I have a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 260 GTX card (Driver 8.17.11.9732)  in my HP 3.33 GHz Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, Windows 7 - 64-bit computer and am running Vue Inf. 8.5, Build #52244.

I just discovered there is an even newer version of Vue Inf. available and am downloading it right now.  However in the meantime, this is my problem:  When working in Vue, the screen all of a sudden disappears and reverts to the taskbar icon for a few seconds so that only the desktop is visible.  Vue does not crash or shut itself down, but instead comes right back.  This does not cause the loss of any data but is very annoying.  Has anyone else experienced anything similar?  I have the Max Usable Video Memory set to 1024.

Not sure you have the latetst drivers. Wanted to check it out at Nvidia, but their sites seem broken atm. And to anwer the question, no I don't have the problems you have, using a Geforce GT 240M on my Win7 64bit laptop. I know, different card, but generally same drivers. (except mine is a laptop card). Try reducing your available memory, since you are allocating 100% of it to Vue (if your card has 1 gig, which I assume it has), and some is needed by Windows. I set mine to 850 megs.

Thanks, Bruno - I'm pretty sure the driver is the latest as I upgraded as soon as I received the system which was only about 2 weeks ago.  I had to dig into the availability of a newer driver at that time as I got a message the first time I opened Vue with the new machine that my video card was not compatible with Vue and Fixed Hardware Pipeline mode was going to be used.

When I posted my message, I didn't realize that this weird behavior doesn't only happen with Vue.  I was downloading Vue's newest build from e-on's site and the same thing happened (Vue was not open - only Firefox).  Could it be a memory leak? I don't know anything about memory leaks.

Are you using Windows default Aero Themes?  Try switching to Windows 7 Basic or Classic--whatever they call it.  Aero can do weird things, and uses about a Gig of RAM by itself.

John

Checked NVidia again, and it appears you are not using the latest drivers, latest drivers are 197.45
(8.17.11.9745), maybe you should dl them and see if the performance is back? The fact that your problems happen with non graphic intensive programs also make me think there might be a flaw, either in the drivers you are using, or something went wrong upon installing them, but no memory leak, more like Windows lost communication with the graphic drivers.

Quote - Are you using Windows default Aero Themes?  Try switching to Windows 7 Basic or Classic--whatever they call it.  Aero can do weird things, and uses about a Gig of RAM by itself.

John

Good idea, John.  I did change from the initial HP theme to an Aero theme and then my own theme.  I'll try that.  Thanks for your input.

Quote - Checked NVidia again, and it appears you are not using the latest drivers, latest drivers are 197.45
(8.17.11.9745), maybe you should dl them and see if the performance is back? The fact that your problems happen with non graphic intensive programs also make me think there might be a flaw, either in the drivers you are using, or something went wrong upon installing them, but no memory leak, more like Windows lost communication with the graphic drivers.

I re-checked the HP site and the latest driver they have for my system is the one I have.  But then someone at the NVIDIA forum told me about the 197.45 driver that you mention.  

I'll try John's idea for today and see what happens so I'll know whether it was the theme or the driver.  If that works, I'll download the newest NVIDIA driver.  I am assuming I can download it directly from the NVIDIA  site?  Again, thank you for taking the time to help me.

Don't wait on HP to update your drivers, you'll wait forever (been there, done that, lesson learnt). Get them directly from Nvidia. And maybe the HP download was bad, this is also a possibility why you(re having problems with your current setup.

I have the same video card and the same problem.  It's called a TDR -- Timeout Detection and Repair.  Your GPU (video card) is freezing, so Windows (Vista and 7) is programmed to reset it.  It happens when you're at the upper end of usage.

Sadly, there is not one fix for this, and I have not found it yet.  I have updated drivers, turned off Aero, turned off all power management schemes, run memory checks, checked to be sure the card wasn't factory overclocked, run a CPU stress test, checked system temperatures...  Nuthin.  Still happens.  Sometimes in photoshop, too, when I'm placing a mammoth layer or using a huge, detailed brush. 

If you manage to find a solution, PLEASE tell me. 

My specs:
Intel i7 quad core 267GHz (no OCing)
12GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
Win7 x64

Btw, download of current W7x64 video driver (197.45) is here.  Good luck.  You have 4 extra GB of RAM, (and a nicer version of Vue, lol..) and I built my PC myself, but we otherwise have nearly identical systems.  Let me know if you figure anything out, and I'll do the same.

Well, well, well.....very interesting, indeed!  And enlightening!  I am glad to have a name of the disease, so to speak. 

I downloaded (what I think is) an even newer driver - 257.21 - from NVIDIA, and now that I think about it, I haven't had the TDR happening since then.  Although, I may not have used the computer to the upper end since then either.  But I am hopeful... Thanks a bunch for letting me know.  Here is the link to the newest driver:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-64bit-257.21-whql-driver.html

Oooh!  Neato!  I will give this a shot and cross my fingers.  I noticed a drop off in the number of TDRs the last time I updated my driver -- didn't stop them entirely, but I got fewer.  Maybe this will do them in once and for all!  

Thanks!