Hi all,
Hope you can help me here as I have a unwanted problem that seems to have come from nowhere! I'll try and give as much info as possible so this could be a long post!
So, about 3 months back I bought a PC from PCS to use for work as a music studio DAW. The specs are as pasted below:
STYLISH PIANO BLACK FUSION CASE inc. 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Processor i7-930 (2.80GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® P6T: DDR3, SLI/CROSSFIREX, 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x SATA 6.0 GB/s
Memory (RAM) 12GB CORSAIR XMS3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY
Graphics Card 512MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 210 PCI EXPRESS
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 1TB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 640GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk 640GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
4th Hard Disk 640GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
RAID (HDD 1 & 2) NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 22x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling 600W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Floppy Disk Drive NONE
Firewire & Video Editing NONE
TV Card NONE
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£108)
Office Software FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2007 Professional Edition
Anti-Virus MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS - Free Basic Protection
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
DVI Cable NONE
GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Speakers NONE
Webcam NONE
Headsets (VOIP) NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Home Installation NONE
Warranty 1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1 Year Free Collect & Return (£5)
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Miscellaneous FREE Assassin's Creed 2 DVD Game (RRP: £34.99) with any Intel® Core™ i3/i5/i7 CPU!
I use a MOTU Ultralite MkIII audio interface on the computer as well, and a couple of dongles with drivers, as well as the audio software Cubase and lots of sample libraries across the non OS HDs.
Now, for about the last 3 months the computer has worked like a charm largely. I've had a few odd crashes here and there and I went through a bit of a problem about two months back where the computer froze, but it quickly stopped (and it was during our hot spell, so I thought it might be a heat problem). Apart from that the computer has been very stable even with prolonged daily use. I updated Windows and the drivers for graphics card and MOTU and never had any conflicts or crashes to speak of.
Now, I've just come to the end of a job I used the computer for (although I still have a bit of work left on it) so I decided to install a sample library I hadn't got around to installing (EW Pianos Gold, just in case it's relevant!). I'd already installed libraries from the same pack before, so this was not a major installation and a lot of the software the sample library uses was already on the comp. It installed fine and I played around with the piano sounds for an hour before switching the computer off. That was about 3 days ago.
The following day I turned the computer on as normal but within about 5 minutes it had frozen. No BSOD or anything; just a completely frozen mouse and screen and the keyboard doesn't work either (although toggling caps and num lock still works on the keyboard itself). Can't do a soft reset or anything; only switching off the power button on the back works. This has happened within 10 minutes of turning the computer on every time since then. It's not linked to anything like loading software or data from drives - it can happen on the Windows password screen before anything has loaded.
So, I loaded up in Safe Mode and the computer ran fine with just VGA drivers. Similarly if I uninstall the Nvidia Geforce 210 drivers it runs fine in Normal Mode too. I've updated drivers, rolled back drivers, go to previous good states on System Restore - all to no avail. I started the computer with no startup or service programs and is still froze. I uninstalled the Pianos Gold software I mentioned (which is highly unlikely to be the problem anyway) and it still happens. I've updated and rolled back pretty much everything but with no luck. The computer always seems fine in Safe Mode and with uninstalled Nividia drivers however.
So, in the problems panel on Windows 7 it consistently says its a video hardware error. When I looked at the minidumps (they don't happen every time but on a few occasions I've got them) with Windows debugger I've noticed a file called "nvlddmkm.sys" to be the reported culprit for the crashes. Well, I've tried all the suggested fixes I can find on the net but none of them have worked (there is apparently a fairly common problem with W7 not using the most up to date version of nvlddmkm if an older version exists on the comp but I tried the fix to remedy that without success).
I used the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool but found no problems. There are no spikes or oddities in CPU or RAM performance when the problem occurs. Chkdsk and the W7 repair utility found nothing.
It's a really confusing and frustrating one! What's so annoying is how stable the computer has been for months now. I've used it pretty intensively to do my work, loading GBs worth of samples, playing lots of audio, running video and live music in Cubase at the same time and apart from the odd crash here and there (most of the time linked to dodgy music effects in Cubase) it's been a real solid workhorse with not much to complain about. Now, without any real change to the computer or software on the computer, it's started freezing in Normal Mode with Nividia Geforce 210 drivers (I've also tried older drivers - they didn't change anything).
I know Nividia and W7 64bit, after doing research today, are not the best of buddies and quite a few freezes and BSODs have been reported, but it seems odd how it was running so well for so long and suddenly it just won't run for more than 10, maybe 15 minutes at a push.
I guess the card itself could be on the way out, but it strikes me as odd how it runs so fine with VGA drivers (although I don't know how these cards work - do the Nvidia drivers cause different areas of the card to run and maybe there is a fault in a part of the card not used in VGA compatible mode?).
Just some last bits of info: I don't play games or use the computer for anything else so it's not even like the GPU has been given the runaround. I never get visible BSODs although in the minidumps the error is always listed as BSOD (makes me wonder if maybe the computer display freezes but a BSOD has still taken place?). On one occasion the display did go blank and the computer restarted even though the error log listed the problem as 'Video Hardware Error' as usual.
As stated, I did get a few freezes very intermittently in the first 3 months of using the computer. I put these down to the MOTU device, which often changes sample rates and generally tests the limit of your compatability between devices! These freezes were always very intermittent and probably happened once every 1-3 weeks, and only once or twice consecutively. As a result I put them down to a bit of conflict every now and then, which I could live with.
I do remember in the hot season the computer froze maybe 5-6 times in a row and upon restarting the computer one time I got three beeps as the comp went through POST. This only happened once, however, and the comp continued to run very well afterwards.
So yes, there have been very sporadic but consistent issues but I put this down to lots of dongles/audio devices and the problems were so infrequent I could live with them. This is obviously a problem now, however, as the computer is by and large broke when running Nvidia drivers (yet fine in safe or VGA compatible mode). I would send the computer in but I still have bits and pieces to do on my job so hoping (perhaps in vain) for a non-invasive solution. Similarly I'm also hoping very much for a solution that doesn't involve a re-install of W7 as being in the middle of a big music project, even though I back up my work, I hope not to have to go through the rigamarole of reinstalling music software, sample libraries and other stuff. I think I'm hoping without hope, but that's what I'm going to do anyway!
So yes, apologies for the monster post! I wish now I'd chucked an ATI in the computer instead of Nvidia, they seem to be holding up a bit better on W7 64. Anyway, thought I'd put up the problem and see if anybody could work some magic on it!
Hope you can help me here as I have a unwanted problem that seems to have come from nowhere! I'll try and give as much info as possible so this could be a long post!
So, about 3 months back I bought a PC from PCS to use for work as a music studio DAW. The specs are as pasted below:
STYLISH PIANO BLACK FUSION CASE inc. 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Processor i7-930 (2.80GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® P6T: DDR3, SLI/CROSSFIREX, 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x SATA 6.0 GB/s
Memory (RAM) 12GB CORSAIR XMS3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY
Graphics Card 512MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 210 PCI EXPRESS
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 1TB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 640GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk 640GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
4th Hard Disk 640GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
RAID (HDD 1 & 2) NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 22x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling 600W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Floppy Disk Drive NONE
Firewire & Video Editing NONE
TV Card NONE
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£108)
Office Software FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2007 Professional Edition
Anti-Virus MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS - Free Basic Protection
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
DVI Cable NONE
GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Speakers NONE
Webcam NONE
Headsets (VOIP) NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Home Installation NONE
Warranty 1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1 Year Free Collect & Return (£5)
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Miscellaneous FREE Assassin's Creed 2 DVD Game (RRP: £34.99) with any Intel® Core™ i3/i5/i7 CPU!
I use a MOTU Ultralite MkIII audio interface on the computer as well, and a couple of dongles with drivers, as well as the audio software Cubase and lots of sample libraries across the non OS HDs.
Now, for about the last 3 months the computer has worked like a charm largely. I've had a few odd crashes here and there and I went through a bit of a problem about two months back where the computer froze, but it quickly stopped (and it was during our hot spell, so I thought it might be a heat problem). Apart from that the computer has been very stable even with prolonged daily use. I updated Windows and the drivers for graphics card and MOTU and never had any conflicts or crashes to speak of.
Now, I've just come to the end of a job I used the computer for (although I still have a bit of work left on it) so I decided to install a sample library I hadn't got around to installing (EW Pianos Gold, just in case it's relevant!). I'd already installed libraries from the same pack before, so this was not a major installation and a lot of the software the sample library uses was already on the comp. It installed fine and I played around with the piano sounds for an hour before switching the computer off. That was about 3 days ago.
The following day I turned the computer on as normal but within about 5 minutes it had frozen. No BSOD or anything; just a completely frozen mouse and screen and the keyboard doesn't work either (although toggling caps and num lock still works on the keyboard itself). Can't do a soft reset or anything; only switching off the power button on the back works. This has happened within 10 minutes of turning the computer on every time since then. It's not linked to anything like loading software or data from drives - it can happen on the Windows password screen before anything has loaded.
So, I loaded up in Safe Mode and the computer ran fine with just VGA drivers. Similarly if I uninstall the Nvidia Geforce 210 drivers it runs fine in Normal Mode too. I've updated drivers, rolled back drivers, go to previous good states on System Restore - all to no avail. I started the computer with no startup or service programs and is still froze. I uninstalled the Pianos Gold software I mentioned (which is highly unlikely to be the problem anyway) and it still happens. I've updated and rolled back pretty much everything but with no luck. The computer always seems fine in Safe Mode and with uninstalled Nividia drivers however.
So, in the problems panel on Windows 7 it consistently says its a video hardware error. When I looked at the minidumps (they don't happen every time but on a few occasions I've got them) with Windows debugger I've noticed a file called "nvlddmkm.sys" to be the reported culprit for the crashes. Well, I've tried all the suggested fixes I can find on the net but none of them have worked (there is apparently a fairly common problem with W7 not using the most up to date version of nvlddmkm if an older version exists on the comp but I tried the fix to remedy that without success).
I used the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool but found no problems. There are no spikes or oddities in CPU or RAM performance when the problem occurs. Chkdsk and the W7 repair utility found nothing.
It's a really confusing and frustrating one! What's so annoying is how stable the computer has been for months now. I've used it pretty intensively to do my work, loading GBs worth of samples, playing lots of audio, running video and live music in Cubase at the same time and apart from the odd crash here and there (most of the time linked to dodgy music effects in Cubase) it's been a real solid workhorse with not much to complain about. Now, without any real change to the computer or software on the computer, it's started freezing in Normal Mode with Nividia Geforce 210 drivers (I've also tried older drivers - they didn't change anything).
I know Nividia and W7 64bit, after doing research today, are not the best of buddies and quite a few freezes and BSODs have been reported, but it seems odd how it was running so well for so long and suddenly it just won't run for more than 10, maybe 15 minutes at a push.
I guess the card itself could be on the way out, but it strikes me as odd how it runs so fine with VGA drivers (although I don't know how these cards work - do the Nvidia drivers cause different areas of the card to run and maybe there is a fault in a part of the card not used in VGA compatible mode?).
Just some last bits of info: I don't play games or use the computer for anything else so it's not even like the GPU has been given the runaround. I never get visible BSODs although in the minidumps the error is always listed as BSOD (makes me wonder if maybe the computer display freezes but a BSOD has still taken place?). On one occasion the display did go blank and the computer restarted even though the error log listed the problem as 'Video Hardware Error' as usual.
As stated, I did get a few freezes very intermittently in the first 3 months of using the computer. I put these down to the MOTU device, which often changes sample rates and generally tests the limit of your compatability between devices! These freezes were always very intermittent and probably happened once every 1-3 weeks, and only once or twice consecutively. As a result I put them down to a bit of conflict every now and then, which I could live with.
I do remember in the hot season the computer froze maybe 5-6 times in a row and upon restarting the computer one time I got three beeps as the comp went through POST. This only happened once, however, and the comp continued to run very well afterwards.
So yes, there have been very sporadic but consistent issues but I put this down to lots of dongles/audio devices and the problems were so infrequent I could live with them. This is obviously a problem now, however, as the computer is by and large broke when running Nvidia drivers (yet fine in safe or VGA compatible mode). I would send the computer in but I still have bits and pieces to do on my job so hoping (perhaps in vain) for a non-invasive solution. Similarly I'm also hoping very much for a solution that doesn't involve a re-install of W7 as being in the middle of a big music project, even though I back up my work, I hope not to have to go through the rigamarole of reinstalling music software, sample libraries and other stuff. I think I'm hoping without hope, but that's what I'm going to do anyway!
So yes, apologies for the monster post! I wish now I'd chucked an ATI in the computer instead of Nvidia, they seem to be holding up a bit better on W7 64. Anyway, thought I'd put up the problem and see if anybody could work some magic on it!
