Thecla Posted December 27, 2006 Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 I recently got an hp nw:9440 with a 256MB nvidia Quadro FX 1500, 1920 x 1200 WUXGA+ display, and Windows XP/Pro. I experienced lockups when I played Gothic 3 on the machine (screen goes black and keyboard stops responding -- I have to turn the power off and reboot to fix the problem - the same thing happened on one occasion running 3dMark06). Thinking it might be a driver problem, I tried installing the most recent nvidia forceware drivers (what I have is the most recent hp drivers), and got the "no compatible hardware message" so I was led here. I tried the 84.25 32 bit XP drivers here, since they seemed to be recommended as most stable, and they installed without apparent problems after downloading and extracting the drivers here, replacing the INF file in the directory, and running setup.exe (though I got a warning that the drivers were older than my original ones). However, immediately on restarting, while the machine ran, the video performance was horrible (intermittent black flashes). I tried running the freestone video stability benchmark and the whole display stopped responding after a minute or two, so I rebooted and rolled back to my old drivers. So two questions: (a ) Did I do something wrong in the installation? (Apologies if I missed something obvious.) (b ) Any ideas what could be causing the gothic 3 lockup problem and how to fix it, preferably while keeping my old drivers. (I know the Quadro's aren't optimized for gaming.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabrice Roux Posted December 27, 2006 Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thecla Posted December 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2006 Well, naturally, I read the quick start guide -- whose instructions I was following, as outlined above. I also read all of the FAQs, installation and information guides I was able to locate on this site. But it didn't work. I retried the forceware installation by uninstalling my previous quadro drivers and using the "have-disk" method in safe mode to install the 84.25 32 bit "Oblivion" drivers. I didn't get a crash this time, but I still got horrible performance (e.g. my 3dMark06 benchmark dropped from 4110 to 840). Now maybe I missed something obvious in the instructions, or maybe my question is too stupid or inappropriate to post here. If so, please let me know. I won't bother you again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabrice Roux Posted December 30, 2006 Report Share Posted December 30, 2006 Your Quadro is one of the most recent GPU (7900 family) which means that the driver your OEM offers is probably close to the best you can get. You forgto to report which version you had. The first obvious driver that should support your hardware correctly is 84.69... but you might have to jump to the late 9x.xx serie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thecla Posted December 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2006 Your Quadro is one of the most recent GPU (7900 family) which means that the driver your OEM offers is probably close to the best you can get. You forgto to report which version you had.The first obvious driver that should support your hardware correctly is 84.69... but you might have to jump to the late 9x.xx serie. Thanks for the info. I tried the 84.25 drivers since that version seemed to be recommended for all cards, and I assumed if it didn't work, then the more recent ones wouldn't either. Be that as it may, the drivers supplied by hp with my notebook are 86.33. I just tried 97.44 from here which, after some brief tests, did seem to be stable and perform as well as the original ones from hp, except they didn't fix whatever black screen/lockup crash I'm having. I got the same lockup while running 3dmark06 with the 97.44 drivers. So I guess, anyway, it isn't a driver problem. Not that this is your problem either, but I looked for errors in my windows log --- the only ones are are repeated "The Upgrade Tool returned an error" caused by IFXSPMGT.exe (associated with hp's security programs), and the 3d-graphics lockups seem to happen at the same times, but it's hard for me to see how there could be any connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabrice Roux Posted December 30, 2006 Report Share Posted December 30, 2006 It smells like you have one background app that mess up with your laptop... either locking the games or preventeing them from accessing computer ressources. Hence the crash you run into. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clbgld Posted January 7, 2007 Report Share Posted January 7, 2007 If you check the HP forum (do a search for NW9440), someone there had problems with the GPU also. It appears it may be getting too hot. Not sure if a "fix" has been done yet (this may or may not be related to your problem). CG Thanks for the info.I tried the 84.25 drivers since that version seemed to be recommended for all cards, and I assumed if it didn't work, then the more recent ones wouldn't either. Be that as it may, the drivers supplied by hp with my notebook are 86.33. I just tried 97.44 from here which, after some brief tests, did seem to be stable and perform as well as the original ones from hp, except they didn't fix whatever black screen/lockup crash I'm having. I got the same lockup while running 3dmark06 with the 97.44 drivers. So I guess, anyway, it isn't a driver problem. Not that this is your problem either, but I looked for errors in my windows log --- the only ones are are repeated "The Upgrade Tool returned an error" caused by IFXSPMGT.exe (associated with hp's security programs), and the 3d-graphics lockups seem to happen at the same times, but it's hard for me to see how there could be any connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thecla Posted January 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2007 If you check the HP forum (do a search for NW9440), someone there had problems with the GPU also. It appears it may be getting too hot. Not sure if a "fix" has been done yet (this may or may not be related to your problem). Thanks -- I found the thread. My problem is from the GPU getting too hot, so it looks like I'm not the only one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ClbGld Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 Thanks -- I found the thread. My problem is from the GPU getting too hot, so it looks like I'm not the only one... Did you find out an answer to the crash problem? It looks like several of us at the HP forum are having problems with the NW9440 crashing when using the DVI port on the docking station. Cleiber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thecla Posted February 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 Did you find out an answer to the crash problem? It looks like several of us at the HP forum are having problems with the NW9440 crashing when using the DVI port on the docking station. I returned my machine for a replacement, since I was within the 30 day return period. I have no idea what the precise cause of the original graphics crashes were, other than that they seemed to be related to overheating, and I didn't trust HP to fix the problem by changing the mobo or video card. My replacement machine has had no similar graphics crashes at all, and I've run it overnight on games/settings that caused crashes in 5 mins on my original nw9440. One thing I have say, though, is that I had no docking station with my nw9440, and my crashes didn't seem related to any particular ports, colors, or graphical displays --- the only consistent correlation I could find that was when my graphics temps got up to around 77-80 C (according to the trial version of hmonitor.exe) the machine crashed. So I don't know if your problem is related to mine or not. However... and this is another story...my replacement machine suffers from 'more normal' BSOD crashes that I believe are due to a bad memory stick (memtest86+ throws up about 2,000 errors). HP support seems like a real Jekel and Hyde, or at least Jekel and Elmer Fudd, and mostly Hyde/Fudd. The replacement machine arrived within one week of my getting an RMA, but its been over 2 weeks since they were supposed to send out a box to pick up my replacement machine and fix its memory. The box is yet to arrive, despite me e-mailing HP-support twice after I was initially supposed to get the box, and being assured twice that there had been a "technical problem" with the dispatch and the box would arrive in 1-2 days. I spoke with HP again today, and they're now supposed to send me a new 2GB memory stick, but they're out of stock, so I'm waiting on an ETA...At least, though, I'm fairly confident that my current BSOD's will be fixed simply by replacing the memory, unlike whatever was causing the previous graphics crashes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clbgld Posted November 3, 2007 Report Share Posted November 3, 2007 Thecla, Now it is my turn to run into the same kind of problem you appeared to have had earlier on. The fan died on my NW9440, and twice the unit has been returned to me with a new fan that does not "rev-up" anywhere near as high as the original fan did. The GPU goes up very quickly past the 75-85 C it used to go up to with the original fan (using the ATiTool utility 3D "box" ) and the computer shuts down when the GPU reaches 104-105 C. Sent it in for the third time and the case was "escalated" to another service tier. If you still have the 9440 and don't mind running a test by opening the ATiTool's (version 0.26) 3D box, I would be curious to compare notes - specifically, if the fan in your unit goes to "hair-dryer" level when the GPU heats up, and if so, at what temperature. Are you still using the same video driver? I have asked at the HP forum for someone with a 9440 to run this test, but so far have got no "takers". Many thanks, Cleiber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clbgld Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 One late update on the NW9440 saga. My second unit started overheating after over an year of working OK. Long story short, I replaced the GPU heathsink unit and unlike HP, used some thermal paste on all chips, not just the main NVidia one. It is back to normal specs now, running at around 52 C under normal operation. It would seem the thermal strips HP uses between the chips and heathsink lose their effectiveness with age. Supposedly the DVI crash issue has been solved with a BIOS update, although I haven't tested it yet. Cleiber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.