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[Thrain]

My machine:
Motherboard: EVGA model 121-BL-E756
CPU: Intel Core i7 920
Memory 12 GBytes DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460


I've tapped out what little knowledge I have in computers, so I figured I'd post here in the off chance someone has some insight into the problem.

I have an old cobbled together computer (entirely built from parts either gifted to me, or that I bought at a massive discount). It's running windows 7 professional (that my old school provided me). and for the most part has worked over the years. In the past two days however the screen started getting weird fuzzy blocks on it, and sometimes weird white lines that would move about, and colors would become distorted. It would then normally go black for a few moments, and then pop up a message about "Display driver has stopped responding and recovered". With the additional text: "Display driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 361.43 stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

First I thought this was just out of date driver issue, so I installed the latest driver for my card (375.70). Rebooted my computer, and it seemed alright at first, then the issue came back and when it froze it never-unfroze until I forced it down. I then proceeded to try slightly older drivers (372.90), and what happened above repeated itself. And then the oldest ones I had (368.81). Every single time it would work at first, then go fuzzy, then die.

I then thought perhaps something else was out of date too, and attempted to use windows updater, which seems totally unable to run as well and when I use the windows updater troubleshooter it gives me an irritating generic error that it is unable to fix.

Finally I tried the latest nvidia drivers again, having given up on getting my machine to update for now, the process repeated itself, excepts after forcing it down I turned it back on normally. This time I got a blue-screen which I was unable to read because of the fuzziness, and it turned itself off, rebooted and offered to use its repair tools.

I ran the repair tools, and rebooted, and I now appear to be using the default windows drivers, that do not appear to have any issue. In general any time that I ran the computer in safe-mode internet enabled it ran fine, no screen issues no freezes.

So my question is, does anybody have any ideas? Is it simply a mechanical issue? Did I miss something obvious in my attempts to fix it?

[wierd]

I would be looking at failure of the video hardware, actually.

Notably, I would check these things, in this order:

1) This card surely has a heatsink and fan assembly. How clean is the heatsink, and does the fan turn freely?
2) Does the card get nuclear hot when the display issues happen?
3) If yes to #s 1 and 2, (eg, clean heatsink and fan, fan turns freely, but card gets nuclear hot at idle) then unbolt/unseat the heatsink, clean the side facing the chip with rubbing alcohol on a cotton cloth, and do the same to the surface of the chip. Remove all traces of the old thermal compound, and apply a new layer. (just a small bead. barely enough that it will spread when the heatsink is reattached)
4) If the answer to 1&2 is yes, but no on #3, then check to ensure the card is getting sufficient power. The GTX 940 requires additional power from either a hard drive molex power cable, or from an ATX PCIe power molex cable. Make sure that your PSU is supplying enough power to satisfy this cards insatiable hunger for electricity.
5) If the PSU is working properly, the card is getting sufficient power, the heatsink is clean, and it is not overheating, then the card has likely suffered a failure of the video memory or the actual GPU chip itself is failing. Since this is a hand-me-down component, it has a higher chance of failure. Keep that in mind.

[TheBiggerFish]

Yikes.

Er, I have no idea what could be happening, so...Good luck?

[Thrain]

5) If the PSU is working properly, the card is getting sufficient power, the heatsink is clean, and it is not overheating, then the card has likely suffered a failure of the video memory or the actual GPU chip itself is failing. Since this is a hand-me-down component, it has a higher chance of failure. Keep that in mind.

Sadly this exactly sums up its current state, and I came to the same conclusion. I've replaced the card now with an older (also hand-me-down) GTS 250, so hopefully that will last long enough for me to find the funds for a replacement. Anyhow, thank you very much for the help, and also the tip on cleaning will most likely come in use for me.

Er, I have no idea what could be happening, so...Good luck?

Thanks man, hopefully my older hand-me-down will service.