Constant Driver Failure Causing Computer to Crash

[Markhardt]

This is getting flabbergasting. Sometimes the game is playable sometimes it is impossible. The issue is simply this. Sometimes randomly, sometime predictably- my GPU crashes to a black screen forcing me to hit my PC's reset button. I can tell its a driver failure. These occur randomly throughout play and sometimes while idling, but seem to be linked to areas of "graphical stress" and I use that term lightly. But its causing a total meltdown of my PC.

I have done a slew of things to attempt to fix this. Roll back drivers, Reinstall the game, add Anti virus exceptions, messed with my Nvidia Control Panel Settings. I have even opened up my PC and tired ensuring my GPU is set properly.

The game now refuses to even boot. I will get sputtering black screens at the character select until it finally decides to shutdown. On the chance I do get through, the driver fails after just a few moments or when I first start to move around- to a black screen.

Lets just say its starting to get frustrating to see "No Signal" displayed on my monitor. I am able to play many more-intensive games with absolutely no issue on this computer. I am simply stunned that this 8 year old game is causing my computer to consistently stop functioning.

I really need some help.

EDIT:

Here are my specs

Operating System
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1

CPU
Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.40GHz 36 °C
Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology

RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)

Motherboard
MSI B75A-G43 (MS-7758) (SOCKET 0) 28 °C

Graphics
Acer S200HQL (1600x900@60Hz)
1279MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti (EVGA) 46 °C

Storage
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5000AAKX-00ERMA0 ATA Device (SATA) 40 °C
1863GB Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH164 (USB (SATA))

Optical Drives
ASUS DVD-E818AAT ATA Device

Audio
High Definition Audio Device

Temps are at Idle.

[Markhardt]

Update: I tried uninstalling both my drivers and the game for a third time. The game refuses to function on my computer at this point. Before it was constantly causing my driver to fail and recover 3 or 4 times before going into power saver mode. So I logged onto my fiance's computer and deleted my destro toon that was causing the issues (Witch Elf twirl animation). That solved the character select crashing. Now when I try to log onto a toon, it'll load through (pages turning and stuff) just to a black screen which causes my computer to enter power saver mode.

At this point guys, I am pretty sure I have done most of the commonly searched recommendations. The black screens have always been an issue since I started playing a few days ago but now they are relentless. I used to be able to get solid hours of play in between the random tolerable crashes- but now the game is, LITERALLY UNPLAYABLE. I never thought I'd be able to say that about a game.

Really need some advice, because the way this is reacting only with this game is uncanny.

[PartizanRUS]

DId you even tried to reinstall windows ? Maybe its becauce of windows being scrap-heap.
Maybe its temporary overheating issues(use Speedfan), maybe its GPU slowly melting down, who knows. You should give your PC to some hardware service for testing and diagnostics if you dont have spare GPU to test with or Ram.

Side note : MSI is bad Motherboard

[Nycta]

As far as the pc is concerned, have you played any games that are very demanding in resources since the issues started? It could be GPU memory failure, playing one for 2 hours plus might rule it out.

My opinion is to start with uninstalling the drivers completely, restart, perform a registry scan, clean it and history up -I use Ccleaner-, install fresh drivers and give it a go.

[Markhardt]

Well since I have tried getting into the game recently, and it crashed, it had to run chkdisk to verify its integrity. I am performing a fresh install of windows currently just for posterity's sake and since its been about 6 months since my last wipe. I will keep you all posted.

EDIT:

I managed to grab the BSOD report from a few crashes back (Not the latest one that triggered chkdisk).

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: d1
BCP1: 0000000000000448
BCP2: 0000000000000005
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: FFFFF8800F3A0963
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1

[saupreusse]

The only thing I can say (maybe it helps you, propably not) is:
I used to have the same crashes on my gtx970 with this game - and with my old gts250 on team fortress 2. It would always say something like: nvidia drivers have been recovered after a critical error.
IF they recovered. Most of the times the screen would stay just black or even the whole pc would simply go into sleep or crash completely.
On my Old card, the problem was that it was frickin dusty and therefore, really hot.
on my new card however, I dont have an idea what may cause these crashes. But i can tell you something: When I'm flying through the woods in ostland (dev server) with like 5 times speed, this will ALWAYS result in a driver error. I can hear the card getting extremely loud and then crash the whole game (or even pc) within 2-3 seconds of flying around.
I believe its because of all the trees in ostland, somehow my card doesn't like them. And just like your card, the temperature always stays around 50-60°C - which isn't nearly too hot, considering the cards fans will only run at 100% when the core reaches 80°C.
Until that day, I still do not know why it crashes. But maybe someone else knows why this is happening.

[PartizanRUS]

The only thing I can say (maybe it helps you, propably not) is:
I used to have the same crashes on my gtx970 with this game - and with my old gts250 on team fortress 2. It would always say something like: nvidia drivers have been recovered after a critical error.
IF they recovered. Most of the times the screen would stay just black or even the whole pc would simply go into sleep or crash completely.
On my Old card, the problem was that it was frickin dusty and therefore, really hot.
on my new card however, I dont have an idea what may cause these crashes. But i can tell you something: When I'm flying through the woods in ostland (dev server) with like 5 times speed, this will ALWAYS result in a driver error. I can hear the card getting extremely loud and then crash the whole game (or even pc) within 2-3 seconds of flying around.
I believe its because of all the trees in ostland, somehow my card doesn't like them. And just like your card, the temperature always stays around 50-60°C - which isn't nearly too hot, considering the cards fans will only run at 100% when the core reaches 80°C.
Until that day, I still do not know why it crashes. But maybe someone else knows why this is happening.

Gpu overheat and then it shuts down. I guess your gpu Fan isn't tuned properly to increase in RPM. I saw few videocards where its 30% RPM from maximum by default. Problem is its only increasing RPM while already overheating. I think if your GPU shows anything above 70 degrees C. its already overheating.

[Caffeine]

I'm having the exact same issue on a 970. Thanks for the lead on temp levels, will monitor and report my findings.

I can't imagine it's really due to overheat since I have a crapton of fans and the fan curve on the gcard is very aggressive but I guess we'll see

[stillwaterww]

Even when having a crapton of fans, sometimes a good look at where all they are all pointing to is in order. Kinda sucks to invest in lots of fans to only have them redirect the hot air coming of your cpu into your gpu.
Heres a small informative piece i've found on that topic.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/12 ... ng-your-pc

I've also found cpuid's pc monitor to be a helpfull tool to run diagnostics and stress tests with.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Hope this helps

[Caffeine]

Even when having a crapton of fans, sometimes a good look at where all they are all pointing to is in order. Kinda sucks to invest in lots of fans to only have them redirect the hot air coming of your cpu into your gpu.
Heres a small informative piece i've found on that topic.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/12 ... ng-your-pc

I've also found cpuid's pc monitor to be a helpfull tool to run diagnostics and stress tests with.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Hope this helps

I'm fully aware of how important it is to direct the fans properly. I also clean my case and change thermal paste every couple of months.