Dear NVIDIA,
Because of you and your inability to provide stable video card drivers for my NVIDIA based 6800GT video card, I’m now running Microsoft Windows Vista without any video drivers - just the generic adapter drivers Microsoft provides (”Standard PCI Video Card”)
Why, you ask? Because whenever I seem to boot my Windows Vista based PC, I’ve begun receiving a blank screen which shows up right where the login screen works. Safe mode works fine, and on the rare occasion Windows will actually boot using some form of NVIDIA drivers.
Without proper video card based acceleration and drivers I’m very limited in what I can do on this machine - I can’t play back videos or use Windows Media Center (the primary reason I have this machine), dragging Windows takes a ridiculously long time, and generally it’s just a major loss of productivity on my behalf.
Because you seem to lack the ability to actually provide support for your customers on widespread issues such as these, I’ve done your work and mine and taken the liberty of preparing a list of questions which I’ve also prepared the answers for.
When did this start happening?
This started happening in the middle of last week for absolutely no reason at all. I rebooted my Windows Vista based desktop PC and was presented with a blank screen right after the “Loading” animation and right before the login screen. Sometimes I’ll receive a dreaded blue screen of death (for nvlddmkm.sys) as a result.
I have not changed any of the hardware in this machine.
How do you know it is our crappy drivers?
When I boot in to Windows Vista using safe mode, I am alerted to the fact that Microsoft Windows has recovered from a serious error and asked if I’d like to report this to Microsoft and check for solutions. Of course I would - so I do.
Running the “Problem Reports & Solutions” applet in the Control Panel lets me know the problem was caused by an NVIDIA Graphics Driver and there is no solution available but I should check to see if there is an updated driver available, or contact yourself for other support options.
Windows Vista is only new - we haven’t had the time to polish our drivers.
Don’t give me that rubbish - you’ve had plenty of time. NVIDIA is a Microsoft Partner, you have had access to all of the beta releases throughout the Windows Vista development period and adequate information and assistance from Microsoft for developing WHQL based drivers - in fact, how are these drivers even signed WHQL drivers if there are so many problems with them?
This is not a widespread issue - our drivers work perfectly fine for everyone else.
No, they don’t. There’s a 90 page thread scattered with problems over on the official NVIDIA forums, a long with a 48 page thread on driver issues, and a similar 11 page thread filled with even more problems.
What’s more is you don’t seem to care very much about your customers - yes, you’re pushing forward a few new driver releases but it isn’t solving much and you aren’t communicating very well with your customers either. Acknowledge there are severe driver related issues with Windows Vista and actually participate in your forums a bit more to establish common causes and problems.
What version of the NVIDIA drivers are you using?
I’m currently running your latest “stable” drivers for Microsoft Windows Vista, v. 158.24.
Have you tried reinstalling our drivers?
Yes. Numerous times. I’ve completely removed the NVIDIA drivers from my system as well as run Driver Cleaner to remove all traces left by your drivers (you should really fix that too - when I uninstall something, I actually want it uninstalled)
The drivers will install again and I’ll be able to boot in to Windows Vista generally for the first reboot - subsequent reboots leave me with the blank black screen again.
Maybe it is your video card?
My video card works fine with Microsoft Windows XP and under the latest release of Ubuntu Linux. Don’t even try and tell me it is my video card.
I’ve also installed your “nTune” application which monitors the GPU of the video card - it’s well within a suitable temperature range and has not once overheated. The card is adequately cooled by the two fans also attached to the video card itself.
Could your RAM be faulty?
No. I’ve checked, double checked and then checked again for peace of mind. There are no problems with my RAM.
It could be your Windows Vista installation. Have you tried reinstalling?
Not yet. I don’t have the time at the moment but if it comes down to it, then yes, I will also try reinstalling Windows Vista but I don’t hold much hope.
Why would things go “bung up” for no apparent reason?
I’m not particularly happy here - as can be established from the above. I’m looking for a solution however everything I’ve tried has worked once and then the same problem still persists.