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Forums > Home› Support› Graphical and Sound Issues

Graphics Card Driver Issues??

jontannerjontanner Member Posts: 14 Arc User
edited August 2014 in Graphical and Sound Issues
For the last few months I've been playing ST:O (As well as Fallen Earth)with no problems at all with the following set up;

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Processor
3 GB Ram
Resolution 1440 x 900 60Hz
GPU Driver version: 337.88
Win 7 Home Premium

While I know it's maybe not the most up to date, fastest system around, like I say, for months now I've been playing with no problems.

The other day (24/07/2014) however ST:O started to crash with a black screen at random intervals, some times after a few minutes, sometimes longer, sometimes on missions, sometimes sorting out assignments and crafting for instance. The game will freeze momentarily then go to a black screen with the ST:O cursor visible and music/sound effects still playing. The only way I've found to get out of it is to ALT:TAB and then close it down from the desktop. In Fallen Earth, the screen starts flashing back to the desktop and then back to the game every couple of seconds.

I've tried rebooting the pc, uninstalling and reinstalling the graphics card drivers and also using the older driver built in to Windows. I've also tried turning all the graphics options on ST:O as low as they'll go and also playing it in a window rather than full screen, all without making any difference. While playing games that are solely installed on the PC as opposed to online games, there's no problems at all. CPU and GPU temperatures are a little high but not excessive considering we're in a heatwave at the moment.

My suspicion is it's something to do with a Windows update effecting the driver which is going to be a pain as a newer graphics card is out of the question at the moment. Any help or advice on getting my games working again would be most gratefully received...I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms here folks!!!
Post edited by jontanner on

Comments

  • jontannerjontanner Member Posts: 14 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    Turns out (After some checking) that Direct X was updated the day my problems started. Any one any idea if this might be the cause and if it's possible to install a previous version of Direct X alongside the latest version??
  • jontannerjontanner Member Posts: 14 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    Just tried rolling back to a previous setpoint before the DirectX update and that didn't make any difference either
  • opo98opo98 Member Posts: 435 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    jontanner wrote: »
    Just tried rolling back to a previous setpoint before the DirectX update and that didn't make any difference either

    If you are crashing to a black screen immediately, and are unable to use your computer, it could also mean that your GPU is overheating.
  • jontannerjontanner Member Posts: 14 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    jontanner wrote: »
    Turns out (After some checking) that Direct X was updated the day my problems started. Any one any idea if this might be the cause and if it's possible to install a previous version of Direct X alongside the latest version??
    opo98 wrote: »
    If you are crashing to a black screen immediately, and are unable to use your computer, it could also mean that your GPU is overheating.

    Thanks for your reply opo98. The PC has been running fine while this has been going on. I just had the graphics card completely shut down. In investigation, this was the remains of the power cable for the card

    20140727_190627_zps44bd09d5.jpg

    I think I may have found my answer :eek: :eek:
  • craig76craig76 Member Posts: 775 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    jontanner wrote: »
    For the last few months I've been playing ST:O (As well as Fallen Earth)with no problems at all with the following set up;

    GPU: Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS
    CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Processor
    3 GB Ram
    Resolution 1440 x 900 60Hz
    GPU Driver version: 337.88
    Win 7 Home Premium

    While I know it's maybe not the most up to date, fastest system around, like I say, for months now I've been playing with no problems.

    The other day (24/07/2014) however ST:O started to crash with a black screen at random intervals, some times after a few minutes, sometimes longer, sometimes on missions, sometimes sorting out assignments and crafting for instance. The game will freeze momentarily then go to a black screen with the ST:O cursor visible and music/sound effects still playing. The only way I've found to get out of it is to ALT:TAB and then close it down from the desktop. In Fallen Earth, the screen starts flashing back to the desktop and then back to the game every couple of seconds.

    I've tried rebooting the pc, uninstalling and reinstalling the graphics card drivers and also using the older driver built in to Windows. I've also tried turning all the graphics options on ST:O as low as they'll go and also playing it in a window rather than full screen, all without making any difference. While playing games that are solely installed on the PC as opposed to online games, there's no problems at all. CPU and GPU temperatures are a little high but not excessive considering we're in a heatwave at the moment.

    My suspicion is it's something to do with a Windows update effecting the driver which is going to be a pain as a newer graphics card is out of the question at the moment. Any help or advice on getting my games working again would be most gratefully received...I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms here folks!!!

    If you use Geforce Experience, get rid of it, uninstall it and install your drivers manually. After Nvidia updated their drivers last month, my pc kept giving me a driver error code while playing games. I tried everything from rolling the driver back, system restore, uninstalling 3d vision drivers, etc,etc.
    I read somewhere, in a forum, that some people were having issues with geforce experience making drivers crash. So, i tried it, i uninstalled geforce experience, and found i now have no crashes at all.
    I dont know if you have tried this or if you use geforce experience or not, but if you do, its worth a shot :) Hope this helps
    I believe God created the universe, because he knew we wanted to explore. So, he made us a playground...
    planet-space-sun.jpg
  • stoutesstoutes Member Posts: 4,219 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    jontanner wrote: »
    Thanks for your reply opo98. The PC has been running fine while this has been going on. I just had the graphics card completely shut down. In investigation, this was the remains of the power cable for the card

    20140727_190627_zps44bd09d5.jpg

    I think I may have found my answer :eek: :eek:
    Top notch job on finding your issue and preventing it from... escalating.
    maxvitor wrote: »
    Nerf is OP, plz nerf
    That's quite the paradox, how could you nerf nerf when the nerf is nerfed. But how would the nerf be nerfed when the nerf is nerfed? This allows the nerf not to be nerfed since the nerf is nerfed? But if the nerf isn't nerfed, it could still nerf nerfs. But as soon as the nerf is nerfed, the nerf power is lost. So paradoxally it the nerf nerf lost its nerf, while it's still nerfed, which cannot be because the nerf was unable to nerf.

    I call it, the Stoutes paradox.
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