ahaka Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Hi, Since a few days ago, while running FSX, I've gotten strange sudden reboots of my machine. When exploring the crash dump file, it only says that the probable cause is nv4_mini.sys, which is part of the Nvidia driver. I have overclocked my CPU, but the temperatures there are well within limits and I also have the right voltage set for it (not too low, not too high). So I dont think this points out to a CPU problem, but my question to you is does the graphics card also cause sudden reboots like that if its not feeling well? I'm thinking of getting a new card now, but of course I would like to be sure it really is the card thats causing the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agrajag Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Overclocking the CPU usually overclocks the IO bus that the graphics cards sits on. If any cards on that bus can't handle the faster bus speeds it will crash. This means you need to be careful about what exactly your overclocking! I have forgotten most of the info about overclocking so I am sure someone else can give more details but it sounds like it is your machines problem. Steven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamnugget Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Interesting that you should post this question as my system has been doing that for a while now, and up until this morning I lived with it....but this morning I fired it up, and it would reboot as soon as it brought up the windows logo, and thats as far as it got every time. I changed graphics cards (on hand), no diference, I changed power supply, no diference. So I ended up biting the bullet, and bought a new pcie graphics card for a mainboard and processor that were kindly gifted to me by a member here and proceeded to rebuild my pc. Anyways, after re-installing windows (unfortunately without reformatting...more on that in another post), and veiwing some downloaded video footage of the storm we copped tonight...the system shut down and rebooted....I did this 3 times to make sure :o . Fortunately it came up with one of those 'windows encountered a problem' messages which advised me that the shutdown occured due to a sound device driver that didnt seem to be fully compatible with my board ( I let windows search for the device driver in the first place), but since doing a websearch on the specific device and downloading the correct driver I have yet to have a shutdown occur....thats about 5 hrs and counting.... . So basicly check out all options before spending $$$$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahaka Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Thanks for the replies! I guess since the error report points to nv4_mini.sys as the probable cause, it should be the graphics card for me then. Just not 100% sure though and unfortunately I dont have a spare card to try with. I'll see how it develops from here... \ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamnugget Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Just wondering...have you recently updated your graphics card driver? This may be causing conflicts...I usually keep a copy of the driver download I'm using in case things go askew after updating so I have something to fall back to. Also keep in mind to remove all traces of your existing driver prior to uodating a newer one. You should be able to go to control panel/add remove programs find the driver instalation delete it, and then install newer one.....assuming thats the cause ofcourse Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahaka Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Hi, I have, and I have went back to the previous driver now. However with both drivers, the same issue persists. Really depressing not knowing when FSX will reboot, lol. Thanks for the suggestion anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Hi Antti, did you "remove/uninstall" all vidcard drivers before installing the new ones ? alltough mostly overlooked this is the best method to make sure that you get the right drivers installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Turn OFF ALL overclocking and LEAVE it off , then check your system with a known GOOD working Power supply as this is predominantly the root cause of many system failures whist operating, even minor excursions from the nominal voltages and current requirements can cause a Spontanious Reboot. Likewise you excessive page file fragmentation will also cause this situation to occur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Archie Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Turn OFF ALL overclocking and LEAVE it off , then check your system with a known GOOD working Power supply as this is predominantly the root cause of many system failures whist operating, even minor excursions from the nominal voltages and current requirements can cause a Spontanious Reboot. Likewise you excessive page file fragmentation will also cause this situation to occur. Mozz, I hope you don't mind me asking you this question mate, but I am rebuilding my system as we speak and I am looking at keeping my current Truepower 550w PSU as well as the new Thermaltake 850w PSU I just bought and attaching the 550w to my new ASUS GTX280 OC GPU as dedicated power and using the 850w to run everything else. I got a Lian Li full tower that is capable of holding 2 PSU's, is this the right way to go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Unless you case and Mainboard are designed to run Dual PSU's that is a definate NO, your Main baord cannot control the PSU's and power down other devices. XEON Server boards can control dual PSU's but don't make good general PC's as most don't have PCIe or AGP slots. I'd use the 850 Watt as it should be sufficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahaka Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 Hi all and thanks for the tips! Removing the overclocking and reinstalling the drivers again (with a complete uninstall using driver cleaner) did not help. I also now see weird artifacts like autogen streching to the skies when flying around Cairns area. I guess it really is the video hardware thats failing here.. \ Now its down to thinking if it will be GTX260 or 280 for the replacement. 280 is obviously better, but 260 costs half the price of that, considering that this was not a planned upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Righto you mentioned the Cairns area what happens if you fly in the southern Ukrain or France for instance. do you recieve any funny stuff happening there? Do you have access to another card the same and I mean the SAME so you can directly substitute Graphics Cards. This should determine without question that it is the card at fault if you do not get any errors after a reboot with the exact replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahaka Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 Righto you mentioned the Cairns area what happens if you fly in the southern Ukrain or France for instance. do you recieve any funny stuff happening there? Do you have access to another card the same and I mean the SAME so you can directly substitute Graphics Cards. This should determine without question that it is the card at fault if you do not get any errors after a reboot with the exact replacement. Hi Maurice, Sorry I forgot to mention it happens ANYWHERE, not just Cairns and not just FTX scenery, even when flying at 35000 feet in default scenery. Unfortunately I dont have any substitute card I could try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahaka Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 Got the GTX260, which had a reasonable price of 240 Euros (at least in here its a rather good price). The problem I was having seems to have disappeared, and the performance is as I expected, slightly better than my old 8800GTX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Good to hear you have your issue resolved Antti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 There ya go then , a simple process of elimination and you found the crook bit. Seems a bit odd that the graphics were presented in the way they were and given your explanation the way they looked, but PC Hardware can do strange things. Good to hear you have things firing well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahaka Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 Thanks guys! Yeah it was a weird problem, but luckily changing the card worked. Now I'm one happy flier again Once again thanks to everyone for their support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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