Graphics Card Driver Update Issue

[LeeEAS]

After searching around here and the net I heard a lot of people suggesting to update your Graphics Card drivers, I thought I would try but I was a bit nervous cos I've never done it before on this PC. Well I went to the Nvidia website and downloaded the drivers for my Graphics Card, installed them and loaded RW. At first I saw no visible improvement but then I noticed my frame was 1fps more than it was before the install. Other than that everything seemed fine. I drove about 3 miles then pressed one of the external keys, and suddenly the game froze, the sky went Black and all the world objects disappeared, I got a bit worried, I was expecting it to crash but it didn't and after about 6 secs it settled down again, but I drove another 200 yards or so and then this happened:



Sometimes it covers the whole screen and I can't see anything unless I swing the camera round. I tried to revert my drivers back to the previous version but it said it couldn't find them, I'm now panicking that I've messed up my PC, and I don't know the best way to solve this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, here's my specs along with anything else that I feel might be relevant:

Packard Bell imedia 1508
Intel Pentium 4 3.06Ghz Processor
1GB Memory
Nvidia 6200LE Graphics Card - Drivers updated to 191.07 (The cause of the problem)
Resolution 1280 x 1024
Installed Realtek HD Audio codecs about 3 days before, and this improved RW at the time.
Tried System restore this reverted to my old graphics settings but created a new windows account, which meant all my documents were left on the old one.

[LoneWolfDon]

Did you try first un-installing current graphic drivers before installing a different version?

Sometimes if you install one graphic-driver version without first un-installing the previous one, it can cause certain strange conflicts and effects. There are also some utilities out there, such as "Driver Cleaner Pro" which works good in helping to ensure that any left-over bits of previous drivers (which could be causing the problem or conflict) is completely removed.

Also, you may want to manually download and install the newest versions of DirectX and PhysX.

Good luck.

[g0fthick]

Have you tried alt+tabbing out and then back in?

Sounds a bit odd, but some times when I knock a key that takes Windows out of the game, when returning it goes odd like that. For some reason going back out and in again fixes it.

If that doesn't work I'd just roll back your drivers.

[CaptainBazza]

1 GB of memory is a bit light for something as powerful as RW. I can't comment specifically on the videocard, but you need at least a 256mb card, or greater.

Cheers Bazza

[theokus]

Nvidia 6200LE Graphics Card - Drivers updated to 191.07 (The cause of the problem)

You could roll-back the graphics driver.

[LeeEAS]

Thanks for some of the suggests so far. Will try the Alt+Tab thing.

The PhysX software doesn't say it's compatable with the GeForce 6-series.
DirectX 9.0c was installed with RW wasn't it?

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As bazza mentioned, Memory; is it possible the new drivers require more memory and that could be why I didn't experience this before?

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Did you try first un-installing current graphic drivers before installing a different version?

The drivers that I had before were the originals as per when I bought the Pc back in Dec 2006, and as such the "Roll back drivers" option wasn't active before I installed the update.

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If that doesn't work I'd just roll back your drivers.

I tried to revert my drivers back to the previous version but it said it couldn't find them

[theokus]

LeeEAS,

Have a look here first....

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/item/ ... 001&g=2000
You find here the original drivers.

And read THIS:
http://support.packardbell.com/uk/item/ ... PB34213001
(about upgrade the memory)

[LoneWolfDon]

Did doing the System Restore fix the graphics problem for you?
But you mentioned that doing a system-restore you may lose any recent changes in "My Documents" folder?

If that the case, revert back to a system-restore checkpoint to where you have access to all the things in "My Documents" folder. backup and/or copy any thing in the "My Documents" folder to a different source, such as an external USB hard-drive perhaps. Now, do a system-restore again to the point where things still seemed to be working good (to before you tried updated the drivers). Anything missing from the "My Documents" folder, you can now simply copy back over from your copied/backed-up files.

Anyways, its a possible workaround.
Yes, RW does install DirectX, but in some cases it may not have installed or updated properly, that's why it may be good to manually download and update it yourself to help ensure you have a good clean install of it.

Good luck.

[LeeEAS]

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/item/ ... 001&g=2000
You find here the original drivers.

Excellent, cheers.
I didn't know the original drivers were on the Packard Bell site, and as I wasn't sure what version I had previously installed that site made it rather easy.
I have reinstalled them and this seems to cured the problem.

Though it still begs the question why did the new drivers cause this problem?

For the moment I won't be upgrading my PC, but I hope to in the future, or maybe build one (as I know how to now).

[LoneWolfDon]

Yeah, drivers can be fussy sometimes with with different systems and hardware.
Its good to know you got things fixed and can now get back to enjoying Railworks. Cheers!

[karl2004]

Thats wierd that the drivers caused the issue but there could be a load of other problems that could of caused that.

Though what i do reccomend is to upgrade your pc to 2gig ram and get a better grathics card as the 6200 is fairly old and if im correct if RW dosnt support it then you will find a few issues with your card along the way. It also could of been a case that your gcard was overheating as it could be a sign that its about to go bang on you.

But the 250 is a pretty decent card and its come down in price alot now.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... ubcat=1402

i also did a little research on your system and what its got inside and noticed that your motherboard says it can support up to 4gb ddr ram

Even 2 gb of ram would truely help your system while playing rw and the new gcard would make the game look even more better.

Heres the ram
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... &subcat=65

You could order 2 of those and then you would have 4gb ram but even 2gb is enough to help you a ton.
But you cant have 2 diffrent brands of ram working together so you would have to remove your old ram and put in the 2gb
so you wouldnt have 3gb if thats what you may be thinking.

i maybe be a little pricey to upgrade both the ram and gcard but in the long term run its worth it.

heres my pc's spec incase you want to know.

Intel i7 core 920 overclocked to 4ghz per core.
6gb ddr3 ram
Samsung spinpoint F1 1tb hard drive 2 of those.
Palit GeForce GTX 285 2048MB DDR3
and 7 fans in the antec 1200 gaming case.

that pretty much set me back nearly 800 pounds but for me i needed a Powerfull computer due to the games i like to play.

If i can be of any more help just ask.

[LeeEAS]

Though what i do reccomend is to upgrade your pc to 2gig ram and get a better grathics card as the 6200 is fairly old and if im correct if RW dosnt support it then you will find a few issues with your card along the way.

Well I won't be updating the drivers on this card in future, but I will consider a memory upgrade because, although it doesn't happen often, I have got the "Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory paging file" recently, not from RW though.

It also could of been a case that your gcard was overheating as it could be a sign that its about to go bang on you.

One of the features of this graphics card is it measures the core temperature, I do wonder whether it is accrate, but I've literially just started the PC and is says it's 67°C, is that normal?

i also did a little research on your system and what its got inside and noticed that your motherboard says it can support up to 4gb ddr ram

Cheers for that, handy to know.

[LeeEAS]

Right, I've had the PC on for 20 minutes now and its settled at 75°C :

[theokus]

Right, I've had the PC on for 20 minutes now and its settled at 75°C :

A bit hot he....

[LoneWolfDon]

Yeah, its running a bit hot. After my computer boots up, my g-card's temp usually starts off around around mid 40's, but with using some graphic-intensive programs (such as a modern game), it can tend to climb from mid to high 50's.

When's the last time you gave your computer a good cleaning? I give mine a good cleaning perhaps once every few months. Dust and dirt can build up on the vents, fans, g-card, etc... and can really increase overheating. Just be careful when doing so... have it off and unplugged, be gentle with it. If you have a vacuum-cleaner with a soft-attachment you can use that on some areas. A can of compressed air can also help in getting into some of the hard-to-reach places. Sometimes I also use a cotton-swab / q-tip to gently clean some parts too. Don't use any wet cloth.

If its still running too hot even after cleaning, you may need to consider adding an extra cooling fan inside.

Good luck.