DeskScape Massive Crash!

from Stardock Forums

Okay, so I run Win7 x64 on an nVidia 8800GTS with 320Mb and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor running at 5600+.  I love DeskScapes - I have for years.

But my issue is pretty lethal:  When DeskScapes is running, there is a 100% chance of it suddenly going absolutely Bat-****-crazy and completely buggering up my display within an hour, typically less.  When running 3D applications, the errors seemed to occur very quickly, and were always the massive crashes. 

Usually, it blackened my screen and just completely stopped all processing, but the first couple of times this happened, it created display errors.  Pretty definitive ones, too.

Active windows had whole swathes of geometry go black, leaving random triangles visible, the taskbar had this bizarre 'tracking' effect (rather similar to old TV when you tried to access a channel that wasn't quite there). 

None of these effects take place when my wallpaper is set to a normal background.

And when I had just DeskScapes running, things seemed to work well enough, but I'd leave my computer and come back some time later to find that it had locked up, as detailed first.

deskscapes
17,168 views 47 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Is this something that has just started to happen, in other words has DesktScape worked okay up to the crashes starting?

What are the 3D applications and are these new to your system?

Latests drivers for the video card loaded?

 

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

This is a 1-week old Win7 FRESH install, with all updates and all drivers current.  The 3D app I used when it occurred was the free MMO "Perfect World".  It is not new to my system - all errors occurred AFTER Deskscapes was installed and initialized.  I only installed it last night, so it's clearly an issue with DeskScapes.  Haven't used Deskscapes since before it was XP compatible, so my miserable flirtation with Vista put the kibosh on it's use for a while, and now that I have Win7 (and loving it), I decided to give the newest version a test-run.

Don't get me wrong, it works beautifully!  ...er, until the whole "Die, Computer, Die!" bit. 


NOTE:  It is not a BSOD when hardcrashing - it just goes black like the monitors are trying to refresh but are hanging instead.

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Could your graphics card be overheating? My 8800 GT had the fan speed set at 30% by default,resulting in high temps. I use THIS to set it to 100% and the temps come down to a reasonable level. You can set it to whatever level you feel comfortable with. You have to register to download it but it's well worth it.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Might be the video card letting you know that it's about to die.  Not sure how you test that without just having another one to put in.

Wonder if it might be memory that could be bad?

If you don't run Perfect World does it still happen?

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Philly0381, reply 4
Might be the video card letting you know that it's about to die.  Not sure how you test that without just having another one to put in.

Wonder if it might be memory that could be bad?

If you don't run Perfect World does it still happen?
End of Philly0381's quote

 

No, the Card is healthy.  Runs full-tilt DOOM3 and UNREAL TOURNAMENT 3 without a hiccough.  If I don't run PW, it still happens, just not as quickly.

 

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Well, it sounds like what you need to do then is email support@stardock.com and start a ticket.  Something on your computer is not liking DeskScapes or the other way around.  When you email support be sure to idnetify your systems resources and enough detail so they can trouble shot the problem.

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

From the symptoms it sounds like you have either a defective video card or defective video drivers.

Deskscapes is a 3D rendered app unlike a flat wallpaper and so will be making the video card do more than it would usually be doing while sitting at the desktop.  This can expose previously hidden issues.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

It could also be a heat issue due to a blocked or inoperative video card fan. The 8800 has a squirrel cage fan for cooling and it can easily get stopped up. Pets in the house compounds the problem.

I have to clean mine monthly and I keep a clean house. If it goes two months between cleanings I have overheating issues.

Also, you should download EVGA's precision tool so you can manually bump the fan speeds up to 100% since they default to 60%.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Neil, reply 7
From the symptoms it sounds like you have either a defective video card or defective video drivers.

Deskscapes is a 3D rendered app unlike a flat wallpaper and so will be making the video card do more than it would usually be doing while sitting at the desktop.  This can expose previously hidden issues.
End of Neil's quote

That strikes me as somewhat odd, as I update my hardware only through the Device Manager - I admit to having similar problems before with my computer and other programmes, but only when I tried to be a geek and update the drivers manually from the website.

As for the card being defective?  I'm not so sure.  I suppose it's not impossible for DeskScapes to be attempting to access a memory address that nothing else does that JUST HAPPENS to be corrupt, but that doesn't mean it's likely.

I'm aware that DS is 3D rendered, but it's not resource-heavy.  If Oblivion plays at flank, shouldn't DS be able to chug along well enough?

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Okay, so I run Win7 x64 on an nVidia 8800GTS with 320Mb and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor running at 5600+
End of quote

 

I see that you have windows 7 64 bit with a AMD Proccessor , Try installing the Newer AMD Cool & Quiet Driver from the AMD Support Forum this fixed alot of the little issues I had with deskScapes and Object Dock as It is not included in the windows 7 install.

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting DanielYetman, reply 9

That strikes me as somewhat odd, as I update my hardware only through the Device Manager - I admit to having similar problems before with my computer and other programmes, but only when I tried to be a geek and update the drivers manually from the website.
End of DanielYetman's quote

Upgrading your drivers through the Device Manager only gives you the Microsoft published Windows Update drivers, which are notorious for screwing things up.  NVIDIA also highly recommends that you use their installer, not the method you are using right now.

I would recommend that you do the following:

1. Download the latest driver for your card from nvidia.com

2. Go into the Device Manager and uninstall your card (check the box to delete the driver software as well).  Reboot your PC afterwards.

3. Install the driver you downloaded from nvidia.com using their installer. (not Device Manager)

See if DeskScapes works any better now.  If it does, when you want to update your video card driver you should uninstall from Programs and Features, reboot, and then install the new one.

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

I have a problem similar to this (hopefully the same issue).  Basically my screen locks up.  Sometimes I get a few seconds warning because the UI starts to get EXTREMELY slow, gradually worsening, until everything locks up entirely.  When this happens I still see the desktop but NOTHING responds, no ctrl-alt-del, nothing.  Other times the screen just suddenly goes black and stays black (I've left it for some time to see if it recovers, never does).

I have yet to see any triangle related glitches.

 

The catch with my issue is that it's only with certain dreams. Right now I'm running "Winter Snow" by Neil Banfield and I have NO problems whatsoever running this.  But if I switch to many of the other dreams I've tried, after an hour or so I experience this problem.

 

To the OP: could you try obtaining Winter Snow to see if the problem is with specific (types of?) dreams?  This might clue us in to exactly what the root of the problem is, assuming there's some fundamental difference in how this dream works vs the others that have been blowing up.

I kinda doubt it's my card overheating (or bad), I never have problems with anything else and this Alienware thing I have has fans and liquid cooling all over the place (not on the video card, though).  Also my main hard drive is an SSD which puts out less heat.  Is there a way to monitor/report the temp of the GPU?

NVidia 8800 GTX

Intel Core2 Quad Q6600

Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate

Mount and Blade Warband

(Oh, was that last part not needed? :D  )

 

Edit:

Actually I remembered I have GPU-Z.0.3.8 which is giving me a 62 and 54 degree temp on the GPU, running at 60% fan speed. This is of course on the desktop running the dream I mentioned.

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Bah, I can't find Winter Snow anymore for some reason.  But... since the creator happens to be posting in this thread anyway perhaps he can shed some light on the issue?  I don't have any problems with 3d games either, just with certain DS dreams.

Edit - Just realized how old this thread is.  Not the most active forum here huh?   ;P

Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I have a very similar problem: I had crashes since several weeks at random intervals (10 minutes to a few hours) when using DeskScape . Either the screen freezes or even the monitor signal is lost completely. I have a Dell XPS 420 with Geforce 8800 GTX graphics card. Dell replaced my mainboard, my graphics card and had me reinstall the operating system (I used the opportunity to switch from Vista 32 bit to Windows 7 64 bit). No change! What finally helped was disabling DeskScapes.

What is particularly strange is that the crashes both happened when DeskScape was running and also when I was doing a full screen game (when I suppose DeskScape pauses itself).

On a Dell laptop with the same software setup everything runs fine.

Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Does the same thing happen if you use a non video based dream such as Vintage dream or winter snow?

The 8800 is known to have a faulty video decoder unit and I can't help but notice all threee reports in this thread are with 8800 graphics cards.  It may be nvidia have found a way to use part of the defective video decoder unit, but it is having unfortunate side effects.

Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting pinkall, reply 15
I have a very similar problem: I had crashes since several weeks at random intervals (10 minutes to a few hours) when using DeskScape . Either the screen freezes or even the monitor signal is lost completely. I have a Dell XPS 420 with Geforce 8800 GTX graphics card. Dell replaced my mainboard, my graphics card and had me reinstall the operating system (I used the opportunity to switch from Vista 32 bit to Windows 7 64 bit). No change! What finally helped was disabling DeskScapes.

What is particularly strange is that the crashes both happened when DeskScape was running and also when I was doing a full screen game (when I suppose DeskScape pauses itself).

On a Dell laptop with the same software setup everything runs fine.
End of pinkall's quote

I too would like to know if winter snow crashes for you as well, cuz I've been running snow for months now with not a single issue!

And my friend, we do not have what you would call a "very similar" problem.  I believe we have the exact same problem!  And the exact same setup:

8800 GTX

Windows 7 64-bit

 

 

 

 

 

...Mount and Blade Warband  :thumbsup:

 

 

(What about drivers? 195.62 here. I suppose now I'll have to update those - arg!) 

 

Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top

Bah, this isn't cool.  DeskScapes is half the reason I purchased OD.  I was fine with a snowy background for the winter but now we're well into the spring and I'm still seeing flakes!   X(

Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Wizard1956, reply 3
Could your graphics card be overheating? My 8800 GT had the fan speed set at 30% by default,resulting in high temps. I use THIS to set it to 100% and the temps come down to a reasonable level. You can set it to whatever level you feel comfortable with. You have to register to download it but it's well worth it.
End of Wizard1956's quote

 

This may be a problem with the above theory.  I don't know if he's around to confirm but it sounds like Wizard with an 8800 GT has no such problem?

Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top

Bah, this isn't cool. DeskScapes is half the reason I purchased OD. I was fine with a snowy background for the winter but now we're well into the spring and I'm still seeing flakes!
End of quote

Snow is also a filter for dreams.  Make sure this is not on.

Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I don't know if he's around to confirm but it sounds like Wizard with an 8800 GT has no such problem?
End of quote

That is correct. I have no problems running any dream-no crashes, freezes,etc. no matter how long they run.In fact I've never had any graphics related trouble, aside from the low fan speed. Fortunately I corrected that before anything got cooked.

 Other specs:

MSI K9A2 Mobo

AMD Phenom X4 9850BE

EVGA 8800GT w/ stock cooling

4 Gb OCZ 1066 RAM

CoolerMaster case w/4 fans

 

Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Setting the fan speed to 100% raises the noise level DRAMATICALLY. so I do not know whether this is an option for me even to try. Also it it obvious that the problem started with some software change (seemingly around December). Either new Nvidia drivers or a DeskScape update. So maybe there is a software solution ...

Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Do you have the stereoscopic driver service running? It turns itself on after some driver updates.I mention it because that's the only "tweak" I make to my 8800 GT. I kill the process and disable the service since I don't use it and like to keep my running processes as low as possible.

Could nVidia be using the defective video decoder for this service in some way?

Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top

3D is disabled in the Nvidia control panel, and besides nvvsvc.exe (seems harmless) I do not see Nvidia-related processes running.