Nvlddmkm.sys, and a couple of other problems

[Chipmyster]

Righty, this will be a tad lengthy but here goes....

Having been using my current GPU for awhile now nearly a year it has given me no problems at all, however 3 weeks ago or so I left to go away on holiday but before going installed a new heat sink on the CPU and updated my drivers for my 9800GX2. It all went smoothly, powered down and went away for 10 days or so. Upon return the computer booted up, did the windows loading screen...and BSOD'ed. And would do so every single time beacuse of 'nvldddmkm.sys'. I figured there was a problem with the install, booted up safe mode disabled the GPU. Back to normal and checked for any more updates to the card, there was downloaded installed. And still BSOD.

Suitablly annoyed, I uninstalled the GPU entierly, and installed it again with the drivers it was shipped with. This time it didn't BSOD, it just loaded windows, then when it should have gone to my password. It went to a black screen and wouldn't do anything, and doesn't do anything. I have even reinstalled vista with the old lot partitioned to see if that would work and still the same problem!

So in short. With the latest updates I get BSOD every time it goes to the password screen on loading. And with the default drivers it just gives me a black screen!

I am all out of ideas, so if anyone could shed some light on this problem would be very grateful!

PS. System Specs..

Nforce 790i Ultra Motherboard
Windows Vista 64
BFGTech 9800GX2
4GB Corsair Ram
Intel Quad Core 2.3GHZ Processor
500GB Harddrive
X-Fi Creative Soundblaster

 

[Tmagic650]

Have you run Vista's Updates lately? Is Vista updated to Service Pack 1? You must make sure that you have the latest 64-bit Vista Nvidia driver

 

[Chipmyster]

well, with the fresh install on vista, all updates done and varying different drivers used...The problem remains the same...

However I think my mobo is dead or in the process of dying. I have always had problems with the computer freezing randomly, just stopping in whatever it was doing without warning or reason. And with this latest set of problems, the mobo last night took it upon itself to competetly forget it had Ethernet ports. It would not even light up to show something was connected to them, and it refused to work for awhile until randomly today it decided it was going to register them again....

I think this is probably just a case of replacing the mobo...

 

[Tmagic650]

Good luck with the motherboard replacement. Let us know how it goes

 

[Blackwave]

Same issue...any help appreciated

It all starts with little triangular graphical corruptions popping up on the screen. It just gets more and more until the PC BSODs. I'm now at the point where it doesn't even load into Vista anymore and just goes directly to a BSOD. Details of the BSOD are:

STOP: 0x00000116 (0xFFFFFA8007385010, 0xFFFFFA60032242F0, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000002)
nvlddmkm.sys - Address FFFFFA60032242F0 base at FFFFFA600320B006
Datestamp 49cd1c8a
(some of the values may be wrong as I'm struggling to make it out through all the corrupted graphics)

I've tried a multitude of different gfx drivers but nothing fixes it. Repairing Vista fixed it for about 30mins before it started up again. When trying to do a total wipe and re-installing my OS from scratch, I have a problem here now too that the Vista CD boots up from launch but only displays the Vista background and the rest is blank (no text or buttons). I fear that my gfx card might be on its last legs but don't have another spare one to confirm it. I've read about using Memtest86+ to establish whether its bad RAM. I used "Download - Pre-Compiled EXE file for USB Key (Pure DOS)" but when I ran it last night, it came up stating that it doesn't support 64-bit but I'll try to do 1 stick at a time tonight...hopefully that sorts it. I've also read posts about manually deleting this nvlddmkm.sys file which I will also try but some posts state that the new gfx drivers automatically replaces this file now correctly...will still give it a go tho. Btw, I'm also using VLC as my default player.

Configuration:
Mobo: EVGA nForce 780i SLI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 "Wolfdale" 3.00Ghz
RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Memory Latency: 5-5-5-15
PSU: Tagan BZ Series 900W
Graphics: BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI [v190.38]
Sound Card: I have a 7.1 Creative setup but it seems as if its using the onboard Audio
OS: Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP1 (fully updated)

 

[Tmagic650]

Have you tried replacing the video card?

 

[Blackwave]

I fear that my gfx card might be on its last legs but don't have another spare one to confirm it.

Nope, I used to have a 6600GT knockin' about but I cannot find it anywhere... :suspiciou ...so I'm stuck in that regard.

 

[Tmagic650]

Can you borrow a card from a friend, neighbor or co-worker? You could buy a video card to try, and then return it

 

[Blackwave]

Hehehe...RMA is our friend I'll look into that...about time for me to go SLi in anyways.

I'll post my findings on the MemTest-thing and other possible tests my brain is coming up with as soon as I can...

Thx for the help & fast replies - MUCH appreciated!! GREAT forum!!! :approve:

 

[Blackwave]

Eureka!!

Right! Sent my BFG 8800GTS 640Mb back as a RMA & I got sent back a BFG 9800GT 1Gb - wooohooo!!

So slapped in the new puppy yesterday and...VOILA!!! not a graphical corruption in sight and boots up correctly everytime *touching wood*

So for my issue it seemed to have been the gfx card that was faulty - Gotta LOVE RMAs :approve: