CP. Under the Components tab of the box which opens you can see all the individual filenames and the functionality they relate to. Make a note of these and you can then search for and remove any that are left after you've uninstalled the drivers.

Finally, make sure you delete the entire program folder(s) where you installed the Forceware drivers. The default install location is \NVIDIA but if you chose another location when installing, go there and delete the folder and all its contents.

4. This step is optional, but again it is recommended if you want to ensure a 'clean' install, especially if you are experiencing graphics-related problems. It involves removing any graphics-related Nvidia registry entries left over. To do this, I recommend using either RegSupreme, or its earlier (and completely free) cousin, RegCleaner 4.3. Usage instructions for both utilities are in the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion. If you want to use the Windows Registry Editor instead - which is recommended only for more advanced users - go to Start>Run and type "RegEdit" (without quotes) and press Enter. Then go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key, select the 'Software' subkey, and scroll down to the 'Nvidia Corporation' entry, and underneath you should find a 'Global' entry. Right-Click on this 'Global' key and select Delete to remove it. You may also want to delete the 'Installer' and 'NVControlPanel' keys. Do not remove any other items, such as the 'nForce' key.

That should remove all the main bits and pieces of old Nvidia graphics drivers and Control Panels which have been installed on your system previously. Of course the quickest method is to just uninstall the Nvidia Display Driver item in Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features under the Control Panel, but as I said, if you have a history of graphical problems, if you've installed multiple versions of the Forceware drivers without a clean out, or if you are reverting to an older version of the Forceware drivers from a newer one, I strongly suggest you follow all four steps above at least once.

[ModaFlanker 0]

@ModaFlanker I have same problems but they all disappear when i install 177.66 driver. And don't forget to install this on "clean" system.

Thanks, I'll try that! I'm using the latest WHQL, so I'll try the beta driver from www.guru3d.com.

[Guest RKSL-Rock]

@ModaFlanker  I have same problems but they all disappear when i install 177.66 driver. And don't forget to install this on "clean" system.

Ive just tried those drivers with battleeye installed. It seems to make no difference. I just got 2 "freezes" in 30 mins of play. I uninstalled it again and ive been playing trouble free for 90mins.

Battleeye is the source of my problems atleast.

[vilas 477]

how to unable/uninstal Battle Eye?

i cannot reisntal game, cause my disc was scratched

i have many freezes even if i play without internet connection , in SP , not MP

[Stiletto 0]

how to unable/uninstal Battle Eye?

i cannot reisntal game, cause my disc was scratched

i have many freezes even if i play without internet connection , in SP , not MP

Look in your programs list. You will clearly see battle eye there and an uninstall button next to it. I love this game but i cant talk any of my friends into it because of all the glitches and bugs. A top rig should run this game fine but...it takes a good rig and a bigger prayer !!! Ive had lock ups , white glare and ctd over and over. No overheating , all up to date stuff ect. ect...

Lets hope Bis does Arma2 in much more complete fashion.

[Asch 0]

can i still play on public servers after i uninstalled it?

[vilas 477]

i have found a 8800 bug

i can see throught the windows of vehicles and throught objects...

it sounds stupid, sory, english is not my native ;]

i mean:

when car is parked, through it's windows i see mountains, trees EVEN THOUGHT there is a house behind

so... i see house all areound car, but through window of cars there is situation like there was no such house at all

it happens on all addons A10, truck, cars, etc.

i had no such problem in 7900GS

i know that such thing can happen when addon is made badly, alpha chanels are not sorted or etc.

but here on 8800 GTS i have all vehicles with windows as magic X-ray ;]

[Pauldarrington 9]

i have that kinda bug too but with the sun, when the sun is behind a moutain i can still she sun though the moutain, i even get the glare from the sun even though it behind the mountain. Also 8800 gts here

[opteryx 1562]

2) "Graphical Glitches" are usually indicative of overheating. If you manually increase the Fan settings in the NVidia Control panel so that the fan runs at 100% you should be ok.

I cannot find any such option, does this require NVIDIA nTune?

[interal 0]

im also getting the same problems as ModaFlanker

+ there's something wrong with the gamma on some viewpoints(3rd person) for example in the airport hangar near paraiso

its like a glitch of the human eye effects implemented in arma

+ after using alt+f4 to shutdown arma after escaping the lockup you mentioned i often get a black screen in windows after arma closed

all i can do is reboot the system

@vilas

this is actually an arma bug affecting every1

it was in wide discussion on the previous bugtracker before it was taken offline

i wont play on battleye servers anymore. it wont stop those scripted hacks anyway.

[the_bengine 0]

Sorry to hijack this thread but it is a similar problem.

I've just upgraded from a very stable 7900GTO to a 8800GTX and i was just flying around porto testing out the new settings when the game crashed in a way i've never seen before.

it hung for a few seconds then started up again with strobing graphics. i was then presented with what looked like full screen images of the texture files, like the grass and the troops' skin and camo etc. it was really rather strange.

i don't think it's over heating as i wasn't playing long and i am using the latest drivers.

Has anyone experienced this and/or know of any drivers i can roll back to to try out?

[kklownboy 43]

yes it happens, and is in a few threads here, and almost all of them are NVDA cards. I had it, new drivers seemed to help, but maybe just installing again helped? I had to lower my settings to not have the issue, this was with a GX2. It seemed lowering Texture was what worked. But it was a over all lowering.

Funny tho is that my 4870x2 would crash in warfare after awhile, this is on a 1.5 year old XP(sp3) install, with all the regular desktop apps ect, a everyday computer. I have a game install OS/hdd that didnt have ARMA on it, but now i do, and i dont have any issues... tho that one is a Atari/steam ARMA. while the everyday rig is a german patched up. Never did test the GX2 on the Game OS and ARMA. But it works great on my friends rig with the 177.83s and a 1400/900 , max settings.

[the_bengine 0]

cheers kklownboy.

i had another couple of goes to try and get it to crash again but no luck...or loads of luck, depending on how you look at it.

will lower the settings slightly if it happens again.

it may well be that i just installed the 8800 without uninstalling the 7900 if drivers are an issue.

[kklownboy 43]

great. Yeah i found the new drivers where much better.177.xx. But i went with a new card. Kinda wish i kept it for the extra stuff , like physX and stuff...