Folding Forum

Windows Update, which I ran on all 24 of my Windows 7 machines this morning, installs NVIDIA driver version 331.65, as one of the "optional" updates.

Except that on one of my Windows 7 machines, it was an "Important" update, which is how I noticed this new driver in the first place (because Windows Update notifies you about "Important" updates).

In any case, you have to stop (or 'Quit') all GPU folding before starting to install thus update, as otherwise it will cause your system to crash (this happened to me, on the first system where I installed this update).

I have not seen any issues so far with v331.65, everything appears to be running normally.

(Also available directly from nVidia: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverRe ... 8799/en-us) for a couple of days.

I have not tested it myself, nor have I seen a lot of early reports yet.

I don't expect much has changed from the version a few days ago... viewtopic.php?f=80&t=25132

7im wrote:I don't expect much has changed from the version a few days ago... viewtopic.php?f=80&t=25132

After allowing enough time for the PPD readings to stabilize (~1 hour on each system), I found that all 24 of my Windows 7/NVIDIA GPU systems had experienced a 50% to 60% drop in GPU folding PPD values, using the v331.65 driver, when compared to the v327.23 driver.

So, I did the following, on every Windows 7 system:

1. Stopped (or 'Quit') all GPU folding
2. Ran the NVIDIA v327.23 driver installation program (327.23-desktop-win8-win7-winvista-64bit-english-whql.exe, on my 64-bit Windows 7 systems)
3. Selected the following, during installation:
   1. Custom (Advanced) installation
   2. Deselected these options, by clicking to 'un-tick' the checkbox next to these items:
      • 3D Video Driver
      • 3D Video Controller Driver
      • NVIDIA GeForce Experience
   3. Clicked to select (put a 'tick' in the box) for a 'Clean Installation'
4. When installation is complete, reboot the system.

Please note that the above 'selections' and 'de-selections' are my personal preferences only, gamers (for example) will probably make different choices on the '3D' options, compared to the selections (or 'de-selections') that I made.

The fact that some (but not all) of my Windows 7 systems thought that this update (NVIDIA v331.65 driver) was in the 'Important' category might be a cause for some concern. The reason is, that all of the 'Important' updates are applied when the next scheduled automatic update is performed (my systems are set up to auto-update all 'Important' updates at 3:00am every day). So, the v331.65 driver could be installed on a user's system automatically, depending on how they have Windows Update configured.

Except the general recommendation around here is to set Windows Update to download the updates, but not install them. Then you can choose a more convenient time to install them. No one is around to recover a crashed system at 3 am and start the fah client folding again. Losing several hours of folding because of an unlikely necessary Windows Update is distasteful.

7im wrote:Except the general recommendation around here is to set Windows Update to download the updates, but not install them. Then you can choose a more convenient time to install them. No one is around to recover a crashed system at 3 am and start the fah client folding again. Losing several hours of folding because of an unlikely necessary Windows Update is distasteful.

Well, everyone makes their own choices, n'est-ce pas? My choice, which is based on the sheer number (24) of Windows 7 systems, is to have the 'Important' updates installed automatically. Otherwise, I would be doing little else besides babysitting the update processes.

My own opinion, is that Microsoft made a mistake, in assigning this update (on some but not all of my systems) as being in the 'Important' category.

I just checked, and only 2 out of my 24 Windows 7 systems had this 'problem' (ie this update being in the 'Important' category). All other updates of this type (ie NVIDIA driver update) that I have ever seen, have always been in the 'Optional' category, which is not installed by the auto-update process.

I'm not sure if anyone, even at Microsoft, could explain why this problem is happening. Just another one of those mysteries that may never be solved.

Still on XP but imagine 7 will do same with different path? R. click "my computer-properties-windows update, I check "never search windows update for drivers". They can update their O.S. but leave my hardware alone.My preference.

gimpy wrote:Still on XP but imagine 7 will do same with different path? R. click "my computer-properties-windows update, I check "never search windows update for drivers". They can update their O.S. but leave my hardware alone.My preference.

Hi gimpy, and thanks very much, for this information!

I am not at home right now, but when I am at home later today, I will try this out.

Thanks again,
Art

gimpy wrote:Still on XP but imagine 7 will do same with different path? R. click "my computer-properties-windows update, I check "never search windows update for drivers". They can update their O.S. but leave my hardware alone.My preference.

Found it, and again, Thanks very much!
KB2500967 - How to stop Windows 7 automatically installing drivers

So, was that feature set differently on the critical systems vs the others?

My guess: The "never search" applies when you request a driver update (like in device manager). There's a prompt at that point asking if you want to search just locally or also windowsupdate.

In my experience, WindowsUpdate does not classify driver updates as "important" ... you have to look under a special section in "optional." They may have screwed up their classification system for one particular platform.

7im wrote:So, was that feature set differently on the critical systems vs the others?

No, all systems are configured identically.

Your welcome Art and hey to you.Another one of those who knows? Now that it won"t happen again,who cares????? deal? My Gadwin print screen won't paste here. Tried img must be wrong file type.If I figure it out (crossed fingers) I'll post what it looks like.

For posting images, you will have to upload it to another site and then link it here for us to see. If the IMG Tag isn't working, just post the URL and that would be fine too.

Then:



Thanks Bruce. I found a BBC tutorial. Hopefully soon I can space,index my posts properly.

Mod edit for spacing.