Display Driver Issues - Post 04/21 DLC

BaDawg · 04-22-2009, 05:46 AM

As previously discussed in this thread: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...d.php?t=841987 I had been having intermitent problems with my Display driver crashing prior to the 04/21 DLC. However, now that the new content is out my game crashes ALL THE TIME. I can't even get 2 minutes into a game without a CTD (Crash To Desktop) and an associated Video Driver has stopped responding message.

I uninstalled L4D and reinstalled with the updates. I validated I am runing the latest Nvidia drivers, as well as rolling back to previous versions thinking it may help. This also only appears to effect L4D as I've been able to play Far Cry 2 and TF2 without any problems.

EDIT (04/23):. This has now progressed to the point where I can not start Vista without an immediate Video Driver failure. (04/24) At least four other people are reporting the exact same scenario.

Here are my system specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66
EVGA 680i Motherboard
EVGA 8800 GTX
4 GB Corsair Dominator Ram
60 GB WD Velociraptor
Windows Vista 32 Bit

EDIT (04/23): This issue appears to be effecting numerous people with NVIDIA cards based on the responses to this thread. It is reported most with the 8800 series Nvidia cards, specifically the 8800 GTX. Also, it appears this issue is limited to VISTA users (both 32 and 64 bit versions).

The following have been eliminated as possible issues/corrections:

Verifying the Game Cache files - while it does resolve some other reported issues after the 04/21 DLC, it does not fix the CTD caused by Video Drivers that have stopped responding.
Overheating: Validated using GPU Temp Monitor Software that this is not the issue
Drivers: Used Driver Sweeper in Safe Mode, reinstalled latest video drivers. Also validated that latest BIOS and Motherboard drivers are installed. (04/23): Also tried multiple different previous video driver versions, none seem to correct the problem for all, however the 178.24 has corrected the problem for at least one person.
Paged Pool Memory: Validated that never goes above 90 MB, Valve recommends it be lower than 150 MB.
Background Applications: Using a Selective Boot and only starting up Microsoft services (stopping Antivirus software as well), the error still occurs.
Validated that all available Windows Updates have been installed.
Validated that latest DirectX is installed (Latest version released 03/23/2009)
Mss32.dll (Miles Sound System) not in the System32 folder
Turning off Windows Firewall has no effect.
Setting Launch Options to -nosound -window -dxlevel 81 +mat_forcehardwaresync 0 also has no effect.

The following has solved the issues for some:

Rolling back Nvidia drivers to 178.24 worked for at least one person

(04/29): Some statistics from this thread (Thanks to Blubb for the stats gathering):
63 people having an issue - The majority are using Vista32/64 bit.

NV8800GTX 26 user reported artifacts, bluescreens, driver stopped responding issues and freezes. (*1)
NV8800GTS 9 user drivers stopped responding, artifacts, freezes
NV8800GTS 640MB factory superclocked 1 user driver stopped responding
NV9800GTX 3 user bluescreens
NVGTX260 5 user bluescreens, sound loop freeze. NOTE1 user reported the game runs fine with Window XP
NVGTX295 1 user freezes, graphical glitches
NV8800GT 1 user NOTE 4 people using xp got no problems with the 8800GT
NVGTX285 2 user, sound loop freez, artifacts. NOTE 1 person states no problems with 185.68 beta drivers
NV8600GT 1 user
NV8600 1 user
NV9600 mac laptop 1 user
NV9600GT 2 user
NV9800GT 1 user
NV9800 1 user
NV9800GTX 1 user
ATI HD 3870 1 user
ATI HD4830 1 user sound loop crash. NOTE 1 user has the issue using Windows Xp
ATI Radeon 2400 HD 1 user driver stopped responding (*2)
ATI 4850 1 user
ATI readeon 3650 1 user
ATI x1950 pro 1 user freezes, artifacts

Some people reported that the driver stopped responding error has gone over to other games as well! Making all other games crash! Eventually also corrupting the OS with artifacts (*3).

(04/25): It has been validated that the problem for a handful of different people was dead/dying video cards, specifically the 8800 series cards. I personally have replaced my defective hardware with a new video card and things are running fine now. I have RMA'd my card with EVGA and will let you all know what their findings are.

People whose 88GTX/88GTS/96GT has died within the last month and also received the errors and symptoms described in this thread:

stalker_CH
BaDawg
Blubb
Keyelite
Dextrous
jiminator
Dreaming
Deniz
TheDriver
theonewow
DalamarNL
QuiQafooQey
Senthryl

(*1) Screenshots:

(*2) Screenshot:

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x...rashDriver.png

(*3) Screenshots:

The following URL was provided by Valve Support for troubleshooting game crashes, feel free to review and see if any of these resolve your issues: http://support.steampowered.com/kb_a...7169-TIAV-5361

05/05 Response from Valve regarding Support tickets set up for this problem - more than one person has received a response like the following:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valve Support

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue. We are aware of the problem and are currently working on a fix for it.

Other users have set the graphics to the lowest settings and that has resolved the crash.

Please check the SteamPowered News page (linked below) to get more information on the patches for known issues.

http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=news

I will update this thread as more scenarios are tested and validated.

Empire101 · 04-22-2009, 05:47 AM

install a different driver?

ATU_Radkilla · 04-22-2009, 06:07 AM

I haven't found a solution to this yet either.

BaDawg · 04-22-2009, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Empire101

install a different driver?

Yep - as stated in my original post, I tried different previous driver versions as well as reinstalling the latest. Still have issues. Also, there is another thread about "Fuzz" post DLC: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...d.php?t=846197

I too get the same thing after L4D crashed. Running an LCD and get little red pixels all over my screen. Kinda like the film grain effect in game except they are red and shift around my desktop when not in L4D. Like others it doesn't appear my GPU is overheating either. I'm able to play other games without a problem.

mensaap · 04-22-2009, 06:29 AM

http://i43.tinypic.com/ekhr95.jpg

my problem >.>

BaDawg · 04-22-2009, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mensaap

http://i43.tinypic.com/ekhr95.jpg

my problem >.>

Yep - after mine crashes to desktop with the video driver has stopped responding message, I get this effect on my desktop, except the pixels that are blurred in your screenshot show up as red pixels all over the screen. Maybe related...

Spanky88 · 04-22-2009, 07:26 AM

fwiw my driver crashed for the first time from L4D last night.

Senate · 04-22-2009, 07:37 AM

sord of related - my L4d avg FPS went down about 60%.

BaDawg · 04-22-2009, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Senate

sord of related - my L4d avg FPS went down about 60%.

I've seen several other threads about this, people seeing significant decreases in FPS. Seems there is something related to video going on here.

Lyphen · 04-22-2009, 07:55 AM

Just had this happen to me. Pretty surprising!

ATU_Radkilla · 04-22-2009, 08:16 AM

ANY NEWS YET???

sylian · 04-22-2009, 08:21 AM

Same thing also happened to me.

TheResidentEvil · 04-22-2009, 08:22 AM

I got it yesterday. blue screened and restarted. Your system recovered from a serious error!

NOTE: its only L4D, i have never blue screened playing TF2

Tasty Burger · 04-22-2009, 08:25 AM

Same issue..
I have an 8800 GTX as well, and I know L4D has had problems with those drivers for a while. I resolved the initial issue by using older drivers, but since the update, my crashes have been far worse.

Screen goes black, sound loops, and the game minimizes.

I get a "display driver has stopped working and has recovered" error, but I know better. I get about 15 minutes of play before this happens.

I did a full reinstall to see if it would fix it; no luck. Valve and nVidia need to have a nice long talk!

Evanger · 04-22-2009, 08:32 AM

well, let me thank the moderators first for approving my registration, like 7 hours after i hit "i agree".

no matter...

guys, you can consider yourself lucky - yesterday I played some expert coop (with pretty high settings on graphic), than after i finished an update begun to download.
today i can't even play the game

GAME FREZEES IN MENU WITH THAT ANNOYING SOUND LOOP.

yes, i did the usuall check (disk fragmentation, cfg file, graphic drivers) and nothing i can do about it.
the only way to get from that L4D menu is to restart computer.

last update screwed something, its not a fault of our hardware, its just update that gives us troubles - lets hope this will be fixed soon.

btw,
i have ati radeon 3650 (512) and dual core amd, so thats not a high-end pc, but it was more than enough for L4D few days ago.

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04-22-2009, 05:47 AM	#2
Empire101 Banned Join Date: Apr 2009 Reputation: 7 Posts: 345	install a different driver?

04-22-2009, 06:07 AM	#3
ATU_Radkilla Join Date: Feb 2009 Reputation: 1 Posts: 41	I haven't found a solution to this yet either.

04-22-2009, 06:29 AM	#5
mensaap Join Date: Aug 2007 Reputation: 13 Posts: 535	http://i43.tinypic.com/ekhr95.jpg my problem >.>

04-22-2009, 07:26 AM	#7
Spanky88 Join Date: Feb 2008 Reputation: 43 Posts: 1,872	fwiw my driver crashed for the first time from L4D last night.

04-22-2009, 07:37 AM	#8
Senate Join Date: Nov 2008 Reputation: 0 Posts: 52	sord of related - my L4d avg FPS went down about 60%.

04-22-2009, 07:55 AM	#10
Lyphen Join Date: Sep 2007 Reputation: 0 Posts: 109	Just had this happen to me. Pretty surprising!

04-22-2009, 08:16 AM	#11
ATU_Radkilla Join Date: Feb 2009 Reputation: 1 Posts: 41	ANY NEWS YET???

04-22-2009, 08:21 AM	#12
sylian Join Date: Sep 2007 Reputation: 3 Posts: 40	Same thing also happened to me.

04-22-2009, 08:22 AM	#13
TheResidentEvil Join Date: Jan 2009 Reputation: 12 Posts: 355	I got it yesterday. blue screened and restarted. Your system recovered from a serious error! NOTE: its only L4D, i have never blue screened playing TF2

04-22-2009, 08:25 AM	#14
Tasty Burger Join Date: Apr 2009 Reputation: 0 Posts: 20	Same issue.. I have an 8800 GTX as well, and I know L4D has had problems with those drivers for a while. I resolved the initial issue by using older drivers, but since the update, my crashes have been far worse. Screen goes black, sound loops, and the game minimizes. I get a "display driver has stopped working and has recovered" error, but I know better. I get about 15 minutes of play before this happens. I did a full reinstall to see if it would fix it; no luck. Valve and nVidia need to have a nice long talk!

04-22-2009, 08:32 AM	#15
Evanger Join Date: Apr 2009 Reputation: 0 Posts: 5	well, let me thank the moderators first for approving my registration, like 7 hours after i hit "i agree". no matter... guys, you can consider yourself lucky - yesterday I played some expert coop (with pretty high settings on graphic), than after i finished an update begun to download. today i can't even play the game GAME FREZEES IN MENU WITH THAT ANNOYING SOUND LOOP. yes, i did the usuall check (disk fragmentation, cfg file, graphic drivers) and nothing i can do about it. the only way to get from that L4D menu is to restart computer. last update screwed something, its not a fault of our hardware, its just update that gives us troubles - lets hope this will be fixed soon. btw, i have ati radeon 3650 (512) and dual core amd, so thats not a high-end pc, but it was more than enough for L4D few days ago.