Beware: Latest Nvidia GeForce Driver Thoroughly Borked

[The Wooster]

Beware: Latest Nvidia GeForce Driver Thoroughly Borked

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A number of different sources are reporting blue screens, restart loops and hardware failures linked to Nvidia's 364.47 GeForce Driver.

Nvidia has confirmed that there's an issue with the 364.47 driver it released yesterday. Apparently, the problem lies in the drivers' express installation settings and the company advises users to avoid installing the update, or to install the 364.51 driver which is in beta at the time of writing.

The 364.47 driver, which includes optimizations for The Division, Need for Speed, Ashes of the Singularity and Rise of the Tomb Raider, has been linked to numerous issues on a wide variety of system configurations. The issues range from hard-locks, to visual artifacting, a loss of HDMI sound output, restart loops that require a Windows system restore to fix and there are unconfirmed reports of actual damage to GPU hardware.

Nvidia recommends upgrading to the latest drivers, but to be absolutely safe I'd suggest uninstalling the .47 driver while in safe mode and performing a clean install of either the previous WHQL-certified version or the .51 beta.

I'm running a GTX980 on Windows 10 64-bit and I've just installed the .51 beta. My system was stable throughout a 10 minute FurMark stress test. Take that as you will

Source: Nvidia [http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4054] via Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/49cy4i/new_36447_driver_released_with_vulkan_support_in/]

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[Elfgore]

And since I'm not above to put my two month old, expensive computer at risk due my lack of computer knowledge. I shall not be upgrading my driver until I hear the all clear.

Really, really, really appreciate the heads up.

 

[Fappy]

Well that sucks. I installed it last night. Only thing I noticed was screen tearing when scrolling in my browser despite having gsync. Any word on a new patch to rectify their fuck up?

Edit: Looks like I'll just download the beta drivers.

 

[hentropy]

Really the most surprising thing about this is that Nvidia actually changes the drivers as often as they release them. I thought that was just marketing.

 

[cikame]

For some reason i have a built in safety mechanism where i don't update drivers unless they've been out for a week or more, often i don't bother unless i'm trying to resolve an issue with a game. I guess now i can recommend this approach to other people.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

You know, Microsoft's bright idea was to install GPU drivers for users without their knowledge as well in Windows 10. I'm glad that idea died before it could become reality. Nvidia drivers have been shit for well over a year now. Meanwhile AMD drivers just keep getting better. Strange times we live in.

For some reason i have a built in safety mechanism where i don't update drivers unless they've been out for a week or more, often i don't bother unless i'm trying to resolve an issue with a game. I guess now i can recommend this approach to other people.

Of course. There's no need to install drivers unless you actually need the improvements they provide. And even then you usually don't need them as soon as they're out.

 

[WindKnight]

Really the most surprising thing about this is that Nvidia actually changes the drivers as often as they release them. I thought that was just marketing.

From what I understand, the constant updates coincide game releases because there usually issues between a game and the drivers, and the update i s to make sure nothing borks up because of it.

 

[Gizmo1990]

Thank god I am so unbelivebly lazy that I am two drivers out of date and thank you for the artical letting people know.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

That's okay. After spending 2 hours cleaning out my brother's PC case, replacing the motherboard, desperately trying to find my old CPU fan, and replacing the old CPU with the AMD 8350 from my previous PC, it turns out the CPU is fried anyway.
And The Division seems to run just fine on my PC without these new drivers, so I'll just wait it out until it's fixed for sure.

 

[Remus]

For some reason i have a built in safety mechanism where i don't update drivers unless they've been out for a week or more, often i don't bother unless i'm trying to resolve an issue with a game. I guess now i can recommend this approach to other people.

Same. If my computer works for the games I have, I don't change drivers. These are not things like Iphones - newer is not always better. Oh and I'm running AMD atm, so guess I dodged that bullet.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Good thing I didn't update yet, then.
Also, I just refreshed my GeForce Experience and the .47 patch seems to no longer be available.

 

[Kross]

For some reason i have a built in safety mechanism where i don't update drivers unless they've been out for a week or more, often i don't bother unless i'm trying to resolve an issue with a game. I guess now i can recommend this approach to other people.

I've had several systems bricked or otherwise screwed up by patches, where I'm now at the point where I don't willingly patch anything (except for security emergencies) unless the patch has been out for at least two weeks. It's just not worth the potential hassle, and Quality Assurance (beta testing) is a paid position that I don't feel like doing for free in most situations.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Good thing I'm still on 311.06.
I don't know how many times updates have destroyed both digital files/systems and physical media/components for me.
In fact, I got this current computer thanks to Nvidia drivers messing up my new-bought win8 comp last(-last?) winter.
Got it home and worked for 2 days until I installed and played Anno 1404. Got some Nvidia error and rebooted, then just endlessly loading up.

Nowadays I never update anything unless it's critical or absolutely necessary.
I've learned my lesson full and well.

Oh, and if you only play older games you don't really need those newer drivers..
You might not need them anyway. I can play newer games just fine anyhow..

 

[Jburton9]

Thank you for the heads up, I have a 980GTX as well. For my systems at home, I have found that the last few driver sets have not exactly been very stable until the release before this current one.

 

[09philj]

Nvidia - Great hardware, software that makes you want to scream.

 

[NickBrahz]

Updated my driver yesterday, all of a sudden screens go black but never turn back on, restart PC got blue screens over and over had to system restore.
Last time i update a driver when it isn't at least a few weeks old.

 

[TwoSidesOneCoin]

Shit. Installed it last night, but having no issues so far. Now to go google how to downgrade to the previous drivers.

 

[insanelich]

And since I'm not above to put my two month old, expensive computer at risk due my lack of computer knowledge. I shall not be upgrading my driver until I hear the all clear.

Really, really, really appreciate the heads up.

It's not putting your computer at risk. That's extremely rare and generally you can safely assume it's just told to them by their Uncle At Nintendo.

Now, it is putting you at risk of headaches, reinstalls and time spent fixing Nvidia's fuckup.

 

[Tiamat666]

NVidia releases botched drivers. I'm surprised this can even be considered news.

I wish NVidia would stop "optimizing" their drivers for specific games and instead just make the damn thing work reliably without "NVidia display driver has stopped responding" popups, hard crashes and other fun times.

 

[tacotrainwreck]

Oh snap. Thanks for the warning, and Mr. Titan X thanks you even moreso. *big thumbs up*