Nvlddmkm stopped responding is getting VERY OLD...

[Arioch]

I have gone through about a dozen or so drivers for Vista and the 162.15 drivers that got pulled were the only ones that caused this for me and it only happened on my desktop using IE. I have not seen this problem occur since going to the 163.11 drivers.

[HYBRID]

well.....after a reformat as stated in an earlier post all good until it reared its ugly head. Now it doesnt eve let me finish a map on ET before I get the error message.
This is really disappointing. I may just go back to XP. I tried just about every driver out real disappointing.

Iam starting to believe that as many people that continue to get this error that it isnt mentioned other than saying its a TDR issue and we are working on it.
PLease fix this soon.

[Mahakvie]

radical solution:
just stop TDR-detection and you should not have any resets of your graphics subsystem anymore
start 'regedit' from command-line
go to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Con trol\GraphicsDrivers
rightclick 'new' .. dword .. enter name: "TdrLevel" ..doubleklick.. enter value: "TdrLevelOff"



alternative:
increase TDR-Timeout-value to 5 seconds(max possible) from hidden defaultvalue 2sec
start 'regedit'
go to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Con trol\GraphicsDrivers
rightclick 'new' .. dword .. enter name: "TdrDelay" ..doubleklick.. enter hex-value: "00000005"




for more information and registry-settings just visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/wddm_timeout.mspx

[vmsein]

radical solution:
just stop TDR-detection and you should not have any resets of your graphics subsystem anymore
start 'regedit' from command-line
go to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Con trol\GraphicsDrivers
rightclick 'new' .. dword .. enter name: "TdrLevel" ..doubleklick.. enter value: "TdrLevelOff"



alternative:
increase TDR-Timeout-value to 5 seconds(max possible) from hidden defaultvalue 2sec
start 'regedit'
go to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Con trol\GraphicsDrivers
rightclick 'new' .. dword .. enter name: "TdrDelay" ..doubleklick.. enter hex-value: "00000005"




for more information and registry-settings just visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/wddm_timeout.mspx
Have you tried this yourself and does it actually work? If so, this may be the best solution offered up yet. Just curious to know if there are any negative effects to doing this. I'm off to give this a try as these TDR errors have come back to haunt me with the 163.11 driver.

[Mahakvie]

i tried the alternative way and it works so far, should nvlddmkm-stopped-msg ever come up again i will take the radical way and disable TDR

[Dragunov]

radical solution:
just stop TDR-detection and you should not have any resets of your graphics subsystem anymore
start 'regedit' from command-line
go to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Con trol\GraphicsDrivers
rightclick 'new' .. dword .. enter name: "TdrLevel" ..doubleklick.. enter value: "TdrLevelOff"



alternative:
increase TDR-Timeout-value to 5 seconds(max possible) from hidden defaultvalue 2sec
start 'regedit'
go to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Con trol\GraphicsDrivers
rightclick 'new' .. dword .. enter name: "TdrDelay" ..doubleklick.. enter hex-value: "00000005"




for more information and registry-settings just visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/wddm_timeout.mspx

well no resets, means hardlocks, yes??

[vmsein]

well no resets, means hardlocks, yes??
That's what I want to know.

[vmsein]

Mahakvie, which driver are you currently using?

[Mahakvie]

well no resets, means hardlocks, yes??

I'm not sure on this one, i never ever experienced a hardlock in win xp, so why should i in vista?
Why should my graphic subsystem even cause a hardlock? Well, because the driver is buggy or that my hardware is causing trouble, a reset would not help that much in such a case.
The entire concept of TDR is nice at first sight, but is b**crap if you really think about it .. atm it IS the big troublemaker not the solution.

take the 'alternativ' solution like i did for testing purpose(it only increses the allowed timeout), if you still want tdr to be activ ..
i did not test the radical solution atm, but will do, when tdr comes up again

@vmsein
atm v158.24

[vmsein]

Well I've un-installed the 158.45 driver and re-installed 163.11 while at the same time changing the TDR delay value to 5 via the registry as outlined above by Mahakvie. It's only been about 45 minutes, but so far I've not gotten the TDR error. I'll report back on whether this continues or not, but for now I've got my fingers crossed.
Oh and thanks to Mahakvie for bringing this to our attention:)

[pgruebele]

I use the EVGA 680i A1 and have found that the BIOS is causing this problem. When I flash with BIOS P29 or P30, I get these errors all the time. When I flash with P28 I never get these errors.

Looking at the EVGA boards it seems that P29/30 also cause other problems.

Anyway, from the looks of it, lots of people on this board are using 680i boards. Those that are using EVGA boards, can you try flashing P28 and see if the problem goes away as it does for me?

For those using non-EVGA boards, I don't know which BIOS version you can try but it may be worth looking into...

Let me know

Philip

[vmsein]

Just got the dreaded TDR error moments ago while just browsing the internet:( So it seems that just raising the TDR value from the default of 2 does not eliminate the error. I will now try disabling TDR altogether to see if this causes a hard lock of the system.

[vmsein]

Sure enough, totally disabling TDR detection will cause a hard lock of my computer system when a TDR event occurs. I'm reverting back to the 158.45 driver as it has not caused any TDR errors for me.

[pgruebele]

Actually I have found that P28 still causes the Nvlddmkm problems. They just happen less frequently. I am not overclocking anything and have tried different memory and GPU and graphics drivers all with the same results.

Unless anyone has any ideas I will have to RMA my EVGA 680i motherboard...

Philip

[Mojoe]

Does this happen only with the Nforce chipset,or does it happen on Intel chipset to? Asking because i am getting the Evga 8800Gtx runing with Vista 32 and the P35 chipset.

Thx.

[ZoLoco]

:thumbdwn: So here i am too.. This error is getting VERY OLD indeed!!

Used to get this error after playing ANY game nowadays, but now its enough!!

I cant even browse my programs when clicking on start icon in windows even!!

What shall i do?? I cant sell my almost 4000 euro PC... I cant throw it either into the garbage.. I have had this shyte problem since february. Smeared myself with alot of patience beliving that nvidia would solve it. But heck no!!

Omg, pls give me some assurance of something will happen. Tried searching the net for solutions, found alot. But none sticks! :(

Reported bugs on that assuarance report site at Nvidia, but, errr i think they have banned my email. No replys , nothing...

Pls tell me that i havent spent 4000 euro in vein here.. PLS!!!

:rant:

Do this come thru to nvidia??? I CANT browse my programs at start list without getting this error!!!! Note my Nvidia driver version... :thumbdwn: But, sigh, any version has haunted me.... :p

[sclaws]

This may or may not help, but I have not had the nvlddmkm error since following this procedure for installing 158.45 drivers:

(Try at your own risk!)
1) Uninstall Display Driver in OS (NOT in safe mode), but DO NOT reboot when prompted.

2) Run the XDC Driver Cleaner http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=224647

3) Reboot into Safe Mode.

4) In Safe Mode, run XDC AGAIN.
4b) This may not be necessary but I also have Driver Cleaner and ran this one in Safe Mode after XDC.

5) Reboot into Vista...cancel any driver-installation prompts.

6) Run XDC Driver Cleaner AGAIN. It should find nothing to remove.
6b) I rebooted again...probably unnecessary but I did it anyway.

7) Boot into Vista and install 158.45 as usual.

I admit there is redundancy in this and probably a step or two of sheer paranoia, but for my system it seems to have worked--for now. I've been without the error for about 2wks (had been a month until I tried 163.11 and nvlddmkm came back!).

The only other thing about my system that is not 'typical' is I have it auto-shutdown nightly at 2am, with a scheduled daily BIOS-initiated restart at 4am.

Hope this helps someone...if not, carry on then :)

[pgruebele]

The 680i is an NVIDIA chipset. I have now disabled the "NVidia GPU Ex" feature in BIOS and will test. I have read in some places that this option can cause stability problems...

Anyone who has the Nvlddmkm problem should try disabling NVidia GPU Ex.

Philip

[ekovalsky]

I have an EVGA 680i with two 8800 Ultras (EVGA & MSI) and have had a lot of problems with the nvlddmkm errors.

This is definitely a driver problem and I wouuld not RMA the 680i board for it. I have run the 680i and GPUs overclocked, stock, and underclocked with no change. Prolonging or disabling TDR in the registry does not help since this does not fix the underlying problem. The result is more hard locks rather than the temporary display error and subsequent reset. Also the GPU Ex setting in the BIOS has little if any effect. I have run the P26, P28, P29, and P30 BIOS. The errors are somewhat less frequent on the older BIOS but they still happen. Although the change log between P28 > P29 > P30 suggests only some enhancements for the 1333 FSB CPUs, there are other changes in the BIOS. For instance, with P29 and P30 I cannot get four 1GB DIMMs to run stable with 1T comand rate, which I could do with P26 and P28. Also slightly less voltage is needed for stable CPU overclock with P29 and P30 compared to P28 and before.

Anyway for me the Nvlddmkm error is almost non-existent with the 158.45 drivers which I am using now. However it is very frequent with the later 162/163 series drivers even with just Aero (particularly with Dreamscene) running.

Only real fix I have found with the 162/163 drivers is to disable desktop composting (My Computer > Advanced System Settings > Performance Settings > Visual Effects > clear 3rd checkbox) which kills the Aero interface. With Aero running, I can reproduce the error reliably by opening the IE7 explorer bar and moving the mouse around while navigating through the favorites.

I suspect the bug is related to enabling SLI with DX10, maybe also some performance enhancement causing instability. Hopefully there will soon be a WHQL DX10-SLI driver. It better be out before Crysis hits the market...

[vmsein]

I agree completely with ekovalsky's post above right down to his conclusion that this must be a driver level problem further aggravated with enabling DX10 support in SLi mode. I too am currently running the 158.45 driver without any TDR errors after experimenting with many of the later releases, which have brought improved performance at the cost of introducing TDR events. I wonder how long it's going to take for nvidia to sort this out and provide us with a WHQL certified DX10 driver.

[cabnz]

Hi ekovalsky,

I also have an EVGA 680i with two MSI 8800 Ultras and I have exactly the same problems as you. I tried turning SLI off and that helped slightly but still had the same issues.

Scolling down in my favorites in IE7 would always cause this issue.

Please let there be a fix soon!

[pgruebele]

The reason I think that this is a hardware problem is because for many people, including myself, this problem gets worse the longer the computer is powered up. Once it starts, even rebooting does not make things better. The only thing that helps is to leave the computer off for a while.

I don't know if you guys have noticed this behaviour, but it is happening in my case and is CLEARLY indicative of a hardware problem.

I now use the 163 beta driver with EVGA 680i P30 bios and GPU Ex enabled, and have managed to make all TDR errors go away by lowering my ram speed. My ram is spec'ed at DDR2 1200Mhz 5-5-5-15 but this problem only goes away when I run it slower at 1067 5-5-5-15.

These are just my observations. Perhaps in other cases the cause is the driver, but I'm pretty sure in my case it's either the 680i or memory, probably the memory. If it's the 680i, it's overheating of the memory controller. Unfortunately, NVidia Performance panel does not display any MCP/SPP temperatures for some reason... I would not know what too high a temp would be for those anyway...

Philip

[pgruebele]

I determined that the EVGA 680i board does not like 4 DIMMS, When running with 2 DIMMS or with lowered settings and 4 DIMMS the Nvlddmkm TDR problems go away. In my case I would have to say that the driver is currently not causing any TDR's... So for me it definitely was a hardware problem. It just happened to rear it's ugly head through the TDR errors...

Philip

[cabnz]

Thats interesting Philip, I am using 4 DIMMS at the moment but I would like to know for sure that this is the problem as my DIMMS are a pain to get too.

[sclaws]

Here's a first for me with this error...quicktime playback caused nvlddmkm for me. Just tried watching the Crysis HD clip (new) and it happened twice, tho I havent had to reboot yet. Wasn't listed as an error in Event Viewer, but was a Warning.