Avoid Geforce 320.49 driver and stay with 314.22. Windows desktop stability issues.

FlyingPenguin · 08-11-2013, 11:24 PM

Loving the gaming performance over my old AMD HD 5850, but been having stability issues on the desktop with my new Geforce GTX 760. I've done a variety of things (driver cleaner, major registry cleaning, uninstalling Display Fusion) to try to resolve the issue. Last resort would have been a clean OS install, which apparently wouldn't have helped.

However, after doing a LOT of research on forums, I have found a lot of other people with various model NVidia cards having exactly the same stability issues on the desktop. These issues include: laggy video, intermittent black screens (sometimes just crashing the video driver, sometime locking up the whole PC). These issues are general enough that it was hard to see a pattern UNTIL I noticed that nearly everyone says they can tell when their video driver is unstable - requiring a reboot - when they open Firefox and they get a 50% transparent blank white window for a second or two while the PC freezes. I get exactly the same thing, and when it happens I know it's time to reboot or the whole PC is likely to lock up in the next few minutes.

Once I found this correlation, it became obvious that everyone was having problems with the latest 320.49 drivers. The latest 326.x beta drivers have the same problem. I found several threads on OverClock.net and Guru3D with people who resolved the problem by rolling back to the 314.22.

If you're an NVidia user and you're having issues since updating to 320.49, I recommend you roll back to 314.22:
64bit flavor here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-wi...ql-driver.html

The problem for me is that the 314.22 drivers pre-date the release of the GTX 760 - so if I try to install them, they will not detect any compatible hardware. The workaround is a flash from the past - modify the INF file to include the GTX 760. I can't believe in this day in age I have to hack drivers - I thought we were long past this crap.

ANYWAY, I found instructions on Guru3D on how to mod the INF file. Instructions here:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=377158
To save you some trouble, here's a link to an INF file already modded to add the GTX 760 I found on Overclock.net: http://soldcentralfl.com/bob/Modded-...inf-GTX760.zip

This is an excellent thread on the whole 320.49 driver stability issue: https://forums.geforce.com/default/t...reezing-my-pc/

This guy thinks what's happening is that the Windows desktop is running out of heap memory (which makes sense - when my desktop becomes unstable it acts just like it's low on memory) and he increased the amount of desktop heap memory allocated as a workaround to let him use the buggy 320.49 driver:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/t...to-freeze-up-/

I don't feel like making a change like that so I'll just stick with the 314.22 drivers for now.

Executioner · 08-12-2013, 01:26 PM

I never update drivers to the latest ones. If I'm having no issues with my few games I'm playing, then I don't update.

FlyingPenguin · 08-12-2013, 04:48 PM

Been doing more research and the consensus is that it IS some kind of memory leak, but it doesn't happen to everyone, and some hardware seems more prone than others.

I am seeing a fair number of post by people with GTX 760s, like mine, who are having this problems and unless you're techie enough to mod the driver INF file, there's no way to roll back to an earlier version since the 320.49 is the ONLY official driver available for the GTX 760.

Err · 08-12-2013, 05:54 PM

I'm running the 320.49 driver with my 780 on Windows 7 64 without issues. It's silly that in this day and age they can't get these bugs worked out for all users. They release beta drivers every two weeks but the same problems never get fixed.

FlyingPenguin · 08-13-2013, 08:38 AM

Followup: three days now on the rolled-back drivers, and no problems. The PC was freezing up several times daily requiring a reboot with the 320.49 drivers - especially if I allowed windows to lock the desktop after a certain amount of time, which I always do.

I'll stay on 314.22 drivers until I'm forced to update. 314.22 included the performance improvements for Bioshock Infinite, which is the newest game I have. Don't expect to need any performance improvements until COD Ghosts comes out later in the year.

Another thing I don't like about the newer drivers (and maybe this is related to this bug) is that they include a whole bunch of new services and apps to support the NVidia Shield. I didn't see any way in the custom install to selectively exclude that crap. I don't like installing things I don't use - for instance I don't install the 3D Vision stuff.

Shadow250 · 08-20-2013, 11:17 AM

did you come across anyone with issues with a gtx 660?

FlyingPenguin · 08-20-2013, 12:11 PM

Curiously I see a lot of people with 400 and 500 cards having issues with them, but I haven't noticed any 600s. Not all 700s either, just seems like the 760. You'll know pretty quick if you have the problem, and you can always use the 314.22 driver if you have to, without modding, since it should support that card.

The issue has not yet been resolved. The thread here has continued:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/t...reezing-my-pc/
Some people thought it was hardware acceleration in Firefox, but others don't even have FF installed. I did notice that using FF was more likely to cause a problem, so it's probably just that FF is using a lot of desktop memory resources.

Nvidia has not replied to my report. EVGA just told me to try the latest beta which I'm not going to bother with because 1) I don't do beta drivers and 2) everyone reports that the problem persists in all the beta drivers.

Shadow250 · 08-20-2013, 03:34 PM

mines on the 314.22 ill just leave it till its resolved.

GuardianAsher · 08-20-2013, 05:02 PM

Running the 340.29 drivers on a GTX580, and I have nothing to report. No issues, no freezes, no lock ups.. runs like a champ. So, so much better than when I had my AMD card in here.

However, this sounds a lot like the problems my roommate has been having with his PC. Dual GTX560ti in SLI... this might explain a lot

ZYFER · 08-25-2013, 02:22 AM

Don't seem to have any problem with a GTX560m.

GuardianAsher · 08-25-2013, 12:45 PM

Would just like to say that, since I switched back to Firefox from Chrome because of an annoying bookmark error, I've started having freeze ups and issues. Firefox keeps freezing for a second or so while loading pages, or going back a page, and Minecraft crashed out my video drivers a little while ago. Time to downgrade!

DaMaN · 08-27-2013, 04:16 PM

I am on Windows 8 and 314.22 is not a choice for me.

FlyingPenguin · 08-28-2013, 08:31 AM

DaMaN: There IS a 314.22 driver for Win8 x64 (I looked in the section "Beta and Older Drivers": http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-wi...ql-driver.html

What model number card? If it's a 700 series like mine, you will probably have to hack the INF file to allow the drivers to recognize the card like I did.

Procedure explained here: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=377158

However I wouldn't go to the trouble if the latest drivers are working for you.

08-11-2013, 11:24 PM	#1
FlyingPenguin The Old Fart Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Lady Lake, Florida Posts: 23,736	Avoid Geforce 320.49 driver and stay with 314.22. Windows desktop stability issues. Loving the gaming performance over my old AMD HD 5850, but been having stability issues on the desktop with my new Geforce GTX 760. I've done a variety of things (driver cleaner, major registry cleaning, uninstalling Display Fusion) to try to resolve the issue. Last resort would have been a clean OS install, which apparently wouldn't have helped. However, after doing a LOT of research on forums, I have found a lot of other people with various model NVidia cards having exactly the same stability issues on the desktop. These issues include: laggy video, intermittent black screens (sometimes just crashing the video driver, sometime locking up the whole PC). These issues are general enough that it was hard to see a pattern UNTIL I noticed that nearly everyone says they can tell when their video driver is unstable - requiring a reboot - when they open Firefox and they get a 50% transparent blank white window for a second or two while the PC freezes. I get exactly the same thing, and when it happens I know it's time to reboot or the whole PC is likely to lock up in the next few minutes. Once I found this correlation, it became obvious that everyone was having problems with the latest 320.49 drivers. The latest 326.x beta drivers have the same problem. I found several threads on OverClock.net and Guru3D with people who resolved the problem by rolling back to the 314.22. If you're an NVidia user and you're having issues since updating to 320.49, I recommend you roll back to 314.22: 64bit flavor here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-wi...ql-driver.html The problem for me is that the 314.22 drivers pre-date the release of the GTX 760 - so if I try to install them, they will not detect any compatible hardware. The workaround is a flash from the past - modify the INF file to include the GTX 760. I can't believe in this day in age I have to hack drivers - I thought we were long past this crap. ANYWAY, I found instructions on Guru3D on how to mod the INF file. Instructions here: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=377158 To save you some trouble, here's a link to an INF file already modded to add the GTX 760 I found on Overclock.net: http://soldcentralfl.com/bob/Modded-...inf-GTX760.zip This is an excellent thread on the whole 320.49 driver stability issue: https://forums.geforce.com/default/t...reezing-my-pc/ This guy thinks what's happening is that the Windows desktop is running out of heap memory (which makes sense - when my desktop becomes unstable it acts just like it's low on memory) and he increased the amount of desktop heap memory allocated as a workaround to let him use the buggy 320.49 driver: https://forums.geforce.com/default/t...to-freeze-up-/ I don't feel like making a change like that so I'll just stick with the 314.22 drivers for now. __________________

08-12-2013, 04:48 PM	#3
FlyingPenguin The Old Fart Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Lady Lake, Florida Posts: 23,736	Been doing more research and the consensus is that it IS some kind of memory leak, but it doesn't happen to everyone, and some hardware seems more prone than others. I am seeing a fair number of post by people with GTX 760s, like mine, who are having this problems and unless you're techie enough to mod the driver INF file, there's no way to roll back to an earlier version since the 320.49 is the ONLY official driver available for the GTX 760. __________________

08-13-2013, 08:38 AM	#5
FlyingPenguin The Old Fart Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Lady Lake, Florida Posts: 23,736	Followup: three days now on the rolled-back drivers, and no problems. The PC was freezing up several times daily requiring a reboot with the 320.49 drivers - especially if I allowed windows to lock the desktop after a certain amount of time, which I always do. I'll stay on 314.22 drivers until I'm forced to update. 314.22 included the performance improvements for Bioshock Infinite, which is the newest game I have. Don't expect to need any performance improvements until COD Ghosts comes out later in the year. Another thing I don't like about the newer drivers (and maybe this is related to this bug) is that they include a whole bunch of new services and apps to support the NVidia Shield. I didn't see any way in the custom install to selectively exclude that crap. I don't like installing things I don't use - for instance I don't install the 3D Vision stuff. __________________

08-20-2013, 11:17 AM	#6
Shadow250 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Walton New York 13856 Posts: 1,147	did you come across anyone with issues with a gtx 660? __________________ My Heatware

08-20-2013, 12:11 PM	#7
FlyingPenguin The Old Fart Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Lady Lake, Florida Posts: 23,736	Curiously I see a lot of people with 400 and 500 cards having issues with them, but I haven't noticed any 600s. Not all 700s either, just seems like the 760. You'll know pretty quick if you have the problem, and you can always use the 314.22 driver if you have to, without modding, since it should support that card. The issue has not yet been resolved. The thread here has continued: https://forums.geforce.com/default/t...reezing-my-pc/ Some people thought it was hardware acceleration in Firefox, but others don't even have FF installed. I did notice that using FF was more likely to cause a problem, so it's probably just that FF is using a lot of desktop memory resources. Nvidia has not replied to my report. EVGA just told me to try the latest beta which I'm not going to bother with because 1) I don't do beta drivers and 2) everyone reports that the problem persists in all the beta drivers. __________________

08-12-2013, 01:26 PM	#2
Executioner Registered User Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Woodland, CA USA Posts: 7,772	I never update drivers to the latest ones. If I'm having no issues with my few games I'm playing, then I don't update.

08-12-2013, 05:54 PM	#4
Err Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 3,607	I'm running the 320.49 driver with my 780 on Windows 7 64 without issues. It's silly that in this day and age they can't get these bugs worked out for all users. They release beta drivers every two weeks but the same problems never get fixed.

08-20-2013, 03:34 PM	#8
Shadow250 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Walton New York 13856 Posts: 1,147	mines on the 314.22 ill just leave it till its resolved. __________________ My Heatware

08-20-2013, 05:02 PM	#9
GuardianAsher Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Slaton, TX Posts: 1,051	Running the 340.29 drivers on a GTX580, and I have nothing to report. No issues, no freezes, no lock ups.. runs like a champ. So, so much better than when I had my AMD card in here. However, this sounds a lot like the problems my roommate has been having with his PC. Dual GTX560ti in SLI... this might explain a lot

08-25-2013, 02:22 AM	#10
ZYFER Rampaging Horde Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Tampa Bay, Florida Posts: 2,129	Don't seem to have any problem with a GTX560m. __________________ When all else fails, replace the user.

08-25-2013, 12:45 PM	#11
GuardianAsher Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Slaton, TX Posts: 1,051	Would just like to say that, since I switched back to Firefox from Chrome because of an annoying bookmark error, I've started having freeze ups and issues. Firefox keeps freezing for a second or so while loading pages, or going back a page, and Minecraft crashed out my video drivers a little while ago. Time to downgrade!

08-27-2013, 04:16 PM	#12
DaMaN PCA Member Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: New Jersey Posts: 4,702	I am on Windows 8 and 314.22 is not a choice for me. __________________ HEATWARE

08-28-2013, 08:31 AM	#13
FlyingPenguin The Old Fart Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Lady Lake, Florida Posts: 23,736	DaMaN: There IS a 314.22 driver for Win8 x64 (I looked in the section "Beta and Older Drivers": http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-wi...ql-driver.html What model number card? If it's a 700 series like mine, you will probably have to hack the INF file to allow the drivers to recognize the card like I did. Procedure explained here: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=377158 However I wouldn't go to the trouble if the latest drivers are working for you. __________________