I am having trouble getting Nvidia's Surround to operate in a stable condition. Here's my story. I just installed 2 GTX 580's running in SLI mode powering 3 Acer G235H 23" monitors. The Nvidia driver installed is 280.26. When I first configured the system, I was able to operate FSX in surround mode with no problem. I received 7 Microsoft "critical updates" shortly thereafter and, after the installation of those updates, my surround mode became unstable. I attempted to restore my system (windows 7 (64 bit) to a period prior to receiving those updates but they apparently had been downloaded and not yet installed just prior to the earliest restore point available to me. Each time I restore the system back to the point just prior to their installation - when I power down, the system notifies me it is installing the offensive updates even though I changed the update settings to prohibit the installation of updates without notifying me first. With those offensive updates installed, I am able to load and start FSX in surround mode. Everything works for about 3 minutes and then 2 of the 3 screens go black and about 60 seconds later the 3rd one goes black and the system re-starts in "safe mode". To be honest, I am not sure it has anything to do with the updates because I am able to operate the system in surround mode and do other things - just not FSX. I thought about heat and I am running an I7 950 @ 4.1Ghz but it is cooled by a Corsair hydro series h-100 and the four cores remain around 47-69 degrees. GPU core temps are in the low to upper 50's. In addition to the water cooler, I have a big ANTEC case with 3 additional fans pulling and pushing air - one of them mounted in the top of the case is 8" in diameter. I know others are running FSX using Nvidia's surround very successfully. Is there another driver I could try that someone else is using successfully? Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks! John

You can uninstall windows updates in win 7,1. go to control Panel (all items view) and select, programs and features2. In the left vane, select, view installed updates.3. select the updates you want removed, and hit the 'uninstall' toolbar button.you may then be told to reboot. At least then, you can tell, if it was in fact the updates causing the problem. Ron.

Thanks Ron - I didn't realize I could manage those updates until your post. It was very enlightening. It has also raised an issue. When I went to "view installed updates" no updates were listed as having been installed on the day I remember them being installed on my system. I then went to the area of the control panel which shows you updates ready to be installed (if you selected "do not install before notifying me") and there were seven waiting which just happened to be the number I remember being told were installing on my system immediately prior to my not being able to use my surround view any more. Specifically Ron, this is what happened: Last week, after successfully flying for about 1 hour one evening using my new SLI'd 580's in Surround Mode (I have FSX, SP1 & SP2 - no acceleration) and also using FSHostClient 1.1 and TeamSpeak 3, I landed and instructed my computer to turn off. As it was going through its shut-down procedure it notified me it was installing 7 updates and for me not to turn it off. I was surprised because I thought I had previously selected "do not install updates automatically" in the "manage your updates" section where you can instruct Windows7 Home Premium (64 bit) how to handle updates. Anyway, there was nothing I could do at that time so I let the computer install those updates and turn itself off - or I believed at that time that is what was happening. The next morning when I turned on my computer as it was going through its opening procedures and routine it displayed numerous messages across the screen that told me it was making many changes to the registry - something I had never seen before when updates were previously installed on my system. I use the free version of AVG as my anti-virus pgm, BTW. After those "registry change" messages concluded, my computer would not boot up to the normal windows but rather booted up in "safe mode" which again, I thought was disturbing. After shutting the computer down in "safe mode" I was able to re-start the computer in "normal mode" but I did not see the usual "windows is re-configuring" screen that commonly appears after updates are installed. From that point on I am in a situation where I can successfully configure my 3 Acer monitors to operate in Surround Mode but they will not remain operative in that mode for more than 3 minutes if I am viewing a video, using FSX or anything else that requires motion on the screen. They will remain in Surround Mode if I configure Surround Mode and then simply stay at the "desktop". I have tried the most recent Nvidia driver that is not "beta" and now certified (280.26) and also the older version also certified to use with Surround Mode and apparently more stable on some people's systems according to posts I have viewed on Nvidia's Surround Mode troubleshooting forum (275.33). Both versions fail at almost exactly the same time on my system after initial Surround Mode configuration. Ron - To make a long story short, here are the facts as I see them: 1. five days ago, during the evening, 7 windows updates attempted to install on my system2. the next morning numerous changes my my windows7 (64 bit) registry took place3. Immediately thereafter my desktop would not open and I had to recover using windows "safe mode"4 my Surround Mode worked prior to # 1 above and it does not work now.5. At your suggestion (a very good one, I might add!), I checked to see which updates had been installed and found that none had been installed in October at all!6. I went to the area that allows you to select updates to be installed and found a total of 7 (the same number that the computer told me it was installing in # 1 above) "critical" updates waiting to be installed7. At the moment Surround Mode will not work more than 3 minutes when I attempt to use FSX or any other video before the driver fails and all three monitor screens go black and then my system reboots.8. If I disable Surround Mode and use the three monitors individually, everything works. I am beginning to suspect my system has been corrupted in some fashion, by either a virus masking as updates or by the system attempting to install those updates and failing to do so but making registry changes in the process. My system appears to work fine - I just can no longer implement Surround Mode. I apologize for the length of this post. Thank you very much for wading through it. I would very much like your opinion and your suggestions as to what I could try before I do the ultimate and strip the machine and re-install windows7. I do have timely, fresh backups of my data files if that becomes necessary. With much appreciation and gratitude! John

UPDATE - Ron - Strange thing. When I go to the Control Panel and view the list of installed updates, there are none that appear to have been installed during the immediate past - none in October for example - even though I witnessed the computer tell me to not turn it off as it was installing updates just the other night and right before this problem. The next morning is when I saw all the "registry change" notifications when I turned it back on and it was going through its start-up procedure. I scanned the system for both virus problems (AVG 2012 free) and corrupt files (sfc/scannow) and none were listed. I have posted this problem on Nvidia's Surround support and troubleshoot forum this morning and, hopefully someone will have some suggestions and/or a fix they have employed. I have a bunch on this machine and I really do not look forward to stripping it, re-installing windows 7 and reloading. At this stage, I'm really not sure that would do any good anyway. Any more suggestions - please pass them on! Thanks, John

Hi John, unfortunately I don't use Surround mode, so hopefully others will jump in and help. Sounds to me that Windows in fact did install some updates, What I would try is; let windows install the remaining updates that are waiting, just in case, as you said, some registry changes were made and the update itself didn't happen. I too have never seen that happen when restarting after updating. Unless one of the updates was service pack 1. next, type Dxdiag.exe into the Run box. opens the direct x tool. check in display and make sure d3d acceleration etc. are not disabled. Go into device manager and roll back your LAN drivers, ie, Realtec Lan. I remember a recent update to the lan drivers caused big problems with SLI mode. if you suspect some kind of Malware, get Malwarebytes from here; http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5756 It's free and is one of the better spyware programs. It can detect things that AVG won't. Hope this helps. Ron.

Thanks Ron! I really appreciate the tips. I'll try them and let you know what happens. John

Hey Ron, Well - I can't even run FSX in separate windows (undocked) now. The overall situation is now worse than before I upgraded this system. Originally my CPU was clocked at 3.9Ghz, was air-cooled, one GTX 580 and one GT 240 and I ran the game in 3 and sometimes 4 separate undocked windows. Terrible FPS hit but I managed. Now, not only can I not run SLI but the system is unstable, even clocked back to the original 3.9Ghz and I can not run the original configuration. Folks at the Nvidia forum are telling me in no uncertain terms that my power supply is inadequate. My present PS is 850 watts and they are saying I should have at least 1,200. The saga continues. John

hi John, Am I reading your sig correctly, do you have 24 gigs of Ram installed? Are you aware that Win7 64bit home premium only supports up to MAX. 16gigs. Was this part of your upgrade? Exceeding 16gigs may cause address allocation problems, as the operating system would be trying to fill up all available physical memory space. Remove some Ram and don't exceed 16gigs. or you can set maximum memory; Go to Start, in the search bar type msconfig and press enterSystem Configuration window will open on the screenClick on tab named "boot"Click on "Advanced Options" and tick the box for "Maximum Memory"here you can set the max memory size. I'm not sure if this method works, I am by no means an expert on this, I'm sure more knowledgable folks will correct me if I'm wrong. Win 7 64 professional and higher can use 192 gigs. but home premium is limited.see here;http://msdn.microsof...imits_windows_7 regards, Ron.

hi Ron, Thanks again for the information. Your instructions worked. The reason I went with 24 gigs is because the particular motherboard I have, for some reason yet to be explained by MSI, has a problem. It doesn't recognize all of the installed memory when you perform any amt of overclocking of the CPU. Strange but true. In my opinion, these boards should have been RMA'd some time ago. I originally purchased this computer 13 months ago and immediately raised the issue with the fellow who built it for me. I had him install 12 gigs of ram but the Task Manager only reported 8 gigs installed. When I decided to upgrade, I asked him to install 24 gigs and the Task Manager now reports 16 gigs. I don't know if the additional 8 gigs physically installed are causing a problem. Those additional 8 gigs are recognized by the msconfig program because when I followed your instructions and selected the max memory box a total of 24 gigs were indicated as being present. I have reduced that number down to a total of 16 gigs and we will see what happens. Thanks again for "hanging in there" with me! I really appreciate it. regards, John

Hey Ron, My system has improved significantly since I reduced the memory down to 16 gigs. I believe you were correct when you wondered if the extra 8 gigs might be causing some memory allocation issues. I thought I would be OK since the motherboard quirk I mentioned above showed via the Task Manager only 16 gigs but I now believe you were correct. I am actually going to physically pull the extra 8 gigs out of the machine just in case its physical presence in the slots still has the potential of causing a problem. Also, the good folks over at the Nvidia Surround Forum (support & troubleshooting) are all pretty much of the opinion my system is significantly under powered. Everyone who has offered assistance seems to agree I really do need a good, heavy-duty PSU that puts out 1200W. That should not be a problem since the new 850W PSU is still less than 30 days old and should be able to be returned for an upgrade. At the suggestion of those folks, I am looking at a Corsair AX1200W with a 12 Volt single rail. I'll let you know how things go. Thanks again my friend! regards, John

Hi John, I agree on the power supply, The Ram/Memory issue is probably one of the most debated subjects on the planet, many of my friends say windows 7 will simply ignore amounts over the maximum. I have always held the view that too little, or too much, CAN cause problems. My personal opinion.Still, it hasn't solved your problem. Let us know how the new power supply goes, hopefully it will be the answer. regards, Ron.

I sure will. For the extra $90, I am going to upgrade to Windows7 (64bit) Pro and leave the RAM in the machine. Once I get the Corsair installed i'll let you know how it is going. Thanks! John

Hey Ron, Well, the Corsair 1200H did the trick. That's the good news. I can now operate in Surround Mode with stability. However -do to the various "crashes" brought about by both a "suspicious" download event (subsequent searches by my anti-virus pgm turned up nothing) and a 850W psu that was pushed beyond its upper limits, I believe my registry is well and truly corrupted. Multiple restores, and a OS upgrade (windows7 home premium to windows7 pro) have left me unbearably slooooow. I am facing a weekend of backing up, printing out software keys and generally getting ready for the "stripping" operation that will take place Monday AM. The whole system is now crawling along. The windows "splash" screen is up for 3.5 minutes before the system comes alive. FSX takes 5 minutes to load. You can see the HD working to find the data. System clean-up tools and a good defrag did not significantly help. Anyway, two steps forward, one step backward. Let me know your thoughts before I pull the plug. Regards, John