GPUBoost_nvidia.exe Process Error

[Sithtiger]

This problem just popped up a couple of days ago. The only thing that changed was I installed The Evil Within 2 and Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Those are the only two programs I installed since I started getting this error. "Application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware. GPUBoost_nvidi has been blocked from accessing Graphics hardware.

Actually, before I started getting the error, I remember videos, movies or YT videos started stuttering while running. It was as if the video I was watching was corrupt, but it did this with everything! Before I received the error I looked at what was running in Task Manager and saw GPUBoost. I don't know how long it's been there, but I haven't noticed it before, but maybe it's not new. Anyway (at first) I noticed playing games wasn't a problem, but videos are choppy. I disabled GPUBoost_nvidia.exe and everything is fine. I went to the folder and it has GPUBoost, GPUBoost_nvidia.exe, GPUBoost_amd.exe and TOR.exe among others, but those are the main executable files that I don't recall seeing before. I was using GeForce 385.69 drivers when I started getting that problem, so I properly upgraded to 387.92 and nothing changed. Actually, it got worse. That's when games start crashing. If I don't end the GPUBoss_nvidia.exe process before I play a game (any game) I start getting that error about 15 to 20 times and then the computer Freezes and I have to do a hard reset. Ctrl+Alt+Del doesn't respond at all.

I'd rather not have to end the process because doesn't Nvidia's GPUBoost 3.0 protect the card with overvolt protection as well as throttling down if the GPU gets too hot. I thought I read it also is responsible for keeping the fans from spinning up until it hits a certain temp, which I can't recall at the moment. Anyway, I know it's this process, but I don't understand why it not only didn't get better but got worse when I installed the newest driver. Can I delete the folder? I'd rather not, but if I must it's located in user/AppData/Roaming/GPUBoost

Thanks in advance!


Here's a screenshot of the error.

 

[LigTasm]

That looks like some 3rd party crap. GPU Boost is a driver/silicone level function and doesn't run another executable as far as I know. Maybe related to Windows 10 game mode? I've never seen anything like that before.

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

Best guess? You have a virus/malware that you picked up browsing the net.

It was as if the video I was watching was corrupt, but it did this with everything! Before I received the error I looked at what was running in Task Manager and saw GPUBoost. I don't know how long it's been there, but I haven't noticed it before, but maybe it's not new. Anyway (at first) I noticed playing games wasn't a problem, but videos are choppy. I disabled GPUBoost_nvidia.exe and everything is fine. I went to the folder and it has GPUBoost, GPUBoost_nvidia.exe, GPUBoost_amd.exe and TOR.exe among others, but those are the main executable files that I don't recall seeing before.

TOR is a legitimate program, however, TOR shouldn't be installed in a directory with other programs unless you KNOWINGLY did that. TOR is a browser for viewing the internet securely. To learn more about it, go here.

TOR has many legitimate uses, and is also used for many illegitimate purposes. The evidence here suggests you have some sort of Trojan that installed a Cryptomining service under the names specific to each brand of video card to harvest bitcoins or other cryptocurrency for you and using the TOR network to send the information back to the host. Why else would there be a folder with all those programs contained in it, especially if you didn't knowingly install the TOR browser? That process also doesn't have an Nvidia icon in the task manager unlike the other Nvidia programs running on your machine. Also, companies usually don't label processes as ".exe".

I'm not 100% certain on this, but there is a lot of circumstantial evidence here to make me believe you need a good cleaning on your pc.

 

[LigTasm]

Best guess? You have a virus/malware.



TOR is a legitimate program, however, TOR shouldn't be installed in a directory with other programs unless you KNOWINGLY did that. TOR is a browser for viewing the internet securely. To learn more about it, go here.

TOR has many legitimate uses, and is also used for many illegitimate uses. The evidence here suggests you have some sort of Trojan that installed a Cryptomining service under the names specific to each brand of video card to harvest bitcoins or other cryptocurrency for you and using the TOR network to send the information back to the host. Why else would there be a folder with all those programs contained in it, especially if you didn't knowingly install the TOR browser. That process also doesn't have an Nvidia icon in the task manager unlike the other Nvidia programs running on your machine. Also, companies usually don't label processes as ".exe".

I'm not 100% certain on this, but there is a lot of circumstantial evidence here to make me believe you need a good cleaning on your pc.

^This seems like a likely scenario, definitely didn't look normal to me.

 

[Armenius]

Agreed with CaptNumbNutz. If I were a tech looking at this PC I would recommend nuking it from orbit and starting over. Pirating is bad, mmkay?

 

[misterbobby]

Yeah there should be no such thing at that exe. If you google "GPUBoost_nvidia.exe" there are only 3 mentions of it and all of them are from the OP as he has a post on two others sites.

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

Yeah there should be no such thing at that exe. If you google "GPUBoost_nvidia.exe" there are only 3 mentions of it and all of them are from the OP as he has a post on two others sites.

That's the other reason I think it is some recently released malware. No one knows wtf it is.

At this point, I'm willing to bet money it truly is malware. Cryptocurrency mining seems to be the latest trend in drive by malware attacks on websites.

 

[Sithtiger]

That looks like some 3rd party crap. GPU Boost is a driver/silicone level function and doesn't run another executable as far as I know. Maybe related to Windows 10 game mode? I've never seen anything like that before.

Bingo, my thought was the same thing. I did a full scan and found nothing. What made me think it was legit was Nvidia does have something called GPUBoost (presumably) built into their drivers, but I've never seen it. Thanks for the info. It helped support my believe that something was amiss here, because I've NEVER seen GPUBoost in Task Manager before.

Best guess? You have a virus/malware that you picked up browsing the net.



TOR is a legitimate program, however, TOR shouldn't be installed in a directory with other programs unless you KNOWINGLY did that. TOR is a browser for viewing the internet securely. To learn more about it, go here.

TOR has many legitimate uses, and is also used for many illegitimate purposes. The evidence here suggests you have some sort of Trojan that installed a Cryptomining service under the names specific to each brand of video card to harvest bitcoins or other cryptocurrency for you and using the TOR network to send the information back to the host. Why else would there be a folder with all those programs contained in it, especially if you didn't knowingly install the TOR browser? That process also doesn't have an Nvidia icon in the task manager unlike the other Nvidia programs running on your machine. Also, companies usually don't label processes as ".exe".

I'm not 100% certain on this, but there is a lot of circumstantial evidence here to make me believe you need a good cleaning on your pc.

Yup, I saw that as well and questioned why would TOR be in an Nvidia driver, not to mention. I've been working with computer since the original C=64. I haven't gotten a virus, other than those stupid JS viruses you can pick up by going to a wrong site or something. I am doing a through cleaning right now. I don't expect to find anything though, except possibly having to do with GPUBoost. Maybe it's malware but in any case, I'm pretty sure I'm fine now. I'll explain the rest on my final post at the end of this post. I had no other problems and now is fixed. I do in fact have TOR installed. I was curious about the Deep Web. I was surprised to see it set up like the BBS that people were running before the Internet. To really see stuff though, you need to login to a .tor site, which I was not willing to do. Even if you were innocent and say you make a fictitious email account, used a VPN and a proxy, used TOR and then you enter the site to see what's in there and boom, what if it's a friggin' ISIS recruiting site or some kid porn site....uh...no. Just by logging in you could get in trouble. I was able to see a couple sites that advertised without having to log into their site, on their front page. I saw an actual Russian tank for sale. Don't remember what it was. I think it was something like Vietnam war era T-55 or some such. Asking like $100,000 or Euros, don't recall, but it was a lot of money and I saw some RPG's for sale. Anyway, even with AES-256 CBC | SHA512-bit encryption with my VPN, I still feel vulnerable, but that was about a year ago. I'm not Mr. Robot....lol.

^This seems like a likely scenario, definitely didn't look normal to me.

No, it's not normal for sure!

Agreed with CaptNumbNutz. If I were a tech looking at this PC I would recommend nuking it from orbit and starting over. Pirating is bad, mmkay?

That's a bit premature, don't ya think? Sure, it would have fixed the problem, but unless the computer is so bad that you can't do anything then, but I only had that one problem with watching video and all I have to do is end the process. Anyway, I fixed it without having to reformat and reinstall, which I'll explain at the bottom. Just responding to each post, thank you guys for your input! BTW, who said anything about pirating?? TOR browser isn't illegal and neither is visiting the "Deep Web". The same is true for using torrent programs. Downloading a torrent isn't illegal unless it's a copyrighted file. Companies distribute files all the time in torrent formats. I find that's the fastest ways to get Linux distros.

Yeah there should be no such thing at that exe. If you google "GPUBoost_nvidia.exe" there are only 3 mentions of it and all of them are from the OP as he has a post on two others sites.

I thought that was weird too,but starting thinking, maybe I just hadn't noticed it until now. Afterall Nvidia does GPUBoost, but it's all good now. Will explain at the bottom. I'm glad that my suspicions weren't off....that is to say, Nvidia might have GPUBoost, but there's something off about this. Thanks for your input!

That's the other reason I think it is some recently released malware. No one knows wtf it is.

At this point, I'm willing to bet money it truly is malware. Cryptocurrency mining seems to be the latest trend in drive by malware attacks on websites.

That's the other reason I think it is some recently released malware. No one knows wtf it is.

At this point, I'm willing to bet money it truly is malware. Cryptocurrency mining seems to be the latest trend in drive by malware attacks on websites.

So, it did seem like a sort of Malware, although nothing sprang up saying I was infected, however I had already uninstalled it. Here's what happened. So, I noticed down in my Task Bar, there appeared to be a space between icons. I remember clicking on it and nothing happening. Today I went to end the GPUBoost_nvidia.exe process and that "gap" in my task bar icons closed as if an icon was there. I rebooted and the space was back. This time I right clicked on the space. So, there was an icon there, but it was black, same color of the task bar, so basically invisible. I right-clicked on it (thought I did that before, but apparently didn't) and there was an about, it just said GPUBoost. I also saw an uninstall, which is odd, because one of the first things I did upon discovering it in Task Manager was to look to see if it showed up in Apps and Features where all legit programs are listed. There was no mention of a GPUBoost under that name or any other and that alone makes it a type of malware. Anyway, I simply uninstalled it, rebooted it, scanned everything using all scanning software. So far nothing has been found. I am gonna call it Malware, I'm not sure how I got it, but like CaptNumbNutz suggested, I probably got it browsing the web. This is the first piece of Malware that's been installed on my system unknowingly in about 10 years. I did have a foreign USB key in my system recently from a client. I build, fix computers, do networking etc on the side. I don't have an official business, but I'm starting to wish I did. I need a dummy computer that I can test such things on. I sort of have one, an old Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop that I only use if I'm not at home. Anyway, it could have been that, or from the web. Anyway, I'm going to be more vigilant. Thanks everyone for you input and suggestions.

So, Nvidia does use something called GPUBoost, but it shouldn't show up in your task manager and I believe it's integrated into the GeForce drivers themselves. If you see anything saying GPUBoost, get rid of it. There will be (basically) and invisible icon on your task bar, but you can see the space it's takes up. Just right-click on it and uninstall. I ran Wise Registry Cleaner, I use it all the time. It's not a necessity, but I like it and haven't had any problems with it at all. There are registry cleaners out there that can really screw up your system. Anyway, thanks again guys, I really appreciate it!!!

 

[LigTasm]

Must be some new stuff, I'll bet it was mining on your GPU like was said above which was causing those slowdowns when you were doing other things. Good catch.

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

Bingo, my thought was the same thing. I did a full scan and found nothing. What made me think it was legit was Nvidia does have something called GPUBoost (presumably) built into their drivers, but I've never seen it. Thanks for the info. It helped support my believe that something was amiss here, because I've NEVER seen GPUBoost in Task Manager before.




Yup, I saw that as well and questioned why would TOR be in an Nvidia driver, not to mention. I've been working with computer since the original C=64. I haven't gotten a virus, other than those stupid JS viruses you can pick up by going to a wrong site or something. I am doing a through cleaning right now. I don't expect to find anything though, except possibly having to do with GPUBoost. Maybe it's malware but in any case, I'm pretty sure I'm fine now. I'll explain the rest on my final post at the end of this post. I had no other problems and now is fixed. I do in fact have TOR installed. I was curious about the Deep Web. I was surprised to see it set up like the BBS that people were running before the Internet. To really see stuff though, you need to login to a .tor site, which I was not willing to do. Even if you were innocent and say you make a fictitious email account, used a VPN and a proxy, used TOR and then you enter the site to see what's in there and boom, what if it's a friggin' ISIS recruiting site or some kid porn site....uh...no. Just by logging in you could get in trouble. I was able to see a couple sites that advertised without having to log into their site, on their front page. I saw an actual Russian tank for sale. Don't remember what it was. I think it was something like Vietnam war era T-55 or some such. Asking like $100,000 or Euros, don't recall, but it was a lot of money and I saw some RPG's for sale. Anyway, even with AES-256 CBC | SHA512-bit encryption with my VPN, I still feel vulnerable, but that was about a year ago. I'm not Mr. Robot....lol.
No, it's not normal for sure!

That's a bit premature, don't ya think? Sure, it would have fixed the problem, but unless the computer is so bad that you can't do anything then, but I only had that one problem with watching video and all I have to do is end the process. Anyway, I fixed it without having to reformat and reinstall, which I'll explain at the bottom. Just responding to each post, thank you guys for your input! BTW, who said anything about pirating?? TOR browser isn't illegal and neither is visiting the "Deep Web". The same is true for using torrent programs. Downloading a torrent isn't illegal unless it's a copyrighted file. Companies distribute files all the time in torrent formats. I find that's the fastest ways to get Linux distros.

I thought that was weird too,but starting thinking, maybe I just hadn't noticed it until now. Afterall Nvidia does GPUBoost, but it's all good now. Will explain at the bottom. I'm glad that my suspicions weren't off....that is to say, Nvidia might have GPUBoost, but there's something off about this. Thanks for your input!




So, it did seem like a sort of Malware, although nothing sprang up saying I was infected, however I had already uninstalled it. Here's what happened. So, I noticed down in my Task Bar, there appeared to be a space between icons. I remember clicking on it and nothing happening. Today I went to end the GPUBoost_nvidia.exe process and that "gap" in my task bar icons closed as if an icon was there. I rebooted and the space was back. This time I right clicked on the space. So, there was an icon there, but it was black, same color of the task bar, so basically invisible. I right-clicked on it (thought I did that before, but apparently didn't) and there was an about, it just said GPUBoost. I also saw an uninstall, which is odd, because one of the first things I did upon discovering it in Task Manager was to look to see if it showed up in Apps and Features where all legit programs are listed. There was no mention of a GPUBoost under that name or any other and that alone makes it a type of malware. Anyway, I simply uninstalled it, rebooted it, scanned everything using all scanning software. So far nothing has been found. I am gonna call it Malware, I'm not sure how I got it, but like CaptNumbNutz suggested, I probably got it browsing the web. This is the first piece of Malware that's been installed on my system unknowingly in about 10 years. I did have a foreign USB key in my system recently from a client. I build, fix computers, do networking etc on the side. I don't have an official business, but I'm starting to wish I did. I need a dummy computer that I can test such things on. I sort of have one, an old Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop that I only use if I'm not at home. Anyway, it could have been that, or from the web. Anyway, I'm going to be more vigilant. Thanks everyone for you input and suggestions.

So, Nvidia does use something called GPUBoost, but it shouldn't show up in your task manager and I believe it's integrated into the GeForce drivers themselves. If you see anything saying GPUBoost, get rid of it. There will be (basically) and invisible icon on your task bar, but you can see the space it's takes up. Just right-click on it and uninstall. I ran Wise Registry Cleaner, I use it all the time. It's not a necessity, but I like it and haven't had any problems with it at all. There are registry cleaners out there that can really screw up your system. Anyway, thanks again guys, I really appreciate it!!!

I'm glad you figured out some solution to this. You may be one of the first to run across it, but you won't be the last. Google will definitely archive this thread so others will get the warning.

 

[pasza47]

I also had that weird tor.exe and GPUboost.exe processes, i've never installed tor on my pc. My Opera internet has started lagging when I realised that something's wrong. Also I discovered this when I was trying to end process of The Evil Within 2 because of error while uninstalling. Avira found nothing, i deleted all files, and scanned my system twice. The only thing that's not good now is that when i RIGHTCLICK any folder it takes some time to pop out the options.

 

[Sithtiger]

I also had that weird tor.exe and GPUboost.exe processes, i've never installed tor on my pc. My Opera internet has started lagging when I realised that something's wrong. Also I discovered this when I was trying to end process of The Evil Within 2 because of error while uninstalling. Avira found nothing, i deleted all files, and scanned my system twice. The only thing that's not good now is that when i RIGHTCLICK any folder it takes some time to pop out the options.

That's VERY interesting. So I "downloaded" The Evil Within 2. Looks like it has a bit of Spyware or Malware in it, that is where I downloaded it from. There should be an icon on the Task Bar. It will likely look blank as if there's something supposed to be there, but isn't. If you don't see it, try rebooting and see if it pops up. If you this "space" appear, there is an icon there. Just right-click on it and then there should be an option to uninstall, do it, then manually delete the folder, you'll have to because it won't uninstall, but it will uninstall the contents. After you delete the directory, run a registry cleaner like Wise or CCleaner, reboot and it should be gone. Well, after you uninstall it, it will be gone, but for some reason, if you can't uninstall it, try forcibly doing it and that should do it. After all, simply closing GPUBoost_nvidia.exe or GPUBoost_amd.exe should stop the problem immediately, so, in the event that you can't uninstall it, simply deleting it should work, if other options don't work. Anyway, that should stop the problem immediately. I never noticed it hurting my gaming at all, just videos.

 

[pasza47]

That's VERY interesting. So I "downloaded" The Evil Within 2. Looks like it has a bit of Spyware or Malware in it, that is where I downloaded it from. There should be an icon on the Task Bar. It will likely look blank as if there's something supposed to be there, but isn't. If you don't see it, try rebooting and see if it pops up. If you this "space" appear, there is an icon there. Just right-click on it and then there should be an option to uninstall, do it, then manually delete the folder, you'll have to because it won't uninstall, but it will uninstall the contents. After you delete the directory, run a registry cleaner like Wise or CCleaner, reboot and it should be gone. Well, after you uninstall it, it will be gone, but for some reason, if you can't uninstall it, try forcibly doing it and that should do it. After all, simply closing GPUBoost_nvidia.exe or GPUBoost_amd.exe should stop the problem immediately, so, in the event that you can't uninstall it, simply deleting it should work, if other options don't work. Anyway, that should stop the problem immediately. I never noticed it hurting my gaming at all, just videos.

Oh, I forgot to meantion about the icon, there was an icon of a PLANE called... GPU_BOOST, I also uninstalled and cleared this.

 

[Sithtiger]

Oh, I forgot to mention about the icon, there was an icon of a PLANE called... GPU_BOOST, I also uninstalled and cleared this.

You should be fine then. Is you're video back to normal? That icon is also in Task Manager when it was installed. It's actually almost a clone of the icon they use for MSI Afterburner, a disguise if you will, but if you're trying to hide it, why allow it for it to be uninstalled so easily?? You should have no further problems with "GPUBoost after this. If you do, let me know.