Vista crashing while playing video

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dangfx

Gawd
Joined
May 2, 2001
Messages
707
Hi all,
Been using Vista Ultimate for a few weeks now. I really do like it the more I get used to it, but something is wrong with my video. Whenever I play videos, regardless of format (but I'm usually playing avi's or wmv's) the computer eventually crashes after about 30secs-2mins of play! Sometimes there is a bluescreen, but mostly the screen just turns black, only I can see my mouse but nothing else (and the mouse is frozen). I have to do a hard reboot (reset button). I am using a 7800GTX with these drivers, the 158.24 WHQLs (7.15.11.5824)

Can anyone help?
:confused:
 
Hi Maxx,
THanks for the reply. I tried the driver, and it worked for a little while, but I just experienced the same bluescreen again. The driver involved is nvlddmkm

:(
 
Thanks for replying back...

From looking around the net, this may be a more common problem than I realized. Some people did indeed fix it with a driver change, the others suggest changing the power options. Namely, making sure the Power Options were on Balanced or higher, although I don't know how you're using that. Some suggest installing the drivers in XP compatibility mode, others have a whole string of fixes/steps. If you do a Google search for that file along with Vista, you'll see what I mean. It's generally agreed to be an NV driver problem with relation to Vista settings.
 
Yeah, I've been trying to search around the 'net myself. There is at least one 90-page thread on nvidia's forums just about this issue. A few 20-page threads on nvnews. I've been trying to make heads or tails out of it all, but a lot of its just futile attempts.

I've updated both my video drivers (to 62.22) and my audio drivers (to 6243 from realtek for the AC'97) and neither have seemed to have really helped. I have all my power settings on the highest/most power used.


any other ideas?
 
I'm on my way out so I can't post or diagnose much, but I'll toss this out there...

Do you happen to have an Intel chip in this computer, more specifically a Core 2 Duo? If so, make sure you have the Intel microcode patch:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936357

Additionally, and you may have come across this in your research, disable the C1E aka CPU Enhanced Halt State aka SpeedStep in your BIOS, if possible. This has been known to cause this issue in some cases.

If you happen to have AMD instead, or already tried these two fixes, then I'd suggest rolling back to Vista's default video driver for your card, then test videos once more.

I'd offer more but I have to run...let me know how it goes.
 
I'm using a 4400+ CPU. And actually, the very first drivers I tried were Vista's default video driver -- I used that before I installed anything from nVidia. Alas, I was getting the same crashes there too, that's why I initially installed the Forceware.
 
dangfx said:
I'm using a 4400+ CPU. And actually, the very first drivers I tried were Vista's default video driver -- I used that before I installed anything from nVidia. Alas, I was getting the same crashes there too, that's why I initially installed the Forceware.
Click to expand...

Gotcha.

This issue is a bit of a Moby Dick for me, as I had similar issues with my old motherboard. I eventually gave up on troubleshooting it and got a new motherboard - problem solved, for me. ATI's claim on the issue is that the motherboard/hardware is "not Vista compatible," but who knows. My case may have been special, though, but I rarely give up unless it is a brick wall.

Just FYI, AMD's similar function is known as CPU Disconnect or more commonly these days as Cool'n'Quiet. Either way, if even the original Vista driver is causing this issue then I have to suspect a hardware configuration error (I'm fairly certain you checked codecs first). I've seen this issue on both ATI and Nvidia video cards, and on both AMD and Intel systems. The one thing these all have in common is, most likely, the Realtek on-board audio.

Have you tried uninstalling the Realtek in device manager, then rebooting to disable on-board audio in BIOS?
 
Yes, I have tried not using the onboard audio. I disabled the AC'97 in the bios, and was using an older Sound Blaster Live! PCI card I have. I still got the video crashes.

I have Cool n Quiet disabled in the bios.

if even the original Vista driver is causing this issue then I have to suspect a hardware configuration error
Click to expand...
I'm not 100% sure, but it is quite possible that the "original Vista driver" included an earlier version of nvlddmkm.sys. That file has been around a while in geforce/forceware drivers, and Vista being such a new OS, that was included in its "database" of stock drivers. Odd that it would cause crashes though.


As of right now, I am using VLC Media Player to play my files, and so far, no crashes (but I've only been doing it for about 1/2 an hour). Odd that the player would make a difference. I will let you know how it goes.
 
dangfx said:
Yes, I have tried not using the onboard audio. I disabled the AC'97 in the bios, and was using an older Sound Blaster Live! PCI card I have. I still got the video crashes.

I have Cool n Quiet disabled in the bios.


I'm not 100% sure, but it is quite possible that the "original Vista driver" included an earlier version of nvlddmkm.sys. That file has been around a while in geforce/forceware drivers, and Vista being such a new OS, that was included in its "database" of stock drivers. Odd that it would cause crashes though.


As of right now, I am using VLC Media Player to play my files, and so far, no crashes (but I've only been doing it for about 1/2 an hour). Odd that the player would make a difference. I will let you know how it goes.
Click to expand...

Files referenced in blue screens can be deceptive. If you use the Windows Debugging Tool with the full options (and symbols), you can usually get a better idea of the source, but even so a lot of the time Windows points to the file that came just after the destructive source. Your video failed, but it was the failed video recovery that you saw, so it points to the NV file, but in reality the problem is what caused the initial video failure (which could still be the driver, but you can't know for sure). You may have to modify the startup & recovery options to get the memory dump you want.

Nothing teaches you an OS like troubleshooting without limits, so if you want to check out the debugging tools, here are the links to the Tool for 32-bit Vista as well as the Symbols package:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/installx86.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/symbolpkg.mspx

This page covers the basics, scroll down to "Examine the dump file" for the essential commands:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315263

Which version of VLC are you using? Only the newest one supports Vista Aero without modification, I think...or did you do the mod on the prior version? I ask because VLC until recently put Vista into Basic theme mode. Also, VLC uses its own codecs for many things, if that is relevant.
 
thanks for the reply. :)

I do not want to go into debugging! Not something I know how to do, and not something i want to know how to do, heh. I just want the damn thing to work right. :D

As for VLC, i'm using version 0.8.6c (the latest I believe -- I just downloaded it). It works fine, and does not change my defualt (aero) desktop/shell/them/GUI. I still have full 3D effects and alpha blending and all that jazz when I run it.

Yes, it does have its own codecs I guess. I uninstalled DivX because i got a reply on another board that said it may be part of the problem that i am having. DivX is now not in my system, and I'm still getting video errors/lockups, so I guess the problem ain't DivX. --BUT, even without divx installed, VLC still plays DivX encoded files, while Media Player cannot right now. I kinda like this, but I'd rather not be tied to one particular program. I'd still like to see a real fix for this nvlddmkm issue which soooo many people seem to (still) have on the computers.
 
Debugging isn't too bad, pretty easy really, but usually doesn't help much anyway unless you have a good set of memory dumps...

Yeah, 0.8.6c is the latest and does not have that problem...was worth checking...you have to remember I harken back from the Dark Ages of the alpha test...but it still had the problem up until revision c came out on June 18th of this year.

For codecs, I personally just use K-Lite Codec Mega Pack:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_klite_mega_codec/

It has the nice feature - "It tries to avoid potential problems with existing codecs and even fixes some problems. The pack is able to detect broken codecs and filters on your system, and remove them for you." Plus, it comes with MPC (Media Player Classic), which is a suitable replacement for WMP11. I'm not convinced it is codec-related, but hopefully that information will help (I'm a broken record lol).
 
Hmm... don't know what to do now. I used VLC for a bit, and after a while, the computer crashed again -- same thing. I like playing DivX files without the actual DivX codec installed, but more than that, I want to find a solution to this (seemingly) video-related problem.
 
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