TF2 crash ... a higher power doesn't like me.

[WalkinTarget]

OK, this looks to be a driver issue, not a game issue, as it occurred last night while I was in chat mode on Steam. I've knocked my CPU overclock down to 3.0 (from 3.2) and the game works again ... for how long, I'm not sure yet.

[Kenshin Himura]

OK, this looks to be a driver issue, not a game issue, as it occurred last night while I was in chat mode on Steam. I've knocked my CPU overclock down to 3.0 (from 3.2) and the game works again ... for how long, I'm not sure yet.

Cross your fingers!

[WalkinTarget]

Dug thru the Vista->Control Panel->Problem Reports applet and since 10/11 it has reported 32 instances of the following:

Video Hardware Error. A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.

32 times in TWO DAYS !!! Now I'm certain I haven't tried to play TF2 that often, but it shows the card is getting worse and its not just in games now.

It's now happening every so often at the desktop in 2D .. hell, it just popped up as I typed this sentence, so it looks like not only do I have to RMA an eVGA 7900GT in my spare rig, but now my eVGA 8800GTS is down for the count as well !! Well, the hardware demons can kiss my @ss, as my 7900GS will still run TF2, soo .... :P

Now, I at least feel better knowing (not 100% sure, but eVGA will be getting a call from me on Monday) that I have a hardware issue, not a simple software issue.
I just tried to join the game, made it 20 feet before what feels like a massive lag spike hit .. I saw Tails enter the game as I lagged out, so I thought, welp, I'm not going to be any help to either team today.

Edit: Posted in the eVGA forums where there is a thread that started on 10/3 and, at 2 pages already, it seems this is another one with no fix other than possible bad RAM stick or flakey CPU.

[WalkinTarget]

Things that I have tried so far:

1) System Restore back to 10/9 when TF2 ran fine.

2) Driver rollback to last driver update

3) Driver uninstall/reinstall (163.69)

4) Driver uninstall (163.69 with Driver Cleaner in Safe Mode)

5) Driver update to 163.75

6) Turn off Vista Aero effects

7) Regedit to disable the TDR error reporting

Drop my e6600 OC - was at 3.2, now at 3.0

9) Dropped RAM voltage - was at 2.2v, now at 2.1

10) SATA driver rollback per eVGA tech suggestion.

11) Sacrificed virgin at a stone altar .. errr, no, didn't do this .. just daydreaming. But I do have some things yet to do:

1) Swap out RAM

2) Replace video card with another card

Let me state that at some point everyone looking at this is stating it was a Windows Update that caused it, and the updates occurred on 10/9 (MS Patch Tuesday). My issues started on 10/11, which leaves 10/10 as an unexplained day. If the updates were on the PC on the 10th, it should have started showing signs of the error then. I'll check my logs to verify that, but here's what I see almost all day long.

http://www.wtslair.com/Misc/viderror.jpg

[WalkinTarget]

Wow, Carbon must have been right. In another thread he commented that he had several sticks of Buffalo Firestix go bad, and I've now swapped out my Buffalo with el-cheapo Super Talent DDR2-800 and played thru two rounds with NO PROBLEMS !!

I couldn't play more than 30 seconds previously, so I might just have this damn thing licked !! I should at least test the Buffalo RAM before a RMA, but I'm glad I at least had extra RAM to test out the theory.

See ya on the server in about an hour !!!

[Tails_Kitsune]

Saw you on tonight! I believed you stayed on for quite a few rounds, right? It was hard to keep up with all the chaos!

[CarbonFire]

Saw you on tonight! I believed you stayed on for quite a few rounds, right? It was hard to keep up with all the chaos!

You kept blowing me up with stickies....so I think you were keeping up just fine :P

That's ok, I made up for it by spoiling Bar's knifing antics on multiple occasions (though I did succumb to them as well....no backup FTL )

Wow, Carbon must have been right.

Don't act SO surprised....its been known to happen on occasion
Glad things are working out again. I know when that happened to me, I was ready to throw my stupid machine out the window till I figured it out.

[-Bar]

Watch your six... I might be there.

[Tails_Kitsune]

Saw you on tonight! I believed you stayed on for quite a few rounds, right? It was hard to keep up with all the chaos!

You kept blowing me up with stickies....so I think you were keeping up just fine :P

Wha? I stickied you like...twice at Hydro. Heck, after that, the territory changed, I was trying my best to be Jeffro's medic buddy, and you kept blowing me up with stickies! Absolutely frustrating to keep within healing distance of a guy when you're lobbing stickies on him!

[WalkinTarget]

UPDATE

Awww crap ... I am once AGAIN having the dreaded 'Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding' error !!!

This is nuts !!! I installed CoH:OF and CAll of Duty 4 in the past week, and two nights ago got my first crash with the above error message. I know to look at my RAM first now, but this is ridiculous !!

Two sets of RAM bad in only 4 months time ?? I tried to see if anyone using the same MSI board had issues, but found nothing.

I guess I will try and lower the RAM voltage (its at 2.1 now, I'll try 2.0) and then run Memtest to see if I'm dealing with RAM again or possibly the TDR bug that is basically the same issue/error message.

Luckily, my Buffalo RAM came back from RMA on 12/26, so I have spare RAM to drop in there and get back to gaming. If this crap keeps up, I am retiring the Vista rig and I'll bring one of my XP rigs back into service. See, I knew there was a reason that I was buying good hardware for my other rigs !!
In this case, it pays to have a solid backup rig if you like to game like I like to game.

Memtest results to follow once I get home tonight.

[WalkinTarget]

Well now I am thoroughly confused .... Memtest reported no errors with the Super Talent RAM, but even to be safe, I lowered the voltage from 2.1 to 2.05 and dropped the NB voltage from 1.5 to 1.45.

I'd be willing to bet this doesn't solve anything though ... I'll try another game to see if its just CoH that is causing the crash, but I have my doubts whether this problem will ever go away 100%.