The GeForce Experience (of horror)

[katateochi]

I don't normally let programs install with their default options, but last time I updated my graphics drivers I was in a rush at let it do what it wanted. As well as the driver it installed a program called the GeForce Experience.

Ever since that update I've been having really nasty crashes. REALLY NASTY.

First the screen would go like this;

(taken with camera)

and everything would lock up. couldn't alt-tab, ctrl+atl+del wouldn't do anything. The cpu and gpu fans would go berserk and at that point I'd hit the reset button on my machine. About half the time when it restarted I'd get an overheat warning from the BIOS, so I'd (starting to fret a bit) switch everything right off and let it chill for a while.

Then it would start up fine and everything would be happy. But after a while of playing it would happen again.

It usually only happened while in the editor, but it has happened in space a couple times.

I had sneaky suspicion that this new arrival, the GeForce Experience was to blame, so I uninstalled everything NVidea and re-installed, this time just the drivers.

It's now over a week since the re-install and this issue hasn't cropped up again (and I've done some extensive err testing).

So I thought I'd post about this in case anyone else is having this issue. Also if you guys have had this issue I'd be interested to hear about it.

[Superfish57]

Well that's weird. I have a nivida 650 and use GeForce Experience, works just fine for me. I love having it on though because of shadowplay.

[Justin Kerbice]

Hi, I use the nv tool too and nothing to worry about or to complaint at all, I have a quite recent hardware, a GTX 780M, and it's always ok, it even never ask to reboot after driver upgrade. Have you check to install beta drivers (with the rush) ? (not enabled by default) It might explain your issue.

It's not help I know, and frankly, I like, or don't dislike , the geforce experience tool (it check and update the driver for me and give optimal settings to know games).

[katateochi]

You guys both have more recent cards than me, I've got 2 GTX460's, maybe that has something to do with it. I also wonder if it is anything to do with SLI. Are you guys running multiple cards in SLI?

Maybe I'm ol'skool, but the idea of updating graphics drivers without first stripping the old ones out and restarting, doesn't sit well with me. but then, I still have a x486 sitting around somewhere...crap, I'm getting old.

[kBob]

I also have a recent card a 770 it to has no problems with KSP and GeForce Experience, though I'm a driver behind (don't fix what isn't broken). You may be right, or maybe there was a glitch on the first driver install.

[Mic_n]

Yeah, I'd guess (and it's only a rough guess) that it's somehow clocking your gfx card up over what it's otherwise doing.. what you're getting on screen there is memory artifacting.. generally brought about by memory overclocks and overheating (the hotter it gets, the more susceptible the VRAM gets to errors).. Eventually your card is getting too hot and throwing too many errors, to the point where the whole thing locks up, taking windows with it... hence your need to ctrl-alt-del (edit: no, hard reset.. ctrl-alt-del generally won't even work then.. but I think you said that already) and the bios temp warnings.

Geforce experience itself isn't causing the problems - the settings it's applying (which in theory your card _should_ be able to handle) is what's doing it. Given that you have a pair of 460s in there, I'd guess they've been in there a while... have you opened your case up and cleaned them up at all? You've probably got a nice little felt blanket of accumulated dust and crud stuck all over the heatsinks and fans. Give them a bit of a brush with something soft and a good blow out.. Worst comes to worst, try leaving the side of the case off - you might find it lasts a little longer.

My guess though would be that one or both of your cards is on its last legs. Might be time for an upgrade. (boo! yay!) Geforce experience is just the catalyst that's showing it up.

[Aphox]

This doesn't really seem like something that would be directly caused by the software, but the software might be doing something that's causing it. GeForce experience has a thing called GPU Boost, and from what I'm seeing, it looks like your card isn't getting enough power. I have a suspicion that GFE is auto-enabling GPU Boost and overclocking your card past what your PSU can give it, causing that artifacting.

That said, I have GFE, but have it installed anyway because I'm too lazy. But it doesn't hurt to look around the options and turn off certain things.

[SkyHook]

In my personal experience, artifacts and graphical errors like that are NOT caused by software. I had those problems when my card was starting to go kaput, and was overheating. KSP used to crash on my old 4850, but since upgrading (and even with GeForce experience), I haven't had a single issue. Look into:

1. Getting rid of the program.

2. Buying a new GFX card.

Also, some unsolicited advice: GFX cards are powerful enough that you can buy one and get excellent performance without added complexity or thermal issues. You might consider buying a single 760ti (preferably Twin Frozr) to do the job.

[jaredkzr]

Well that's just plain weird. I've got two GTX 760's in SLI with Geforce Experience and I've got zero issues with KSP.

From the way you describe the problem, it seems that the graphics driver crashed. It is a possibility that the drivers you installed the first time around were corrupt or didn't install correctly. I'd recommend completely redownloading the drivers and doing a clean install (under the advanced section in the Nvidia driver installer). Geforce Experience is actually a really handy program. Also, make sure you don't have your cards overclocked, the graphical errors in the screenshots resemble artifacts you'd receive from overclocking your memory too much.

[Justin Kerbice]

@katateochi: no I have a single one (in an Asus laptop in fact). I have start with an Amstrad CPC 464 for which we don't know the word driver at all

Don't forget other related drivers like motherboard (for memory and gfx bus stuffes), cause it can be the combination of more than one single item that create the issue but I wish you this is not the case .

In fact those artefacts looks like satellite com issue, ask one of your kerbal ingeneer or fix the com device you use ! (wwaoo KSP is not reallistic !!)

[katateochi]

Thanks for the responses guys. I agree it must be GFE overclocking the cards resulting in them overheating but the cards are fairly dust free, I clean my case out every few months and I don't think its a power issue as I have a 1kw power-supply. I've experimented with best approach to cooling and I find if you have a good airflow set up (ie: air drawn in at the front/sides and vented out the back/top with some high CFM fans) you get better cooling with the case closed (and also you draw in less dust).

It was a case of the driver crashing. On a few occasions it did recover without me having to reset the machine and windows would then report the driver had crashed and been restarted. So it could well have been a corrupt driver or a bad install. Re-downloading the driver and doing a clean install (without GFE) does seem so have solved the problem. At least I've not had this issue in over a week since doing that.

I really hope my cards are not failing, do not want to shell out for new cards right now! I don't generally overclock my hardware, I'd rather it had a longer life. So if GFE was overclocking them I think I'm happier without it. Things seem stable now anyway.

Thanks for the input everyone.

[Bobnova]

There was a bit of time some months back where the modern drivers were killing Fermi cards due to overvolting them in the automated (and non-disableable) overclocking. Nvidia is not known for being friendly to users, only for making Sound Business Decisions and Making Money. They were making noises about maybe fixing the issue, but since it was GTX4xx and GTX5xx cards that were dying and Nvidia wanted people to buy GTX6xx, they took their sweet time about it (assuming they ever fixed it).

If you have old cards, I recommend using the drivers that are built for them specifically. (2xx drivers for Fermi stuff. 3xx for Kepler. Cards older than Fermis can usually use the Fermi drivers without issue)

If you see that pattern/artifacting on known-good drivers when you haven't made any changes, you have a dead card or a bad connection between card and SLI bridge or card and motherboard.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Bobnova

[Aphox]

Thanks for the responses guys. I agree it must be GFE overclocking the cards resulting in them overheating but the cards are fairly dust free, I clean my case out every few months and I don't think its a power issue as I have a 1kw power-supply. I've experimented with best approach to cooling and I find if you have a good airflow set up (ie: air drawn in at the front/sides and vented out the back/top with some high CFM fans) you get better cooling with the case closed (and also you draw in less dust).

It's not an issue of airflow and overheating, as far as I can tell. What it sounds like is that your PSU just can't serve enough power, which doesn't necessarily mean it's overheating. Just avoid any boost software, and you should be okay.

Another thing that causes that type of artifacting is blown/cracked capacitors. I'd remove the card and take a good look at the caps and make sure they're not bloated or leaking. But yeah, you should definitely upgrade both power and the card itself if you ever get the chance.

[katateochi]

It's not an issue of airflow and overheating, as far as I can tell. What it sounds like is that your PSU just can't serve enough power, which doesn't necessarily mean it's overheating. Just avoid any boost software, and you should be okay.

Another thing that causes that type of artifacting is blown/cracked capacitors. I'd remove the card and take a good look at the caps and make sure they're not bloated or leaking. But yeah, you should definitely upgrade both power and the card itself if you ever get the chance.

I have a 1KW power supply which is pretty overkill for what's in this machine. Removing GFE has stopped the issue so I think the cards are fine so long as they're not being overclocked. I did have a close look at them before when this started happening and couldn't see (or smell) any signs of capacitor failure. Without GFE they seem to perform fine.

Edited January 30, 2014 by katateochi

[Warscribe]

Lemme guess: Win7 x64? i had a similar issue since GeForce experience and its accomodating drivers.

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/nvidia-freezes.html <- this article could be pretty helpful for you then, worked for me.

Basically, the last stable version for 400/500 family cards are the 314.22 drivers.

[katateochi]

Lemme guess: Win7 x64? i had a similar issue since GeForce experience and its accomodating drivers.

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/nvidia-freezes.html <- this article could be pretty helpful for you then, worked for me.

Basically, the last stable version for 400/500 family cards are the 314.22 drivers.

Yes! I'm on Win7x64. thanks for the link. I (or at least my computer) seem to be stable now that I've kicked GFE out and I'm using the 332.21 driver currently. Things seem to be ok, but I will remember this in case they reoccur. Cheers.

[KerbMav]

I had to revert my GeForce driver after only one day at some point a couple of months back - although it really did something for me performance-wise it caused BSOD and CTD quite often, real pity.

You say 332.21 is running stable for you?