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    Display driver quits working sometimes...

    Discussion in 'Samsung' started by jack53, Jan 6, 2011.

  1. jack53

    jack53 Dell XPS 9360 i7 Lover!

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    Every once in a while, like 1 or 2 times a week my screen will go dark and then come back on with a message that says something like this:

    "your display drive or hardware     (I forget which) quit working and has recovered"

    What is this and is it something I need to worry about? Such as the dedicated GPU going bad?
     
    jack53, Jan 6, 2011
    #1
  2. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    It means that a driver has tripped up. There should be more details of which one in the system log (Computer Management > Event Viewer > Windows Logs. It could well be the GPU driver. They get updated frequently in a perpetual quest for more performance but sometimes push the hardware too far.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jan 6, 2011
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  3. jack53

    jack53 Dell XPS 9360 i7 Lover!

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    I haven't updated my display or GPU drivers since I bought the notebook. They probably have new drivers... should I try that?

    I went to Computer Management > Event Viewer > Windows Logs
    and this is what I got:
     
    jack53, Jan 6, 2011
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  4. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    That's definitely the Nvidia graphics driver. First check the Samsung website and if there's nothing newer, go to Nvidia.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jan 7, 2011
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  5. jack53

    jack53 Dell XPS 9360 i7 Lover!

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    Well, it is time to do the driver update.
    I have two to choose from:

    From the Samsung website:
    External_VGA_64bit_8.16.11.8911
    From the Nvidia website:
    270.61-notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-international-whql

    Which one should I use?
    What are you guys using?
     
    jack53, Apr 21, 2011
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  6. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    The driver from Nvidia will be newer but may lack any Samsung-specific tweaks so some of the Fn key functions may not work. Give it a try.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Apr 22, 2011
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  7. jack53

    jack53 Dell XPS 9360 i7 Lover!

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    Would the Nvidia give better performance?
    Would either one be more stable than the current/stock one I have?

    If the FN/F10 doesn't work I won't like it as I use FN/F10 all the time to shut off the touchpad when using the mini-mouse.
    I find this notebook is really bad when typing with that touchpad on. This is another thing I really don't like about this notebook. Besides no 12 cell battery.
     
    jack53, Apr 22, 2011
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  8. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    I would first try the Samsung driver.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Apr 22, 2011
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  9. jack53

    jack53 Dell XPS 9360 i7 Lover!

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    Installed the Samsung driver:
    External_VGA_64bit_8.16.11.8911

    Won't make any judgment for a few days.
     
    jack53, May 9, 2011
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  10. jack53

    jack53 Dell XPS 9360 i7 Lover!

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    No more problems. Works great. Now I'll update the other stuff. One at a time.
     
    jack53, Jun 19, 2011
    #10