Naga

Been happening for a couple of weeks now: basically, I load a game, my computer hangs with a screen of random-coloured static/noise. (No pictures to show)

Very annoying.

I can prevent it by cutting the power to the system (which I'm very
uncomfortable with doing) as soon as it locks up; upon reboot, it works fine. Simply hitting the reset switch on the front of the case does nothing to help.

Initially, these errors would show up as "Unknown error on CMDre", followed by some hex code, (two such examples are "00000001 00000000 00000000 00000001 00000001" and "00000003 000000c0 4000002a 00000007 00000000") with an error code of 14, the source "nv", and no user listed.

I've tried uninstalling drivers and reinstalling (notably, it only started as I installed 258.56 WHQL, but rolling back to my previous ones did nothing to help), and I've reinstalled my OS, but still, it happens. Of note, however, is that since the reinstall, the system doesn't produce an error statement in the event viewer.

Google hasn't really been much help; loads of symptoms, even more possible causes, all for this one error. Things range from faulty memory, power supplies, graphics cards, software driver errors, conflicts, and one case a DVD drive that seemed to go rogue on the system.

Windows XP Home Edition, service pack 3
Geforce GTX 280, manufactured by Palit, and an integrated Geforce 8300, running in hybrid SLI mode (though these errors happened before this was enabled, anyhow)
2x1GB of RAM, Corsair XMS2
Asus M3N72-D motherboard (750a SLI)
Phenom II X4, 940 BE

No overclock.

I'd appreciate some help.

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oneinchwunda

Go into Event Viewer (or w/e it is on XP) and find the error for the crash. This should give some info.

Almost definitely a GPU issue however. Crashing on entering 3D apps (games) and source "nv" (Nvidia) confirms it.

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Naga

I've mentioned that the event viewer doesn't display these errors anymore. The error code was also in the EV.

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oneinchwunda

Sorry, I missed that bit. Typical.

Still, 99% sure it's a GPU/Onboard GPU problem. Updating drivers may have caused a problem with Hybrid SLI. Disable SLI, then roll back drivers and see if it still happens. If so, switch to Onboard GPU and try again.

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