Nvidia Cards overheating and burning up, catastrophic failure on video cards!!!

[Jabouty]

We're getting reports where users are getting intermittent low FPS after installing these drivers. It seems that it is related to the fan control included in these drivers not working correctly and is causing the video card to overheat on 3D applications. This will affect Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft and StarCraft 2 Beta. Please uninstall the drivers and revert back to the older ones.

Windows XP: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_196.21_whql.html
Windows XP 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp64_196.21_whql.html
Windows Vista/7 32-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_wi...6.21_whql.html
Windows Vista/7 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_wi...6.21_whql.html

More information can be found on threads such as these:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161525
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161503

Check to make sure your drivers are NOT version 196.75. If they are that version, rollback your drivers to 196.21 until further notice. This is not a problem with Nvidia alone, but in the way Blizz utilizes the driver code to enhance the card's abilities.

I will post an update when one becomes available.

[Jabouty]

Additional information, force your card fan speed up to no less than 85% until Nvidia can provide an update or you run the chance of losing your card permanently.

I'll provide a walkthrough on how to force your fans speeds higher in about 30 minutes.

[Bodasafa]

How do you go about checking your driver version. I went into my control panel and then went through the device manager. I looked for any details about my driver number and all i got were a bunch of weird numbers.

[Jabouty]

Alright, here's the sticky:

Go here (http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_...ools_6.05.html) and download the System Tools (90Meg) and install. Install all three options, and when asked to put things on dekstop or quicklaunch, make sure to uncheck all.

After install, right click desktop, click Nvidia Control Panel, click Performance and accept user agreement. In the "View system information" part, lists your driver versions.

To control the fan, click device settings, click GPU, turn off auto and switch to manual and move slider to 85% click OK.

Fans should audibly kick in, close control panel, good to go. Roll back driver if your version is 196.75

In your device manager you should see the following:

Untitled.png

Note the Driver version: X.XX.XX.9621 This is what you want to see. If it's X.XX.XX.9675 then rollback.

[Bodasafa]

I actually have an even older version lol for the 7600gt X.XX.XX.9107

I should be fine then right?

[Jabouty]

ayuh, should be

[Bodasafa]

Do you recommend I mess with the fan settings still?

[Jabouty]

If it's working on old drivers, I'd leave it be.