I would try a few different driver versions, even if they are not the latest. That's what sorted it for me. I would try that first and if it doesn't work go back to my first post for a list of things to try! Most of those I found elsewhere on this forum and various people have reported that they have solved the problem.

Yes works fine with X for me. It's a great program, I use it regularly.

Excellent! The firmware upgrade seems to have fixed it. It was dropping the connection every 8 hours or so before, now it has been running for 36 hours+ with no problems

Last edited by Nick A, Wed 8 Aug 2007, 10:20.

Thanks Albieg, you always give me a load of things to try!

First thing's first though, I found they released a new firmware last month, so I'll get that on there tonight. Then I can start on your list...

Some good news

Have now done about 5 hours testing with the 61.77 drivers posted by kx_mole (post #115) and no freezes! I have had a few more graphical glitches as I mentioned before, but they only last a few frames if that and I can happily live with them.

I suspect that there is a problem somewhere in my system, which is still present, but these drivers seem much better at coping with the problem.

Thanks very much for everyone who has helped me and others on this thread. I think it was more persistence than cunning diagnosis that solved the problem in the end but I have learnt a lot about how to diagnose problems in the process. It’s funny because I found a good deal on a new PC this week and I decided if I got 1 more freeze, I was going to replace the lot, but I’m glad I don’t have to now.

Special thanks to moley for the magic drivers!

PS: I now have a new problem though: my internet connection drops once or twice a day and the only way to get it back up is to reboot the router. Oh well, something else to fix...

Yeah, I heard they have a habit of continuing to charge you once you leave too. But I am coming round to the idea of staying anyway. It seems to me that it's pot luck whether you'll have connection/customer service problems wherever you go unless you're prepared to go for Newnet or an Entanet reseller, so I'd rather avoid the hassle and stay with AOL. It's not perfect, but for £10 a month it does what i need and i don't want a load of hassle when I switch.

I’ve looked into 20 or so ISPs now and narrowed it down to:

Talktalk – read bad things about severe throttling after using only 5 or 10GB/month. Not keen on 18 month contract.
Virgin – looks OK but would need to buy a new cable router with wireless access point. Also can’t migrate after contract is over.
Newnet – Look good, 12GB limit Ok for now, but in a year’s time I may need more. £16.50/month a little pricey.
Entanet retailers (eg UKFSN.ADSL24) – look fantastic, no port blocking, excellent pings, but £20/month
BE: Look good, but 4GB limit not enough for me and next package up is £24/month
Demon: bad customer service, but big allowance but would probably rather go for Newnet.
And finally…
Staying with AOL, looking increasingly likely, as it seems I may be able to get it for £10/month and get a speed upgrade.

Danowat – are you on their Home or Evolution package? If you’re torrenting I assume it’s Evolution but they give that only 2* for performance so surprised to hear that it’s OK.

Sorry to hear those peasky freezes are back.

I use Firefox but I still had freezes on my fresh Windows XP installation, which didn't have Firefox installed.

I will try and do some testing tonight.

No, AOL isn't that bad compared to the other big name ISPs I think. Torrents run OK, LFS runs well too and the service is fairly reliable but it conked out during my league race at the weekend

Also, I'm not in an LLU area, so it would be £20/month from next month I think. For £20 a month I could be with ADSL24 or UKFSN who have fantastic reputations and don't throttle or port block.

I still havn't decided what to do but I've got it down to just 5 ISPs now! Will post again when I've decided!

Patience! I havn't had any more time to test it and I'll be driving less over the next few weeks as I don't have a GFC race for a while. But I will do a few hours this week and report back.

Hehe. I am still working on it. I just go through quiet period when I am testing and thinking

At the moment I am using the 61.77 drivers. I've done 2/3 hours with no freeze. I did have a second when the GFX went crazy but recovered. Maybe that would have turned into a freeze with different driver versions but this driver can deal with whatever the problem is a bit better? I'll keep testing and keep you posted...

Thanks for all your comments! The reason I was looking at those 4 is simply because they are considerably cheaper than some ISPs (they work out around £80 a year), but I guess you get what you pay for and from what I've read the technical support is generally much better woth the smaller companies.

Sounds like Virgin would be the best of those 4, but I will look into some of the smaller ones suggested and decide if it's worth the extra.

Quote from kx_mole :

it will definitely solve the problem but first, try a driver change , I will search another driver for you.

here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_61.77.html

or the last from 6x.xx :

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_66.93.html

Cheers Moley, I'm not optimistic but I'll give them a go

Last edited by Nick A, Fri 27 Jul 2007, 17:37. Reason : Wrong quote!

I'm with AOL at the moment, they've been OK I'm but going to switch next month. As I race in a league I really want a stable connection which won't drop (AOL has actually been very good like that). Speed isn't that important, 2MB would be OK. I use around 10Gb/month so need that allowance or preferably a bit more. I was thinking of Virgin/Tiscali/Supanet as they're all dirt cheap but have read bad things about all 3. Then again I've read bad things about AOL and they were OK. Any suggestions?

It was a 6600 (not GT) and it didn't freeze, it just hung IIRC. Maybe I will try some old drivers, seems to have worked for you kx_mole. Something is very wierd, I'm thinking about ditching the whole PC and buyng a new one again!

mamynast - thanks for your persistance! Got there in the end. You have the same BIOS version as me and kx_mole but a much older date.

dawesdust_12: I think it is officially called "Phoenix Award BIOS"! What version do you have? Interesting that you have the key ingredients of what i suspect is causing the problem, but your is fine.

No, that's still not it!

Try downloading Bios Agent:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/The_BIOS_Agent_d5038.html

It's just a little program which tells you your BIOS info. If you could let me know the BIOS Type, Date and ID (first 3 boxes) that would be great

Thanks. I was mainly interested in the system BIOS though. Could you try what I suggested in post #99 again? Thanks, hope the driver sorts it for you.

I'd run drivercleaner before installing that new driver, especially as your old one sounds quite corrupt. See Post 18 on Page 1 of this thread. Let me know if you find the BIOS version. GL!

Hi Scawen. I have a problem where the screen freezes, sound loops, and no controller input is detected or network activity sent/received. This happens at random intervals, sometimes it will go for hours and be OK. There is a thread on it here (but probably no need to read that to answe my question)

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=26541&page=4

I've noticed other people having this problem (only with LFS) which can sometimes be solved by changing various settings. But I have had no luck after working away at it for many weeks now. I was wondering if you had any ideas on what sort of problems can cause this behaviour in LFS to help me focus my search a bit? Are there some things which LFS is quite sensitive too?

I'm not sure that's the right thing. I found an easier way though:

Open Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Information. Here you will find System Summary on the left and its contents on the right. See BIOS version/date.

You can do this:

Go to Start>run... and type regedit.exe

Then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System

Click on the word "system". Please let me know the SystemBiosDate and SystemBiosVersion. Be careful not to change anything in the registry editor! Thanks!

Hi mamynast,

Hope that driver sorts it out for you, let us know how you get on. What BIOS do you have, and what version?

Thanks bud, I'll do that!

I don't think it's a driver problem for me (as I've had problems with several driver versions and a different GFX card too). I more suspect the BIOS, so I might try flashing it tonight with the newer version. My mobo FAQ says to use the new version with my CPU anyway.