Any help with GeForce 545 graphics card v 344.75, it keeps crashing after connecting to SL.

[Luminous Orfan]

I have been trying to play SL on an Alienware computer running Win 7 64bit and a GeForce 545 graphic card with updated drivers v. 344.75. Upon connecting it does fine for a few seconds then "noise" is shown across the screen and the graphic card crashes and recovers. Any ideas? Ive done a clean install of drivers with no luck and no other issues anywhere else with graphics. Any ideas, suggestions or help is greatly appreciated!

 

Luminous Orfan

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi Luminous,

The latest release of the official SL viewer has some issues. I've been recommending that those affected by the bug switch to the Firestorm viewer, but there's apparently a release candidate of the official SL viewer that's hoped to solve the problem. You'll find it here...

http://automated-builds-secondlife-com.s3.amazonaws.com/hg/repo/oz_maint-4678/rev/296857/index.html

Click the "CYGWIN" entry on the "Install" line, which is for Windows.

Good luck!

[Lindal Kidd]

While Maddy is right about there being a bug in the current viewer, what you are describing does not sound like that problem to me.

Nvidia drivers are usually very good with SL, and I am currently using the latest one with no problems.

Are you logging in to the same region each time?  If so, try logging in somewhere else.  Someone may be using a graphics crasher to kick you off by overloading your graphics card.

Check your graphics card temperatures, using a utility like the free GPU-Z.  If they're running hot, open your case and check your card's cooling fan operation.

It might also be an underpowered or failing power supply, or an aux power connector having come loose from the graphics card.  Check card and cable seating.

It may simply be that your graphics card is going bad.  Contact Alienware if the system is under warranty.  If you have or can borrow one, try substituting a different graphics card.

[Theresa Tennyson]

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Luminous Orfan wrote:

I have been trying to play SL on an Alienware computer running Win 7 64bit and a GeForce 545 graphic card with updated drivers v. 344.75. Upon connecting it does fine for a few seconds then "noise" is shown across the screen and the graphic card crashes and recovers. Any ideas? Ive done a clean install of drivers with no luck and no other issues anywhere else with graphics. Any ideas, suggestions or help is greatly appreciated!

 

Luminous Orfan

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Driver 344.75 has some changes in it meant specifically for the very latest Nvidia cards and apparently there are some issues with it - Nvidia has issued a "hotfix" driver (344.80) which hasn't been officially released but is available on the forums. You may actually want to go back to an older Nvidia driver because the new features aren't supported by older cards like yours anyway.

[Lindal Kidd]

Well done, Theresa! I think you nailed this one.