Graphics card issues?

[Sanus Ex Machina]

Hello everyone. 8D
I'm having a lot of issues with my graphics card lately, it would seem. Every few minutes or so, my game blacks out and a message saying "Display driver so and so stopped working and has recovered."
It does it most in fullscreen mode, and for a while it stopped happening once I switched to window mode. But now it's started up again.
I have a high end Nvidia graphics card that was specifically designed for gaming, and I use Vista Ultimate.
I have expansions 1-5. If anyone has any idea as to what's going on, it'd be great if you could give me a hand. D:
EDIT: I just noticed that my Seasons disk has a HUGE crack in it. @.@
Iunno whether that could be causing the problem...

 

[shmarty]

Yup, the seasons disk COULD be the problem. ALSO: Your card is most likely dirty and needs to be cleaned. Possibly, it has just been too over-worked and has begin to shut down. Do you use a lot of custom content?  

[Sanus Ex Machina]

I use tons of CC. Recently I cleaned out my folder though, so there's much less than there used to be.
And how would you go about cleaning it? I thought it wasn't something that can be removed very easily. D:

 

[shmarty]

I believe that you have to have the card cleaned by a professional, of course, I'm not positive so I would say you should google it. xd Anyway, ever having a large amount of CC in your game puts a huge (enormous) strain on your graphics card, cleaning out your folder was a good idea but it doesn't undo the already done damage to the card. It's possible that resting your card can help it return to its normal state. If you can stand it, try putting you sims game away for a day or so. Lack of card cooling can cause it to over-heat and have spazms such as this situation. In fact, put away any and all very graphic games/programs for a day or so.  

[Sanus Ex Machina]

:0
Thing is, this was my first time playing Sims or any other game in weeks.
My dad says it's probably my Seasons disk causing the issue. Since I doubt you can make copies of it, I'll probably need to buy another copy.
If you install later expansions do you still use the Seasons disk?

 

[shmarty]

To install a later pack, you do not need the seasons disk. smile

I wish you good luck. If you can, PM me and tell me if all goes well.  

[Sanus Ex Machina]

Ah, I actually meant whether you still need to use the Seasons disk to run the game, regardless of whether the EP came after or not. D:
I know you don't need it for installation, I was talking about actually running the program.
Thanks for the help though. :]

 

[shmarty]

Well, to run the game, yes you need the seasons disk. If you buy a more recent game, then you can just use that disk AND keep your seasons stuff! So I would just buy freetime or apartments if I were you.

Welcome! blaugh