NVidia GeForce Experience problems

A couple of days ago after installing the latest NVidia drivers for my GeForce GT 1030 video card I started having intermittent slowdown problems on the PC. At first I didn't connect the issue with the update until I tried to start the GeForce Experience app. The damned thing started and failed to properly work with an "unexpected error - error code 0x0003".

Well, FOOF! I rolled back the boot partition to a previous backup, I use 3rd party software to create an image of the drive. That didn't solve the problem. Dang!

I scraped the bowels of the interwebz and found something, https://helpdeskgeek.com/help-desk/how-to-fix-geforce-experience-error-code-0x0003/

The one suggestion that worked was uninstalling all the NVidia apps and reinstall the GeForce Experience app. Huzzah! It worked!

I also downloaded the drivers installer just in case.

Yeah, the video card is decidedly ancient, but it works for me.
Uninstalling and reinstalling apparently removed a lot of driver/app crust build-up. My boot drive used space dropped by 4GB.
Re video card driver updates. I'm firmly of the belief that if it ain't broke don't fix it.

A few years ago I installed an updated video driver from my laptop maker (Dell) and ended up with a screen that continually flashed about 4 times a second and was completely unusable. I ended up doing what George did and re-installed the boot partition from a backup (Windows Backup & Restore drive image). I couldn't even boot ok into safe mode to roll back the driver. Ahhhh....
The issue wasn't caused specifically by the update, it happened around the time of the update, several of the driver files had been corrupted. I couldn't even uninstall the app, missing uninstall files, etc. I had to use a 3rd party uninstaller app that can uninstall corrupted apps.

The nearest I can figure is there had been several slooooooooooow power outages the day before the system slowdown became noticeable. Dim, out, on, dim, out, on about a dozen times. Thanks to a massive end of summer storm that blew into the area. 3 days after the video card update.

I use a 3rd party backup software, been using it before Windows had a reliable backup/restore imaging app. I ran across the software when Win98SE was new and shiny.
Back when I used to use ghost for image backup. It was very good. But that has now gone the way of the dodo....
Symantec still (kinda) maintains Ghost as an enterprise utility, last update was back in 2020.

I am not all that enthused about Symantec, I've used several of their tools in the past that became less useful as the apps became more and more bloated with naggy "hey, we have a better paid version!".

Macrium Reflect is what I currently use. There's a free version and paid-for versions with a trial. Home and business/enterprise.

I have used it to not only preserve the boot partition, used it when I replaced the physical drive and restored from an image. Same size or larger. As well as restoring a previous image when something with Windows goes wonky.

Something in the NVIDIA updates has made Wine unhappy too, and now I’m getting a whole lot of stderr printed out when I run things like Notepad++.

It’s annoying, and I am not sure how to fix it. Not sure if I want to switch to the Nouveau driver or not.
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How long have the updates been making Wine whingy? The latest one solely or several?

I don't do anything Linux, so any interest is more academic than anything.

I've noticed the last few updates have been kinda dodgy compared to what was not observed with previous ones.. Nothing until this last one that were severe enough to be something identifiably the cause, though. I still can't definitely proclaim this last update as the sole cause of my issues reported above. The timing of the driver issues and the numerous power outages shortly after the update make it um-possible to do.

Even if for me the last update wasn't the cause I am glad I uninstalled and reinstalled the NVidia Experience app. Forcibly removing the thing cleaned up a lot of HD space that had been glommed onto with the string of updates.
Yeah, that’s the problem, I’m not sure what caused it (or when). I don’t know what I’ll do about it yet. For now it isn’t a problem, just annoying.
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FYI, GeForce Experience is an app, it isn't just the video card driver. It maintains more than the driver for the video card, it also can optimize games to take advantage of what the video card can do.

https://www.pcguide.com/gpu/what-is-geforce-experience/

AFAIK it is only for Windows. Well, at least officially supported by NVidia. Theoretically that would mean it is Wine capable.
I have not installed GeForce Experience in years. Never saw any use for it.
Oh, I have the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060/PCIe/SSE2 (current mode: NVIDIA On-Demand) thing in my task bar.

IDK what it is, besides stuff installed by the Update Manager.
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I accept donations in the form of high-end GPUs
Alas, I am back on the East Coast. Otherwise I’d drive one over to you.
The PC case that had the problem has to have a slim line video card, it's a recycled Dell "on its side" case. Coupled with my very fixed, very limited income the only card that fit those criteria was a 1030. It works adequately for what this PC is tasked to do. Including playing older games that don't need a monster like the 4060.

Another similar setup PC I have could use that 4060, but even a used one is way outside my budget. New? fuggetaboutit. :|

And FYI, I'm on the Left Coast USA, about 60 or so miles south of main MS HQ in Redmond.
Alas, I am back on the East Coast. Otherwise I’d drive one over to you

Aww, that's sweet
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