# nvidia 6800 problems

## grooveman

Hello.

I'm having some serious problems with my graphics card these days.  

The problems only seem to occur when I play Neverwinter Nights -- the only game I have that really taxes the card.  The problems do not appear to be present under windows XP, and I never seem to have problems with other opengl things, like the various xscreensavers and tuxracer.

The problem is that, while  playing NWN, the whole screen will freeze from 20-90 seconds, then suddenly come back.  It will do this a few times, then finally it will freeze and knock-out the whole system (hard reboot necessary). 

I have tried reducing the resolution and reducing the graphics to the bare minimum -- still happens.  The card never goes above 50 degrees centigrade, and the CPU is never above 45.  It always worked just fine, until a couple 'emerge -uDN world's ago...  Since that time, it has been cranky ever since (about 2 months now).

I have tried drivers 169.07 through 169.12 -- none work.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

G

My system:

AMD 64 3500+ CPU

2 GB Ram

emerge -info

```
Portage 2.1.4.4 (default-linux/amd64/2006.0, gcc-3.4.6, glibc-2.6.1-r0, 2.6.23-gentoo-r8 x86_64)

=================================================================

System uname: 2.6.23-gentoo-r8 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+

Timestamp of tree: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:00:01 +0000

app-shells/bash:     3.2_p17-r1

dev-java/java-config: 1.3.7, 2.1.4

dev-lang/python:     2.4.4-r9

dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r6

sys-apps/baselayout: 1.12.11.1

sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.18.1-r2

sys-devel/autoconf:  2.13, 2.61-r1

sys-devel/automake:  1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2, 1.10

sys-devel/binutils:  2.18-r1

sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.4.0-r4

sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.26

virtual/os-headers:  2.6.23-r3

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"

CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-march=k8 -O2 -pipe"

CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/3.4/env /usr/kde/3.4/share/config /usr/kde/3.4/shutdown /usr/kde/3.5/env /usr/kde/3.5/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/shutdown /usr/share/X11/xkb /usr/share/config"

CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/terminfo /etc/texmf/web2c /etc/udev/rules.d"

CXXFLAGS="-march=k8 -O2 -pipe"

DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"

FEATURES="autoconfig distlocks metadata-transfer sandbox sfperms strict unmerge-orphans userfetch"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo"

LANG="en"

LC_ALL="en"

LINGUAS="en"

PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"

PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"

PORTDIR="/usr/portage"

SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

USE="X alsa amd64 apic apm arts avi berkdb cddb cli cracklib crypt cups dga distcc dri dts dv dvd dvdread eds emboss encode ethreal fbcon ffmpeg flac flash foomaticdb fortran gif gimp gimp-2.2 gimpprint gnome gphoto2 gpm gstreamer gtk gtk2 hal iconv imlib ipv6 isdnlog java jpeg kde libusb lzw lzw-tiff midi motif mp3 mpeg mudflap ncurses nls nptl nptlonly nsplugin nvidia ogg oggvorbis opengl openmp oss pam pcre perl png ppds pppd python qt qt3 qt4 quicktime readline reflection samba sdl session spell spl ssl svg tcpd tetex tiff truetype usb v4l v4l2 vorbis wmv xinerama xorg xpm xsane xscreensaver xv zlib" ALSA_CARDS="intel8x0 ice1712 bt87x" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="en" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="nv vesa nvidia"

Unset:  CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LDFLAGS, MAKEOPTS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY

```

Version of xorg-x11:

```
x11-base/xorg-x11

      Latest version available: 7.2

      Latest version installed: 7.2

      Size of files: 0 kB

      Homepage:      http://xorg.freedesktop.org

      Description:   An X11 implementation maintained by the X.Org Foundation (meta package)

      License:       as-is

```

Version of Nvidia Drivers:

```
x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers

      Latest version available: 169.12

      Latest version installed: 169.12

      Size of files: 38,752 kB

      Homepage:      http://www.nvidia.com/

      Description:   NVIDIA X11 driver and GLX libraries

      License:       NVIDIA

```

----------

## d2_racing

hi, can you post your /etc/X11/xorg.conf plz ?

----------

## pathfinder

Hi,

Does it happen also with another game?

Try neverball, or pacmanarena (do it, just to check out if it s a bug in your game)

Then, cat /proc/interrupts  would tell us whether you have IRQ conflicts that may hang your system

----------

## grooveman

Sure, but this hasn't changed in 18 months.  These lockups are a recent phenomenon.

My xorg.conf file:

```

Section "Module"

    Load        "dbe"   # Double buffer extension

    SubSection  "extmod"

      Option    "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialise the DGA extension

    EndSubSection

    Load        "freetype"

    Load       "glx"

    Load       "dri"

EndSection

Section "Files"

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"

    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/local/"

    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"

    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"

    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"

    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"

    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/freefont/"

    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"

    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"

EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier  "Keyboard1"

    Driver      "kbd"

    Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"

    Option "XkbRules"   "xorg"

    Option "XkbModel"   "pc105"

    Option "XkbLayout"  "us"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier  "Mouse1"

    Driver      "mouse"

    Option "Protocol"    "IMPS/2"       # IntelliMouse PS/2

    Option "Device"      "/dev/input/mice"

    Option "ZAxisMapping"   "4 5 6 7"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

    Identifier  "My Monitor"

    Option          "DPMS"

    HorizSync   31.5 - 57.0

    VertRefresh 50-90

EndSection

Section "Device"

    Identifier  "Standard VGA"

    VendorName  "Unknown"

    BoardName   "Unknown"

    Driver     "nvidia"

EndSection

Section "Device"

    Identifier  "** NVIDIA (generic)                   [nv]"

    Driver      "nvidia"

        Option      "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"

    #VideoRam    262144

    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate

EndSection

Section "Extensions"

        Option      "Composite"   "enable"

EndSection

Section "Screen"

    Identifier  "Screen 1"

    Device      "** NVIDIA (generic)                   [nv]"

    Monitor     "My Monitor"

    DefaultDepth 24

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth       8

        Modes       "1280x1024"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth       16

        Modes       "1280x1024"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth       24

        Modes       "1280x1024"

        #Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

    Identifier  "Simple Layout"

    Screen "Screen 1"

    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"

    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

        Option          "BlankTime"     "0"

        Option          "StandbyTime"   "0"

        Option          "SuspendTime"   "0"

        Option          "OffTime"       "0"

EndSection

```

 # cat /proc/interrupts

```
           CPU0

  0:         48   IO-APIC-edge      timer

  1:        735   IO-APIC-edge      i8042

  4:          1   IO-APIC-edge

  7:          0   IO-APIC-edge      parport0

  8:          0   IO-APIC-edge      rtc

  9:          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   acpi

 14:       3067   IO-APIC-edge      ide0

 17:          1   IO-APIC-fasteoi   Bt87x audio, bttv0

 18:      25067   IO-APIC-fasteoi   nvidia

 19:          0   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ICE1712

 20:       4390   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ohci_hcd:usb2

 21:       2334   IO-APIC-fasteoi   ehci_hcd:usb1

 22:      34745   IO-APIC-fasteoi   sata_nv, eth1

 23:      16076   IO-APIC-fasteoi   sata_nv, NVidia CK804

NMI:          0   Non-maskable interrupts

LOC:     107307   Local timer interrupts

TRM:          0   Thermal event interrupts

THR:          0   Threshold APIC interrupts

SPU:          0   Spurious interrupts

ERR:          0
```

Like I stated earlier, it only seems to happen with nwn.  It doesn't happen in tuxracer.  I downloaded pacmanarena, and played as long as I can stand it -- no crashes.  Likewise, no crashes on any of the opengl screensavers...  But -- none of these other things push the card like NWN does, so I don't think this is an apples-to-apples comparison.

On a sadder note, I did boot to an elive CD (which comes with proprietary nvidia drivers), and the same thing happened -- even on a fresh, unpatched version of the game  :Sad:   It has never happened to me before...  In windows, I can play NWN2 until the cows come home -- and that is a much more demanding game than NWN... this just makes no sense to me...

----------

## pathfinder

ok

have you tried asking in nvidia and NWN forums? I would try there, I am sure you are not the only one.

I rread some games had trouble (World of warcraft I dare say) with some graphic cards. (i can t remember more, sorry)

If you ran on your computer and it had the same probs from the eliveCD, try now to install it on another computer.

And see what happens...

----------

## grooveman

Oh, it certainly works on other PC's.

I am having more problems, and I am now thinking it is the motherboard... maybe a bad chipset.  I'm getting strange lock-ups at other times now as well:  at boot, during a forced fsck, and sometimes while KDE is idle.  Something is not happy...

I don't know why it doesn't affect it in windows... but maybe I'll try that again now that it is getting crankier...

----------

## pathfinder

check the power supply, 

check your cables, your plugs.

RAMtest also.

check cooling.

PCI latency too (lspci -vv and follow Daniel Robbins Stability Guide part II)

Then, as GC is ok on other MOBOs, 

try to unplug EVERYTHING not needed inside your PC

Run Utility software to diagnose possible hardware failures.

Use smartctl to check harddrive¡s health.

Then, I have no more ideas. sorry

with another distro? tried other kernels? (genkernel, or Ubuntu ones, overloaded)

Just to see whether it is kernel related.

Excuse me, you updated the BIOS? don t remember right now.

----------

## Darius4all

Hi,

did you try compiling erasing "nv mesa" from VIDEO_CARS, just leaving "nvidia" as the video card in your /etc/make.conf ?

If you didn't give it a try, with 

```
emerge -uNDpv world
```

.

I had this kind of problem a while ago and finally got through it that way.

----------

## grooveman

I can give that a try...

----------

