Sudden Problem with Nvidia Driver

[Cah]

Hello, shortly after installing the August updates and Firefox 6 and Thunderbird 6 I started experiencing blank screens when starting Firefox. Pretty soon they were occurring after the Windows logo appeared at startup. I was seeing a BSOD and only able to start in safe mode. I went back in time a couple of months using a disk image but experienced the same problem. I eventually got the system back by completely uninstalling the nvidia driver and resorting to a generic vga driver. I've tried various versions of the nvidia driver for my geforce gtx 460 card including the most recent I could find - 280.26-desktop-win7-winvista-64bit-international-whql.exe - but have the same problem each time with the system hanging at startup. Has anyone else had problems? I can't figure out why going back before the August updates doesn't work. It's as if there is a hardware problem?

Chris

[HansV]

There are more reports of black screens with the most recent driver. Try going back to an older version such as 275.33 or even earlier. You can download them from NVidia Driver Downloads - Advanced Search.

[BobArch2]

Hello, shortly after installing the August updates and Firefox 6 and Thunderbird 6 I started experiencing blank screens when starting Firefox...

Hi Chris,

I have an ASUS GeForce GTX 560 and have been running the 280.26 driver since August 10, 2011 without any issues. The slight difference in the driver is that you say you are using 280.26-desktop-win7-winvista-64bit-international-whql.exe while mine reads 280.26-desktop-win7-winvista-64bit-english-whql.exe

nVidiaRRA.gif

With regards to Firefox, I had updated to FF6 but reverted to FF4 within a couple of hours because of issues with my Acrobat plug-in and distorted text on some web sites.

Just as a "hoot", have you tried going back to an earlier version of FF?

[Cah]

Thanks for the replies. I've tried 4 or 5 different drivers with no positive result. 275.33 was particularly bad. I got a system beep warning while it was installing. I've tried installing drivers without Firefox and Thunderbird installed in case that made a difference - no go. Bob, from my understanding FF4 is not supported, neither is FF5. Mozilla are dropping support for older versions with every new release. Have you thought of going back to the 3.6 series as they are still maintain security updates for that?

Chris

[BobArch2]

Bob, from my understanding FF4 is not supported, neither is FF5. Mozilla are dropping support for older versions with every new release. Have you thought of going back to the 3.6 series as they are still maintain security updates for that?

Hi Chris,

When FF5 was introduced, I upgraded. But it did not support the Acrobat Output PDF plug-in and so, I uninstalled it. Then FF6 came out and I tried it. It did not allow the Acrobat Output PDF plug-in. In addition, it really distorted text fonts on some sites. A problem that wasn't there with FF4. So far, I have been lucky with FF4. However, I will take your suggestion and download the 3.6 version for possible future consideration if FF4 starts to cause problems.

Did you try FF3.6x to see if your problems with the nVidia driver disappear?

[Cah]

Did you try FF3.6x to see if your problems with the nVidia driver disappear?

Hi Bob, no I didn't, the driver caused problems with both Firefox and Thunderbird uninstalled so I think neither figure in the problem.

Chris

[BobArch2]

Did you try FF3.6x to see if your problems with the nVidia driver disappear?

Hi Bob, no I didn't, the driver caused problems with both Firefox and Thunderbird uninstalled so I think neither figure in the problem.

Not sure if you checked the nVidia Forum board for the GTX 460 and possible like issues. Here's the LINK that might provide more info. Sorry I couldn't provide any more meaningful hints!

[Cah]

Thanks for the link, Bob. I don't hold out much hope of finding a solution. It seems there is some unresolved conflict hat is the responsibility of Nvidia or Microsoft or both.

Chris