Nvidia 196.75 Drivers Taken Down

[Valkyrist]

Just in case you installed the latest graphics driver before they were removed from their website, you might want to see what PR Manager Bryan Del Rizzo said:

We are aware that some customers have reported fan speed issues with the latest 196.75 WHQL drivers on NVIDIA.com. Until we can verify and root cause this issue, we recommend that customers stay with, or return to 196.21 WHQL drivers. Release 196.75 drivers have been temporarily removed from our Web site in the meantime.

--

The affected cards (so far) seem to be:

8800GT
8800GTS
9800GT
9800GTX
9800GTX+
GTS 250

Apparently the new drivers cause certain video cards' fans to either stop, or not spin at the correct speed. And there have been reports of some users' cards outright frying themselves from the heat.

But to be on the safe side, if you have a Nvidia card, just roll back the drivers regardless of model.

[lockwoodx]

Knew somebody was going to get to them sooner or later. With the massive amount of machines those drivers bricked I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of legal action is forcing them to go public now when it's been a problem for months.

[Johan]

Apparently the new drivers cause certain video cards' fans to either stop, or not spin at the correct speed.

Now THAT is a shipment of failboat right there.

[Moatman]

My system with a crappy stock gt220 got fried from these Tuesday night, fun times...

[Flatulus]

From Wikipedia:
Windows Hardware Quality Labs testing or WHQL Testing is Microsoft's testing process which involves running a series of tests on third-party
I guess their tests don't include stress test... or else these drivers would never have pass certification.

[gzsfrk]

<looks over at Radeon HD4830 humming happily along in his custom desktop>

<smiles>

[mrbrick]

This bricked my workstation.

I have to do some tests but i hope everything is fine. I have a bad feeling though. I got deadlines right around the corner and a machine that is about $6,000 + farting away.

At least I have 10tb of safe raid.

[Demo_Boy]

Wow. Total devastation.

How will they even begin to give consideration for the damage caused? Class action suit city.

AMD should be eyeing Nvidia for a buyout right about a month from now.

[Moatman]

The saddest thing is they were WHQL certified...I'd hate to see the drivers that microsoft declines, do they cause cancer?!

[Tolgar]

Reminds me of that EVE patch that rewrote the boot.ini file so folks computers wouldn't boot anymore lol

At least driver updates aren't automatic.

[brandonjclark]

ATI FTW?

Oh, and I didn't know that about the EVE patch.

{runs to terminate EXEFILE.exe}

[Sensei-X]

Wow. Total devastation.

How will they even begin to give consideration for the damage caused? Class action suit city.

AMD should be eyeing Nvidia for a buyout right about a month from now.

They'll say they're sorry, and move on with business as usual (heck they may not even do that much). Guess that's why they have you agree to this before you download drivers from the nVidia website (caps are their's, not mine btw). And yes, I find it kinda worrisome that it seems to say that even if they have been advised of the potential for damages they still are not liable.

6.2 No Liability for Consequential Damages. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL NVIDIA OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE, EVEN IF NVIDIA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Of course nothing says they couldn't try and sue them, but anyone can tell you these things usually end in some lame settlement years after the fact. Like everyone getting a crisp five dollar bill or a $10 coupon off the purchase of some future nVidia video card product, while the lawyers get to drive a truckload of cash home.

[ElfShotTheFood]

<looks over at Radeon HD4830 humming happily along in his custom desktop>

<smiles>

How does it feel, being an ATI owner and finally being able to make fun of nVidia drivers?

[ÜberJumper]

There was a problem like this a while ago. I'd often find my fan speeds set way way to low and have to force the settings more than once to get them to stick.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

Who doesnt monitor fan speed and/or temps on critical components?

[gzsfrk]

How does it feel, being an ATI owner and finally being able to make fun of nVidia drivers?

Delicious--like milk chocolate sex. :D

[ÜberJumper]

Pretty well the vast majority of PC gamers Shi.

[gojira]

I think he was being ironic, but yeah, I wouldn't notice my video card temperature until there was smoke coming out.

[Mozgus]

How does it feel, being an ATI owner and finally being able to make fun of nVidia drivers?

There's a first for everything. I'll happily take one driver hiccup instead of dozens.

[pearle]

I'm pretty sure this killed my 280 GTX late last week (of course I didn't know about the driver problem until today).

I'm using an ATI 5870 now.

[Anenome]

I'm not even sure how you people are even finding out about the latest driver. I don't upgrade unless some game I'm installing complains first >_> So, ignorance, at least in this case, is bliss. I have an 8800GT too >_>

[lockwoodx]

Delicious--like milk chocolate sex. :D

The last ATI card I owned was the 9800 pro GTS. It was the last one worth owning.

[Valkyrist]

I'm not even sure how you people are even finding out about the latest driver. I don't upgrade unless some game I'm installing complains first >_> So, ignorance, at least in this case, is bliss. I have an 8800GT too >_>

I found out because I was reading up on some BF:Bad Company 2 forums to tweak my PC's performance. I caught a couple threads saying "My video card died" etc. So I checked Nvidia's site.

Otherwise, it's a generally good thing to keep your video drivers current. Updating your drivers can improve performance on a number of levels, or increase stability. Framerate increases, less crashes to desktop, better compatibility with sound drivers, etc.

Obviously, new drivers can create problems as well. As illustrated by this thread. Hence why I personally recommend staying 1 version behind. Makes sure you have up-to-date drivers, but avoids most severe problems like video card catching on fire. It also helps to keep the installer for your last drivers handy, in case one of your older games stops working or the new drivers cause other problems.

[greenapple]

Knew somebody was going to get to them sooner or later. With the massive amount of machines those drivers bricked I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of legal action is forcing them to go public now when it's been a problem for months.

This driver was released March 2nd. "Months" is a bit of an exageration, no?

[Anenome]

This driver was released March 2nd. "Months" is a bit of an exageration, no?
Clearly you haven't read the movie thread discussing "Triangle" yet :P

[lockwoodx]

This driver was released March 2nd. "Months" is a bit of an exageration, no?

Ok Ok people have been using that "BETA" driver for months. It went live march 2nd. My bad.

[Agnostic Pope]

Delicious--like milk chocolate sex. :D

Interracial sex in the morning! KGW 101.1! THE ROCK! Sorry it reminded me of this...

[blackzc]

<looks over at Radeon HD4830 humming happily along in his custom desktop>

<smiles>

Yeah thats funny, ive always leaned toward Nvidia because of their historically more stable drivers, This isnt my first ATI card by far but i went ATI this time to get more bang for the buck.


Is this a first? Has this happened before?

[Gedd]

Rivatuner installed here. Even their working drivers don't tell the fans to work as hard as they should. 80c+ before it even starts to ramp up and then it only ramps up a few percent? Not good enough; when I play something GPU intensive, I manually ramp up my fans to 85-90%. Whatever it takes to keep that card under 80c. (GTX 285)