nvlddmkm.sys crash - Time for a new PSU?

[Barrichello]

Hi guys

Running a system spec as in my profile, and in Windows 7 RC everything has been fine for a quite while but recently have been getting BSOD nvlddmkm.sys crash's every now and then. Sometimes it occurs when i am not even in stressing the PC, just browsing web etc. The parts of my system are all fairly new (under 6 months) all except the power supply. After googling nvlddmkm.sys and searching here there seems to be many reasons and fixs that do not seem to not work for me. Ultimately im now reading along the lines of this thread.... http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=100800

Im starting to think that maybe my PSU is not up to it as the oldest part i have, i then dug out my GTX260 box and noticed that on the side it says minimum power supply requirements 550W min of 12V current rating of 36A, and a recommended of 630w. Wattage this is below my old PSU from 2007 Enermax infiniti 650w, but i notice when looking at my supply http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-...-EPS12V-ATX12V in technical spec it says...

+12V1 Rail :28A / +12V2 Rail : 28 A / 12V3 Rail: 30 A

Reading this right this means it falls below the minimum requirement of 12v 36A ?

Just wondering if people have had similar issues? and if you think it is indeed time for a new PSU for me? and if so what PSU would you recommend?

Any advice for this PC hardware noob greatly excepted

[Ulti]

Just let met start of saying I'm no pro at this at all but seeing as your 12V rails are split into 3 then it doesn't really apply to you that it needs a single 12V rail with 36A. I'm not too sure how to add up rail amps though but I'm pretty sure your PSU should be able to handle your system on your profile.

Sorry that I can't be more help than this.

[Mithrandir]

The infiniti 650w is more than enough for your rig. Have you reinstalled Win 7?

[Pob255]

That psu should be fine, according to the enermax specs each of the 3 pci-e power cables is on a seperate rail, so you could try swapping the modualr pci-e cable to the other connector, but I do doubt that this is the issue.

However it's more likely that you've got a corrupted driver install, try reinstalling the driver
remove the driver, reboot into safe mode and run driver sweeper to remove any tarces that where left behind, reboot and reinstall the drivers


EDIT: also try resetting every thing to stock speeds as it could be overclocking that is causeing this.

[marshalex]

Have you downloaded the newest nvidia drivers as the ones windows 7 downloads are not the latest version so maybe try doing that as well and see if that makes a difference. I cant see it being a PSU issue as i'm running an OC GTX260 Black on a Corsair HX520 and having no problems (apart from crysis crashing but I think that might be due to win7)

[Barrichello]

Hi - thanks for all your thoughts and advice on this, much appreciated.

Its strange as i have done a system restore yesterday to a date about 1 month ago on my Windows 7RC and it seems to be fine for ages.

If i then update my windows 7 RC build and nvidia drivers (direct from nvidia site) then the BDOD returns instantly, and i have to roll back to this 1 month restore for it to be fine.

I have tried again and taken your advice Pob255 making sure to driver clean everything nvidia based before reinstall but still the bsod crash's return, also i have no Overclock going on - ram/cpu/graphic card all at standard (gcard does have a factory overlock as sold though)

In the end as it does not crash on this restored (old build) im on now then i would concur with your views that my PSU is up to the job. It has been stable all day since midday on this. Weird eh. I then upgrade my drivers/build and bam bsod, i then system restore and fine. I of course realise that this is the RC build of Windows 7 so im not expecting full 100% support or anything.

I may well take your advice mithrandir and do a full reinstall (i have 1 tb disk sliced into 3, with 1 slice C: for OS and the other 2 for games and media etc) i could just nuke over C: with a full reinstall see how it goes.

Either way release Win7 copy should be here October anyway, ill hold of on the new PSU and see how i go with reinstall etc.

Thanks again guys.

[Pob255]

My guess is shonky nvidia drivers


Oh yes I don't place much advice in the nvidia forum, when I was looking for solutions to my fallout3 BSOD from a post on the nvidia forum the advice was, 1 replace the psu, the problem was still there so the card must be faulty, it couldn't possibly be bad drivers
Oh and the BSOD was being caused by shonky drivers.

[sleepyhead]

Do you know what? I have almost exactly the same problem. I been trying to figure this out (asking a couple of people via MSN).

I'm on build 7100 of Win7 (64 bit) and from what I have read around the net...build7100 supposedly fixes this issue.

Anyhow, I've tried a few things such as uninstalling the drivers, running CCleaner, using the cmd prompt in safe mode and typing "sc delete nvsvc" and "sc delete nvlddmkm" and turning off UAC all to no avail.

My next port of call is to underclock my graphics card and see if that helps. I might also try 181.whatever drivers (again, reading round the net this fixed the problem when people installed the 185 drivers and got nvlddmkm BSOD).

[Barrichello]

Do you know what? I have almost exactly the same problem. I been trying to figure this out (asking a couple of people via MSN).

I'm on build 7100 of Win7 (64 bit) and from what I have read around the net...build7100 supposedly fixes this issue.

Anyhow, I've tried a few things such as uninstalling the drivers, running CCleaner, using the cmd prompt in safe mode and typing "sc delete nvsvc" and "sc delete nvlddmkm" and turning off UAC all to no avail.

My next port of call is to underclock my graphics card and see if that helps. I might also try 181.whatever drivers (again, reading round the net this fixed the problem when people installed the 185 drivers and got nvlddmkm BSOD).

Im also on 64bit, and my older date build i mentioned in my last post that was stable has now started to bsod with nvlddmkm.sys.

Probably hasn't helped that i been restoring then updading and restoring back again. Think its time to bite the bullet and do a fresh reinstall tonight. If still no joy after that i may take the advice i googled as well that you got sleepy in regard to underclocking, my gc is factory oclocked so may just lower a fraction if reinstall does not work.

If i do a fresh reinstall i just need to decide which nvidia driver to go for first hit before once i have fresh install, like yours said seems that 181 is the latest stable from what i have been reading as well.

[kalniel]

This is almost certainly a driver issue. Sometimes with nvidia you do have to go back to old versions to get something stable with a particular setup.

[sleepyhead]

I got bored this afternoon. I reformatted and re-installed build 7100. Installed 190.62 drivers and a few other apps (firefox, steam) and er...so far not alot. I have turned off windows update and the only weird thing right now is the volume in game. It turns down to something very very quiet...you can max everything out and it'll slowly revert to this very very quiet state.

Anyhow, no idea if I've solved the nvlddmkm.sys BSOD however fresh install + gaming = happiness so far. Determined now not to underclock my GTX260 SSC

[TAKTAK]

I got bored this afternoon. I reformatted and re-installed build 7100. Installed 190.62 drivers and a few other apps (firefox, steam) and er...so far not alot. I have turned off windows update and the only weird thing right now is the volume in game. It turns down to something very very quiet...you can max everything out and it'll slowly revert to this very very quiet state.

Anyhow, no idea if I've solved the nvlddmkm.sys BSOD however fresh install + gaming = happiness so far. Determined now not to underclock my GTX260 SSC

Right-click the speaker icon in the corner
Sounds
Communications
Do nothing

[sleepyhead]

ROFL!!! Something so damn simple...and where you were you on MSN to give me that advice eh? lol.

Tomorrow is another day and another day I dread to see nvlddmkm.sys BSOD.

[Barrichello]

ROFL!!! Something so damn simple...and where you were you on MSN to give me that advice eh? lol.

Tomorrow is another day and another day I dread to see nvlddmkm.sys BSOD.

Glad it looks like the reinstall is working for you, let us know how it goes over next few days, hopefully ill find some time later this week to try a fresh install as well

[sleepyhead]

I'll let you know how I get on...although Win7 (build 7100) was happy for a week before the nvlddmkm.sys BSOD reared it's ugly head. Then I couldn't get rid of it - luckily there is nothing on this HDD I am using and it's a spare 1TB that was going to be a backup HDD. I hope all this "goes away" on the retail home premium copy!

[k4p84]

Hi

Those errors are invariably driver related, unless you were running 8 series !

Windows update popped some really shoddy Nvidia drivers on my Vista rig. After some rolling back in safe mod I got her back up and running.

Try using older drivers and working your way up. When you hit the error back off a driver release and enjoy.

I am running Windows 7 Pro and Ultimate (dual boot) on my work rig with low end Nvidia GPU and have no errors. Touch wood :-)