I would like to share my experiences with occasional crashes I have experienced on 3 different machines once I had upgraded to C7.0.5. ALl 3 machines are from Dell (T5500 and 3500 Workstations, Inspiron I7 Notebook).
Crashes and also other really strange symtpoms started after I had upgraded to C7.0.5. I had gotten into the habit of always making sure to use the latest Video Card Drivers installed (all NVidia Cards) directly from the manufacturer (NVidia).
When the crashes started, I went back to the Dell Website and downloaded the last Dell-approved video card drivers, which were many Version numbers behind the one provided by NVidia. After I installed those older driver Versions from Dell, all crashes and other new symproms went away. I have not had a single crash since then.
May be this information is hepful to others who experience trouble with C7.0.5.
I remember many years ago there was a conflict with ati vide accelerator and Sonar so called MIDI mixer device. When acceleration (Windows 98) was on full, MIDI mixer crashed Sonar (Then it was called Cakewalk). Just as an reminiscence
In my experience, NVidia drivers are of variable quality. Some are very stable, others very flaky. The latest drivers, 320.49, are terrible on my system, but the previous release, 320.18, are very stable.
I guess the moral of the story is stick with what works for you and not install the latest release of drivers just because they are available.
Also, when newer drivers are offered, read the release notes, and better decide if you need it. A couple of months ago I was informed that newer drivers were available for my video card (NVidia). Reading the notes informed me that improvements and issues were handled for a couple of specific video games - I didn’t DL them.
