So, I recieved a new computer for Christmas. My father had ordered an 8800gt, but as it was out of
stock at the time when he ordered it (DinoPC), DinoPC offered a temp card (7300le), and we took it. Now, my 8800gt has arrived and I'm having really big problemns with it.

My graphics drivers just keep crashing. And I can be doing anything. They seem to be crashing more often
when watching videos, or playing games. Yesterday, when watching a single episode of "The law of the
playground (~30 minutes), my graphics drivers froze and restarted 3 times. I usually get about 5 minutes
of gaming time before the drivers crash, or if I pause the game, the drivers always crash instantly, dieing
in CoD2 also causes the drivers to crash, oddly.

I managed to cut the number of crashed down by disabling Windows Dreamscene (pretty logical, as my
drivers crash more when playing video).

I followed the set up exactly as it said in the instructions, removing the 7300 drivers before installing card, installing the drivers that came with the card. However, after installing the drivers, it prompted me to restart, and I did. However, it was on the shutdown screen for half an hour before switching off. And it took about 3 attempts to switch on.

I just took that as bad drivers for Vista with compatability issues, and such. So I installed the latest
drivers from the nVidia. This fixed the shutdown/boot-up issues, however, the freezing still incurred, since then I've tried:

- Updating Vista (it's just on auto-update, anyways)
- Running BETA drivers
- Updating chipset drivers

And none of these have fixed the problems that I am having.

Also, I don't believe that this is a Vista specific problem, as I have a friend also running Vista x64
Ultimate, and an 8800gt, and he's having none of the problems that I'm having. The only difference
between us is that my copy of Vista is legit. Go figure.

So, can any of you guys suggest anything else? And is this a common problem?

Thanks for your advice in advance.

Yours,
Samuel 

go to where ever you bought your comp. and c if they can
help

maybe the geek squad peeps or the firedog puppies can helpp....

^I think he custom ordered it

I would go to the manufacture of your graphics board and download their driver. Sometimes the default nvidia drivers won't work with some boards.

Yeah, I did.

I would have said a driver compatablity issue myself.
This may sound daft, but my friend had a similar problem and he found that his video card wasn't getting enough power from the PSU. New cards require a lot of juice these days...

Apparantly, according to Google, there is an issue with Vista x64 and the fans on the 8800gt not functioning properly by default. Apparantly, an application called "RivaTuner" can let the user manually turn the fans up.

However, I have zero idea on how to use RivaTuner.

Not sure about that to be honest,

You're going to have to get a better airflow going through your box or you're going to have to blow on it!

Seriously though, take a look at your mates computer, have a look at his settings without changing anything. To me it doesn't sound like your mate is using this Riva Turner thing. So see what is different between his and yours... could just be a difference in case cooling.

*Edit (Spelling!) 

I think my computer has enough airflow. It's got about half a foot between it and the wall. The radiator in the room is never on, so the rooms always cool. And it's the only device in the region.

Hmm, if your mate has the same system set up and he/she is not getting any problems then have a look at his system set up and see how it's running. Have a look at the drivers he/she is running, the Power supply strength and cooling.

That's all I can think of...90% of the time it's the easiest thing.

*Edit... If you're still not sure -

1- If you're sure it's not a driver issue then try these.... 

2- Start by looking at cooling, cooling the case better rather than the card directly could help. If the air coming out feels quite warm on your hand then the chances are there is not enough air going in and then out of the case, regardless if it's a cool room or enough space for your system. A couple of cheap fans one on the front blowing in and one on the back bowing out could make all the difference. (Fans at front should blow in from bottom of case as hot air rises - then fans at back of case usually about half way up will expell extra hot air).

3- There is a remote chance that it's a power supply issue... the card might simply not be getting enough juice so see what Power supply your mate is running with his comapred to yours. In the instructions of your video card it should say what the recommended power supply should be (PSU). 

Other than these I'm pretty stumped...