Fan Issues with retail Nvidia 196.75 driver

Summary:  Nvidia identified an issue with driver version 196.75 for desktop Quadro and Geforce series of products.  This driver may cause “fan speed issues” as described by Nvidia.  This includes the fan running at a lower speed or stopping completely.  In some cases this leads to system instability (Ie BSODs), system lockups, or graphics corruption.  Nvidia has reported isolated cases of hardware damage to the graphics adapter as a result of the fan speed issues caused by the 196.75 driver.

Updates:

·         The 196.75 was only available from Nvidia’s website directly for 2 days before being pulled.  Dell has not posted or factory installed the driver on any commercial or consumer products.

·         Nvidia has posted a customer bulletin here:

o   http://www.nvidia.com/object/196.75_customer_support.html

·         Very few cases of hardware failure have been reported.  In most cases installing the Dell certified driver or rolling back to the 196.21 retail driver resolves the issue.

·         Nvidia requesting tracking of Dell hardware replacements related to installation of the 196.75 driver for warranty reimbursement.