Nvidia G100 cold boot problems

[isandu]

Hi guys.

A neighbor of mine called me to try to fix a problem with their computer - their computer hangs when they try to load a game after a cold boot, but it works fine after a reset or restart.

In more details, when the computer cold boots, and they try to start a game, the screen first goes dark like it does when the game should be loading, but then a portion of the desktop wallpaper shows with a black window in the right bottom corner (because the game uses a lower resolution than the desktop resolution), the mouse cursor moves but other than that the computer doesn't respond to anything - all you can do is reset. After a restart or reset, the game loads & works fine (Call of Duty 2 in this case, they said it does the same with other games too).

They thought this was caused by a virus (their computer was indeed infected). I tried formatting the hard drive, reinstalling Windows (Windows XP 32-bit) and all the original drivers, but to no avail, this still happens, and only on cold boot. I'll go back tomorrow to install the newest version of the Nvidia drivers and also the newest version of DirectX (they don't have an Internet connection), but I'm not sure if that will fix anything. I didn't have much time to test it today.

They said it started doing this about a month ago. Their computer is still under warranty.

Has anyone ever encountered this problem before?

Specs: Core 2 E7400, 4GB DDR 2 (32-bit OS only sees a little over 3GB), Gigabyte P31-ES3G (from what I remember), Nvidia G100 graphics card, Windows XP 32-bit OS, no-name case and PSU.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I had a card (gtx 470) that would freeze right after you logged in. Right after login I was greeted with a green screen. Only solution was to restart it and it'd work fine. It only happened once out of every five boots and other than that it worked fine. I tried all the latest drivers, clean install, etc.. Got a different 470 and I've never had the problem again.

 

[isandu]

I had a card (gtx 470) that would freeze right after you logged in. Right after login I was greeted with a green screen. Only solution was to restart it and it'd work fine. It only happened once out of every five boots and other than that it worked fine. I tried all the latest drivers, clean install, etc.. Got a different 470 and I've never had the problem again.

Yeah, I've seen other people reporting similar cases to yours with GTX 460/470/480, but I'm not sure this is the same case. The computer freezes when they try to start a game, not after login. I'm not even really sure the problem is caused by the video card, but I don't see what else could cause it.

Anyway, I'm starting to distrust Nvidia more and more.

 

[Tsavo]

Anyway, I'm starting to distrust Nvidia more and more.

No kidding! If I keep hearing this stuff, I'm not going to get a 460/470.

 

[busydude]

I'm not even really sure the problem is caused by the video card, but I don't see what else could cause it.

The PSU maybe?

 

[OCGuy]

No kidding! If I keep hearing this stuff, I'm not going to get a 460/470.

Yea, no kidding! I mean, who has issues with computer systems that they can figure out these days?

 

[isandu]

The PSU maybe?

Yes, that's possible, but a lowly G100 isn't that power hungry.

Luckily their computer is still under warranty, but it would be inconvenient for them to stay without the computer for a few weeks and they wanted to make sure this isn't a software issue at least.

 

[Tsavo]

Yea, no kidding! I mean, who has issues with computer systems that they can figure out these days?

Yes, because it's so easy to fix hardware issues on a GPU with spare parts from Newegg!

 

[mrblotto]

Yeah, I've seen other people reporting similar cases to yours with GTX 460/470/480,

I'm having a similar problem. Tossed in a new GTX470, and every 3rd boot or so it will just do a 'reset' after it loads the desktop. Almost like I initiated the restart in the first place. Do you happen to have a link to the related incidents?

 

[isandu]

I'm having a similar problem. Tossed in a new GTX470, and every 3rd boot or so it will just do a 'reset' after it loads the desktop. Almost like I initiated the restart in the first place. Do you happen to have a link to the related incidents?

Here's the original link where I first saw the problem described: http://www.semiaccurate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3191

It has several links to other forum posts. It seems this is a common issue.

Just to clarify though, in my case I'm talking about the low-end Nvidia G100 (http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_g_100_us.html), not a card with the GF100 chip.

 

[zagood]

Also try swapping the RAM. I've seen some cold boot issues with memory lately.

 

[Kenmitch]

I noticed you said it does it after a cold boot. Any reason why they just don't let the system go to sleep instead of turning it off?

 

[isandu]

Also try swapping the RAM. I've seen some cold boot issues with memory lately.

I don't think I can open the PC case without voiding the warranty. In any case, if it's a hardware problem, it doesn't concern me. I could use memtest86 to test the memory though.

I noticed you said it does it after a cold boot. Any reason why they just don't let the system go to sleep instead of turning it off?

I guess they could do that (didn't test to see if it this problem occurs after the computer is awaken from stand-by yet), or they could restart the computer again after a cold boot, or maybe it could work by restarting it before the OS starts loading.

I'll have to do more testing tomorrow and try out the new drivers. I was just curious if someone else encountered this problem. As I said, I'm not sure if the GTX 4x0 boot problem is related, it has different symptoms.

 

[zagood]

I don't think I can open the PC case without voiding the warranty. In any case, if it's a hardware problem, it doesn't concern me. I could use memtest86 to test the memory though.

UH...just send it in for warranty replacement then.