nVidia's GPU killing driver

[Schmide]

http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2010/3/4/nvidia-retracts-whql-certified-gpu-killing-drivers.aspx

I downloaded them and was about to install them on my nephews system after I got him the Crysis games. I got distracted and forgot to install them. I wonder if it saved his dual gts250s.

 

[zerocool84]

Yea very reliable drivers..........

 

[CurseTheSky]

The article seems a little over-dramatic ("...and if there's one thing that we heard from nVidia partners here at CeBIT, that was a collective opinion that they've lost faith in the company."), but the situation certainly isn't funny.

Cliffs:
- WHQL certified Geforce 196.75 drivers stop some graphics card fans from spinning
- Cards presumably overheat and die (I thought they BSOD and shut down before simply dying of heat...)
- Issue seems to be primarily affecting custom cards (non-reference design, perhaps a little as a non-reference cooler?)
- Issue seems to be primarily affecting G92 derivatives (8800 GT, 8800 GTS 512, 9800 GT, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250, etc.)
- Nvidia recommends rolling back to 196.21 for the moment

 

[thilanliyan]

Now let no one ever say that nV drivers are better than ATI drivers.

 

[zerocool84]

The article is a little over-dramatic ("...and if there's one thing that we heard from nVidia partners here at CeBIT, that was a collective opinion that they've lost faith in the company."), but the situation certainly isn't funny.

Cliffs:
- WHQL certified Geforce 196.75 drivers stop some graphics card fans from spinning
- Issue seems to be primarily affecting custom cards (non-reference design, perhaps a little as a non-reference cooler?)
- Issue seems to be primarily affecting G92 derivatives (8800 GT, 8800 GTS 512, 9800 GT, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250, G320, G340, G350, G360, G380)

fixed

 

[palladium]

196.21 had that bug which do not allow GPU overclocking... so in other words, revert back to 195.xx for best performance.

shame on nvidia... i chose my gtx280 over the 4870X2 because I believed nV on the average have better drivers than ATi. Oh well.. I'm going for ATI next if Fermi doesn't perform adequately for its price.

 

[nitromullet]

- Cards presumably overheat and die (I thought they BSOD and shut down before simply dying of heat...)

That is sort of odd that the card would just let itself burn out. Makes me think the issue might be temp measurement related. As in the fans are getting slowed down or stopped because the temp is being read wrong, and not shutting down before death for the same reason.

Either way, not good at all. I actually downloaded these drivers and had not gotten around to installing yet. I'm glad too because my card certainly meets the criteria of being a non-reference, G92 re-badge. She's nothing special, but I've been replaying Bioshock this past week with respectable frames, and I'd hate to have my card burn up because of this.

 

[StrangerGuy]

The article seems a little over-dramatic ("...and if there's one thing that we heard from nVidia partners here at CeBIT, that was a collective opinion that they've lost faith in the company."), but the situation certainly isn't funny.

Cliffs:
- WHQL certified Geforce 196.75 drivers stop some graphics card fans from spinning
- Cards presumably overheat and die (I thought they BSOD and shut down before simply dying of heat...)
- Issue seems to be primarily affecting custom cards (non-reference design, perhaps a little as a non-reference cooler?)
- Issue seems to be primarily affecting G92 derivatives (8800 GT, 8800 GTS 512, 9800 GT, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250, etc.)
- Nvidia recommends rolling back to 196.21 for the moment

Well, at least it doesn't cheat on texture filtering! *sarcasm*

 

[Tempered81]

G92 derivatives (8800 GT, 8800 GTS 512, 9800 GT, 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX+, GTS 250, G320, G340, G350, G360, G380)

fixed

hehehe, plus 9800GX2, GT330, and the mobile parts

 

[djmartins]

I've been a strictly Nvidia guy for a long time but these days they
sure do seem to be total screw ups and dumbasses.
Must have hired a lot of Indians these past few years.

djmartins, I do not know what would make you think this sort of comment is OK.
This type of posting is not tolerated. First and final warning.

Anandtech Moderator - Keysplayr

 

[The Boston Dangler]

after installing this driver, i noticed .avi playback is terrible - very glitchy, esp. if i seek through the video. no other formats seem affected. otherwise, the card and fan (gtx275) are working normally.

 

[heyheybooboo]

I hate things like this because it always results in a fanboy flame-fest.

If the drivers are truly at fault nV needs to step up and do the right thing for the folks who may have been harmed. No BS or spin. Shat happens. Do the right thing and move forward.

If not, when combined with the 'bump uglies,' you would have to start questioning the level of corporate irresponsibility that exists.





--

 

[Maximilian]

Lame... thought it was only firmware upgrades that killed hardware.

 

[lavaheadache]

what the hell is going on at nVidia? Even if this only affects the non reference G92's, That makes up almost all of their market. lol

 

[Kraeoss]

...maybe that was intentional... maybe they want customers to buy new cards... maybe they planned this... just speculating... could have been a test to see if they can use this to seemingly force customers who don't want to upgrade to upgrade...

 

[mhouck]

...maybe that was intentional... maybe they want customers to buy new cards... maybe they planned this... just speculating... could have been a test to see if they can use this to seemingly force customers who don't want to upgrade to upgrade...

I have to think if this is the case, then they would not be upgrading to nvidia. Just saying

 

[yh125d]

/headdesk

 

[Continuity28]

Yeah, lots of people are having issues with these drivers. nVidia really dropped the ball...

My ASUS 8800GT is completely unaffected though.

 

[stag3]

I've been a strictly Nvidia guy for a long time but these days they
sure do seem to be total screw ups and dumbasses.
Must have hired a lot of Indians these past few years.

djmartins, I do not know what would make you think this sort of comment is OK.
This type of posting is not tolerated. First and final warning.

Anandtech Moderator - Keysplayr

lol should have just said they outsourced a lot these past few years

 

[badb0y]

Wow, I guess they made a mistake but it's really weird since nVidia usually offers solid drivers.

 

[Paratus]

If card killing bugs are getting through their QA process I think NV needs to seriously consider a less aggressive driver release schedule.

 

[DefRef]

Why doesn't the story come up now? Link resets to a blank front page. HardOCP has nothing about it. Smells like more ATI-sponsored FUD for their fanchimps to lap up and proclaim, "nVidia sure has dropped the ball."

 

[Schadenfroh]

Yikes, glad I did not upgrade to the latest version. This is going to hurt nVidia's solid driver image big time. Glad they pulled the driver before it became widespread.

lol should have just said they outsourced a lot these past few years

A poor choice of words, considering our benevolent leader is of Indian descent.

 

[Continuity28]

Why doesn't the story come up now? Link resets to a blank front page. HardOCP has nothing about it. Smells like more ATI-sponsored FUD for their fanchimps to lap up and proclaim, "nVidia sure has dropped the ball."

Not sure, but I don't think it's fake. Some people have posted issues, in many different forums I frequent.

 

[WelshBloke]

Why doesn't the story come up now? Link resets to a blank front page. HardOCP has nothing about it. Smells like more ATI-sponsored FUD for their fanchimps to lap up and proclaim, "nVidia sure has dropped the ball."

Well nVidia have pulled the drivers from their download page.