Display driver has stopped working - Help please

[PixelChef]

Hi,

I have started getting this error 'Display driver nvlddmkm.sys has stopped working' or similar..

The first time it occured was when I was running two World of Warcraft clients, a few days ago. That time I just rebooted the PC and carried on. Then the same thing happend yesterday, rebooted again and was fine. Now, same thing happned again today, rebooted, and now everytime I run World of Warcraft I instantly get the error.

It doesn't seem to happen in any other games, not instantly atleast. Have not tested for a long time.

Edit: Same error occured on desktop.

The only thing I've installed / changed before I started getting this error is installing Quake Live. I don't see how that could be the issue anyway.

I don't think it's overheating, because it happens at the same point in WoW each time, and doesn't happen in more demanding games.

What I've tried:

1. Install new latest Nvidia driver - Exactly the same issue

2. Clean dust from PC - No change

3. Uninstall Nvidia driver, run Driver Cleaner, install previous drivers - Same issue

Don't know what else to try, any ideas? Thank you

Specs:

Q6600
8800 GTX
4GB Ballistix RAM
Vista 64 bit

 

[PixelChef]

It's getting worse.. I get artifacts on desktop and BSOD almost as soon as I log into windows now - on other PC

Can anyone help please? Graphics card dieing on me?

 

[PixelChef]

Ok this is really odd. After installing some older drivers to try, rebooted PC, now the monitor won't display anything. Strange thing is, even if the PC is off, it still does the same thing. Turn monitor on, says 'Digital Power Saving Mode' and goes black, with orange light..

What is going on..?

Added specs to first post too

Edit:

Tried another monitor it does exactly the same thing, the card is dead am I right?

 

[dcsarge]

I'm no expert but it a increasingly worse issues like that suggest the card is the problem.

Do you have access to another system that you could try the card in or try the card from another system to see if your system boots okay with that?

 

[cje]

Have you tried cleaning your older drivers using driver sweeper or driver cleaner? These issues can arise from older drivers still in place when installing new ones.

 

[PixelChef]

Have you tried cleaning your older drivers using driver sweeper or driver cleaner? These issues can arise from older drivers still in place when installing new ones.

Yes, I did that when I uninstalled them. But now I don't even get a display. Think it's time for a new card..

 

[Big.Wayne]

Either the card has died or the PSU has turned *undead*

Anyway you can test the card in another machine?

 

[PixelChef]

Yeah, the card is dead Any suggestions on a new one guys? gaming at 1680 x 1050

 

[LoadsaMoney]

If you want to stick with Nvidia, then id say a 260-216, but if it doesn't have to be Nvidia, then a 4870 1gb, both around same performance, and both around the £200 mark so wont break the bank, and would be a nice boost up from your GTX, depends on what your budget would be really.

 

[Noc0de]

Yeah, the card is dead Any suggestions on a new one guys? gaming at 1680 x 1050

Did you ever definately confirm that the card was dead?

I started to get these errors yesterday, just 'out of the blue' (no pun intended).

The first time I was playing a game (DoW2) and it suddenly froze, the screen went black momentarilly then a BSOD appeared (as per the screenie below).

I then decided to update my graphics card drivers from their prior version to the slightly newer 182.08 drivers.

It kept happening, tbh - it maybe got worse. I would start to have red pixelated artifacts appearing on the screen then the machine would BSOD again with the same error. You could almost see for about 30 seconds that the OS was trying to reset the display driver without luck.

In fact, after a while of trying different things it started to have the same result whilst not playing games - just on the Windows desktop - but typically it could recover from this with the yellow triangle and black exclaimation mark in the system tray saying "...driver has stopped responding and has succesfully recovered".

I've never had this before, but can see a whole swarm of different things to try from other peoples forum threads online.

I'm running the below:

Windows Vista x64 (Home Premium)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI

All is running at stock speeds and voltages.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[Noc0de]

Any takers?

 

[Wizzkidy]

I would say your card is dead, pixels on screen on the desktop is a fair sign of a card thats giving up. I was getting this issue with my old 8800GTX out of the blue, although my desktop was fine ANY game would cause it.

New card time I would say

 

[Noc0de]

I would say your card is dead, pixels on screen on the desktop is a fair sign of a card thats giving up. I was getting this issue with my old 8800GTX out of the blue, although my desktop was fine ANY game would cause it.

New card time I would say

Is there anything I can run to check the health of my card? Like a memtest for the graphics card? I'm a bit reluctant to part with my cash if it's not the graphics card.

I've run the Windows Memory Diagnostics on 'normal' mode and it passed ok. I've made a bootable CD for both memtest86 and memtest86+ but it never seems to load, could my RAID be an issue preventing it from booting (it just sits there claiming it's loading and never does)?

 

[Noc0de]

Just an update...

I've managed to run memtest86+ after resetting my BIOS settings to failsafe defaults and it passed without any errors. So I guess that means my RAM is ok.

I think my graphics card is well and truly screwed now though. It started to produce graphical glitches on POST and a lot of the characters during memtest were corrupted and ended-up looking like foriegn characters. I'm getting red/blue wavy lines across my screen in safe mode and it fails to actually get into Windows now when not using safe mode - it gets to the loading screen passes that and then just goes black - no BSOD (or atleast not one I can see!).

I'm guessing there's nothing else I can do now except buy a new graphics card? I feel a bit gutted having to replace a £250 graphics card 1 1/2 years after having bought it (and it's now out of it's 1 year warranty)

Any suggestions for a new graphics card? I was thinking something like an ATI Radeon HD 4870 will probably be best bang for buck? How about this:

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI

...or would going for a better cooler on this be worth-while?

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 "Toxic" 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI

I've always been an Nvidia person, so how are the ATI cards these days? I must admit the 4870 looks very good for it's price!

Also, what's a good manufacturer these days? I'm keen to get a card with at least a 2 year warranty going on my last woes, but I also want a manufacturer that will be good to deal with and won't ignore it's customers etc.

Help wanted please!