An FYI for nVidia 400 and 500 series users

[Tin]

First off, a little background. A couple weeks ago, i purchased a Sparkle 560 Ti for my new system, as I wanted to get back into gaming. My computer is powered on nearly 24/7 without issue. I dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 7, and never do a complete shutdown. The other day, I noticed graphical anomalies while using Ubuntu, and my Gnome desktop locked up. I restarted Gnome, and all would be fine for a few hours, then the same thing would happen. First thing I thought is that it was a Linux issue. Afterwards, I booted Windows to play a few games, and noticed the graphical glitches again. My next thought was having to RMA my new card. After a quick Google search, I found numerous posts with people having the same issue with 400 and 500 series cards from virtually every manufacturer.

To fix this, you need to cold boot your system every so often. Apparently, its a driver issue on both the Linux and Windows end, and has been going on for the better part of this year. Once I completely shut down my computer, I let it sit for about 20 seconds, fired it back up, and everything was back to normal. The computer going in and out of sleep mode has adverse effects with the current line of drivers. If you think your 400 or 500 series card is dying, give a cold boot a try and see if it fixes it. Out of all of the occurrences Ive read about, only one of them needed an RMA. The person who requested the RMA got his card back because the manufacturer couldnt replicate the issue. This is a driver issue. Hopefully it will be fixed soon. I figured Id give the community a heads up so you dont have to be without your video card for a few weeks. This doesnt affect every single card, but its a somewhat common thing with these cards.

[jdeb]

Thanks for the heads up Tin. What about using an older driver?

[Extremerc12]

Jdeb, the issue occurs with the current driver and the previous drivers. The driver itself locks up causing all kinds of anomalies that Tin is referring to. Sometimes, the driver will prompt you that your video card is out of memory.

[glc]

I *NEVER* have liked sleep mode. Leave it running or hibernate it - or completely shut it down. The *ONLY* power management I use is to shut the monitor off.

[Deathdiesel]

Yeah at this point idk why people are using sleep mode. All ive ever seen out of sleep mode is problems and issues, i personally have disabled it off of my computer so it cant go into it. I agree with glc's statement.