computer crashes when using nvidia driver

[keisangi]

hi there,

my computer details:

motherboard: g33 (gateway 5228j)
cpu: q6600@2.4ghz
memory: 2gb
gfx: nvidia 8500gt (pci express)

when i use nvidia driver my system runs stable for a bit less than 2days,
then suddenly the screen freeze, i see green artefacts/pixels/glitches on screen and everything is dead hard locked.

i've seen the same problem using vista, and various linux distro, namely fedora,centos,ubuntu and zenwalk.

i can see, on linux, when i don't use the nvidia proprietary driver, the system is stable.

is this a known problem ? do there's workarounds ?
right now it's erally frustrating, it's either:
- 3d functionnality + hard crash every ~30hours of use
- no 3d but stable machine

i was seriously considering buying an ati card now they are opensource and all.
(which one would be interesting? any advices ?
i've never bought an ati before, i don't need a real killer gfx board,
just something similar or a just bit more powerful than what i have right now)
if i can't get a stable system with a fully operational nvidia, maybe it's time to look elsewhere..

or could it be just this one card that's no good ?
or linux + nvidia (using pci express) is just a bad combination right now ?
maybe nvidia driver are in bad shape lately ?

how long can you keep your machine running? (anyone with similar config )


any help appreciated
thanks

[lenrek]

Turn off your OpenGL screensaver.

[keisangi]

Turn off your OpenGL screensaver.

thanks for replying but,
i never use screensavers.
i switch my monitor off instead.

the problem isn't related to screensaver, i alway turn them off, either remove the package or the binary from /usr/bin

i just get total lockup ..
i don't think it's linked to a certain app too, like thoses lockup happened while doing various things: using eclipse or firefox or plain gnome-term etc.. the only link i could find is that it seems to alway happen after roughly 1day and few hours ..
the machine can't stay up 2days long, unless i remove nvidia driver and use plain "nv one

[Kano]

Did you test your ram or are parts of your system overheating?

[keisangi]

Did you test your ram or are parts of your system overheating?

no need to test since the system runs stable if i don't use nvidia proprietary driver.
i must admit i have that ich9 thingy (south bridge) that's reported by the bios health monitoring tools to be running at 90C (being in the bios, idle !)
but well, since it runs stable (without nvidia driver) maybe it isn't that bad.
right now it's been 4 days of uptime (without nvidia driver of course..)
so if there was a ram or overheating prroblem i should have encountered it already i guess.

..your replies seems to indicate this problem i'm having isn't common.
maybe it's just my card then ?
have you guys tried to let your machine running for more than 2 days ?
no problems on your side ? what nvidia card do you have ?

[deanjo]

no need to test since the system runs stable if i don't use nvidia proprietary driver.
i must admit i have that ich9 thingy (south bridge) that's reported by the bios health monitoring tools to be running at 90C (being in the bios, idle !)
but well, since it runs stable (without nvidia driver) maybe it isn't that bad.
right now it's been 4 days of uptime (without nvidia driver of course..)
so if there was a ram or overheating prroblem i should have encountered it already i guess.

..your replies seems to indicate this problem i'm having isn't common.
maybe it's just my card then ?
have you guys tried to let your machine running for more than 2 days ?
no problems on your side ? what nvidia card do you have ?

I have several nvidia cards ranging from GF4 Ti's, 6600GT, 7300GT, 8800GT and all the systems run 24/7 without issues. Several of them have uptimes > year.
[edit] forgot the 7600GTs as well

[keisangi]

I have several nvidia cards ranging from GF4 Ti's, 6600GT, 7300GT, 8800GT and all the systems run 24/7 without issues. Several of them have uptimes > year.

damn! how can it be that i can't get passed 2days of uptime !?
it must be my card specificaly that might have a problem then, i'll try to get my hands on some other pci express nvidia cards and see if anything improves or not ..

thanks for the help

[keisangi]

I have several nvidia cards ranging from GF4 Ti's, 6600GT, 7300GT, 8800GT and all the systems run 24/7 without issues. Several of them have uptimes > year.

damn! how can it be that i can't get passed 2days of uptime !?
it must be my card specificaly that might have a problem then, i'll try to get my hands on some other pci express nvidia cards and see if anything improves or not ..

thanks for the help

[beingaquatic]

my computer crashes too, it's usually after a fresh boot when im using internet. i guess it's my nvidia 8500 GT 1 GB, for GTA IV installed the forceware drivers (or idk what) but it's not the official version. i guess this frequent crash is coz of my graphics card ^o)

damn! how can it be that i can't get passed 2days of uptime !?
it must be my card specificaly that might have a problem then, i'll try to get my hands on some other pci express nvidia cards and see if anything improves or not ..

thanks for the help

[deanjo]

my computer crashes too, it's usually after a fresh boot when im using internet. i guess it's my nvidia 8500 GT 1 GB, for GTA IV installed the forceware drivers (or idk what) but it's not the official version. i guess this frequent crash is coz of my graphics card ^o)

Ummm, since when has nvidia offered Linux GTA drivers? BTW there are new drivers for both Win and Linux. As always - UNINSTALL OLD DRIVERS FIRST then install the new.