Nvidia Drivers Corrupt Computers

[Guest jjmuzz]

I'm surprised to not see dozens of angry comments about the latest Nvidia driver fortheir high end cards. I installed it, had trouble with it, re-installed the old one and thecomputer just gradually deteriorated to the point that I can now not run the computerexcept in safe mode. I re-formatted the hard drive and re-installed windows - with allthe attendant headaches but did not correct the problems. It's really disheartening to buy their highest dollar card and 18 months later have it completely corrupt my machine. The worst part of it is that they will not respond to anyone's complaints -just like nobody is affected. Maybe posts to all the computer forums I can think of willget them off their butts. What a sorry state of affairs.

[Guest Altitude]

I'm surprised to not see dozens of angry comments about the latest Nvidia driver fortheir high end cards. I installed it, had trouble with it, re-installed the old one and thecomputer just gradually deteriorated to the point that I can now not run the computerexcept in safe mode. I re-formatted the hard drive and re-installed windows - with allthe attendant headaches but did not correct the problems. It's really disheartening to buy their highest dollar card and 18 months later have it completely corrupt my machine. The worst part of it is that they will not respond to anyone's complaints -just like nobody is affected. Maybe posts to all the computer forums I can think of willget them off their butts. What a sorry state of affairs.

Which 'latest' version are you referring to? I run 180.84's and have no problem with my PC melting down. Given your description I would suggest that any apparent harm caused by software drivers is mere coincidence with an imminent hardware failure being the more likely culprit. Your MOBO is going bad.

[Guest UlfB]

I'm surprised to not see dozens of angry comments about the latest Nvidia driver fortheir high end cards. I installed it, had trouble with it, re-installed the old one and thecomputer just gradually deteriorated to the point that I can now not run the computerexcept in safe mode. I re-formatted the hard drive and re-installed windows - with allthe attendant headaches but did not correct the problems. It's really disheartening to buy their highest dollar card and 18 months later have it completely corrupt my machine. The worst part of it is that they will not respond to anyone's complaints -just like nobody is affected. Maybe posts to all the computer forums I can think of willget them off their butts. What a sorry state of affairs.

No logic in your assumption that your problem is caused by installing drivers. IMO it seems that some hardware problem is the cause of your problem with the drivers. I've never heard anything like this before and I regulary visit several hardware forums. Don't you find it a bit strange that maybe your'e the only one so far? I've been using a lot of different nVIDIA drivers and have never had any problem with "deterioration", what ever that is.If you just would assume that the drivers isn't the problem and posted info on your hardware (mobo, cpu, psu and graphics card) and some detailed information on the "deterioration".What antivirus program do you use? Do you regulary scan for viruses and spyware that might be the cause?

[rhodges 6]

Suggestion:Unplug and/or disable all hardware not necessary to start up your computer and see if your problem disappears.(i.e. Only motherboard, CPU, Memory, Video Card, Monitor, Mouse, and keyboard attached).IF, everything cranks up normally and with no problem, then start plugging in each piece of hardware, start the computer again, and see what happens until you hopefully isolate the problem.If it is hardware, I would put my money on a CD and/or DVD drive as the possible culprit, but whatever. I have had that happen more than once on various computers.I have top of the line video card provisions you describe with their drivers and have never had a problem like that you describe unless I truly had a hardware glitch somewhere.Good luck:RTH

[McCrash 3]

I'm surprised to not see dozens of angry comments about the latest Nvidia driver fortheir high end cards. I installed it, had trouble with it, re-installed the old one and thecomputer just gradually deteriorated to the point that I can now not run the computerexcept in safe mode. I re-formatted the hard drive and re-installed windows - with allthe attendant headaches but did not correct the problems. It's really disheartening to buy their highest dollar card and 18 months later have it completely corrupt my machine. The worst part of it is that they will not respond to anyone's complaints -just like nobody is affected. Maybe posts to all the computer forums I can think of willget them off their butts. What a sorry state of affairs.

Try running DriverSweeper in Safe Mode and then see if computer boots up.

[Guest jjmuzz]

The Nvidia driver forum is filled with experiences exactly like mine. It's not possiblethat many many users experienced the same problem after installing the driver forit not to be the driver.

[Guest UlfB]

The Nvidia driver forum is filled with experiences exactly like mine. It's not possiblethat many many users experienced the same problem after installing the driver forit not to be the driver.

Hi,I went here: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showforum=24and checked some posts in the General Hardware Discussions and Geforce Drivers forum but couldn't find any post that described your problem. I also had a quick look at the Guru3D Forums. Of course there where a lot of posts about different problems. All issues from trouble installing drivers to clear symptoms of hardware failures. These posts with all kind of problems have allways been there. Very much the same problems posted at the different mobo forums. Could you please post some links to some of these posts that have the same problem with a deteriorating system.It's very common that people identify the cause of a problem by the symptom of a problem or the last action (update or install) they performed on the computer. There was a guy that definitely had a problem with a bug in FSX which caused system crashes. After easing up the overclock, all problems went away. RTH's advice to check the health of your CD/DVD is really good. You should do a systematic check of your hardware. Have you run a check of your hard disks? Have you tried to plug in another graphics card?I'm still curios about your hardware and software setup (mobo, cpu, psu, graphics card, OS, antivirus program etc) and some detailed info regarding your problems. But you need to (temporarily) make the assumption that the drivers isn't the cause of your problem. This will enable you to look elsewhere and maybe pinpoint the problem.Ulf B

[Guest UlfB]

The Nvidia driver forum is filled with experiences exactly like mine. It's not possiblethat many many users experienced the same problem after installing the driver forit not to be the driver.

On thing came to my mind. Using the same logic as you do I could state:This and other forums are filled with experiences exactly like mine (that is that the nVIDIA drivers do NOT destroy my system). It's not possible that many many users experienced the same lack of problem after installing the driver (what ever version you installed) for it to be the cause of your problems.There is no sense in this discussion.Ulf B

[Guest Nick_N]

The Nvidia driver forum is filled with experiences exactly like mine. It's not possiblethat many many users experienced the same problem after installing the driver forit not to be the driver.

Yes.. and this person said the Mushkin forum is full of defective products not being replaced, customers not being helped and massive customer dissatisfaction issueshttp://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Ya...?num=1229975653The entire thread is a good read and a good lesson for everyone to learnImagine his surprise when I called Mushkin directly, and contacted current Mushkin engineers from several different locations to find out what was really going on. From the information I got in communications with Mushkin I knew what was going on before I made my first post in that thread.He was just mad because Mushkin, instead of sending out defective product, tested the memory bin and found it needed to be replaced... and also contacted him to make sure he was kept in the loop on the replacements he wanted his toy before Xmas and could not have it so he publicly trashed one of the best memory companies in the world and tried to BS me twice in the processOK so its possible a driver is not agreeing with your system but more often than not when something really nasty goes wrong with a driver install which "LOOKS LIKE" the driver wasted a Windows install, its traced back to a system hardware failure, especially a memory glitch, that damaged Windows system files and was never the driver itself that caused it. It can also be caused by a bad sector on the hard drive you did not know was there and the system attempted to write a critical system file to that spot.. on reboot .. trashed systemThere are ways to try and recover as well... on Windows boot F8 - Boot Options "Last Known Good Configuration" and if that fails enter SAFE MODE and going to the device manager and doing a rollbackMany times such glitches can be recovered from, sometimes not simply because the system file damage is too extensive.In the event of a bad HDD sector, running the DISK CHECK with the options of "Automatically Fix" and "Scan for Bad Sectors and Recover" can act as a band-aid till the HDD can be replacedI use the 180.48 driver and find its the best driver to date for FSX on a 8800GTX Ultra and XP x64I have heard some people complain of issues with the 180.48's but not one said they trashed their hard drive or Windows install and that includes the beta testers for the driver in XP, VISTA and a pre-beta OS in which I just finished running tests with that driver - no system corruption issues seen

[Guest Nick_N]

Yes.. and this person said the Mushkin forum is full of defective products not being replaced, customers not being helped and massive customer dissatisfaction issueshttp://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Ya...?num=1229975653The entire thread is a good read and a good lesson for everyone to learnImagine his surprise when I called Mushkin directly, and contacted current Mushkin engineers from several different locations to find out what was really going on. From the information I got in communications with Mushkin I knew what was going on before I made my first post in that thread.He was just mad because Mushkin, instead of sending out defective product, tested the memory bin and found it needed to be replaced... and also contacted him to make sure he was kept in the loop on the replacements he wanted his toy before Xmas and could not have it so he publicly trashed one of the best memory companies in the world and tried to BS me twice in the process

I don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression about what I said and the person involved. He’s a good guy but just let frustration get the better of him over the holidays.When things don’t go right we sometime see and hear things differently and when it comes to computers the mindset that "I installed (insert driver, hardware, software title here) and my computer blew up so it must be the last thing I installed that caused it" DOES NOT WORK :( It can be a clue but before anyone goes out and makes wild accusations without solid evidence they need to stop and think. There are more myths perpetuated in the forums from that kind of 'assuming' than any other reasonIf a specific issue can not be duplicated and the same problem seen over and over more than likely there are other circumstances in play past the installed softwareA LOT of times it comes down to something that was installed BEFORE the driver that 'set up' the result and the driver install simply did not play right with another device or software package in the system. I have seen that several times with the latest Nvidia beta drivers and ATI tool... I reboot after the driver installs to a black screen due to ATI tool and must enter safe mode to uninstall the driverIs that Nvidia's fault?NOT!