Windows 7: Various BSODs while playing any game and running Furmark

Hi SevenForums,
In the past I have experienced various kinds of BSOD and artifacting issues while playing various games (Starcraft 2, League of Legends, Crusader Kings II, etc). I decided to uninstall my NVIDIA drivers and just use my integrated GPU.
I have:
Windows 7 x64
i7-2670qm (with integrated Intel HD 3000, which I have been using instead of the dedicated card)
NVIDIA GT 550m (which I'm fairly sure causes the issue)
8 GB RAM

I've decided to tackle this issue again. I did a clean install of the NVIDIA driver (latest as of January 5th) and re-enabled my dedicated GPU GT 550m. I start up Starcraft 2, enter a game, lo and behold, an instant BSOD. Using BlueScreenView, I see "DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION" and caused by NVIDIA driver "nvlddmkm.sys", Bug Check Code "0x000000c4".
I try various other games which don't crash immediately, but slowly begin to artifact more and more until finally a BSOD with the same code and message as before. Rinse and repeat with other games.
I try Furmark, which seems fine with no artifacting, which is odd. At first it seemed fine, but when I let it run for about a minute it BSODs like before.

This problem has had me knocking my head on the table for months now.

Hi Jhohok, welcome to SF

Are you aware you have driver verifier running, is that intentional

Sounds like you may have a heat problem with your machine, please fill in your system specs, run some temp monitoring software whilst you are doing these tests
Dump file see problem with your nvidia drivers try unistalling them, running driver sweeper to clear out any remnants then reinstalling option two on nvidia site will auto detect what you need and install appropriate drivers, try it

Thanks for replying,
I was not aware of that. What does driver verifier do?

I am sure it is not a heat issue.
At full load, the CPU runs at around 80 C and the GPU ran before at 80 C, using CoreTemp and MSI Afterburner.

I've uninstalled my drivers and cleaned it with Driver Sweeper, reinstalling from NVIDIA's website, but I still get BSODs after a few minutes in game.

Driver verifier is a tool built in to windows to help diagnose driver problems its function is to cause extra load/work for drivers trying to force them too crash and present a BSOD in the hope of producing a dump file to assist in troubleshooting, turn it off !
Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable

Please clear out (move if you dont want to delete) your minidump folder C:\windows\minidump then after running suggestions keep uploading new dump files

Alright. I followed the instructions to disable the verifier, but this comes up, saying that no changes were made.



BSODs occur a few minutes into a game as before.
I then ran Furmark for 10 minutes and GPU temp actually reached 88 C, but no BSOD.

I also found out where I could fill out my System Specs and did that.
Is "DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION" only caused by the verifier? If I turned the verifier off correctly, it still gives this message when I BSOD.

Please enter elevated command prompt start>type cmd>right click select run as administrator
and enter the following command verifier /query
post back a snip of the output

I tried it before following the enable/disable verifier guide but forgot about elevating the command prompt.
When I do run it as administrator, it simply says "No drivers are currently verified."

Thats good verifier must be off then
Have you monitored temps while running furmark, check the maximum your temps get to before bsod occurs, driver crashes just happen normally instantly overheat crashes develop as it get hotter like your artifacting leading to bsod

First two times I ran Furmark today, it crashed a few minutes after starting, temperatures reaching 83 and 85.
Third time I ran Furmark, it never crashed and peaked at 87 C for 10 minutes until I stopped it.
In all Furmark tests there is no artifacting at all. It looks perfectly fine, except for the first two tests I just ran.

While typing this post, I started up a game (the client only, not the actual game) and promptly BSODed with the same code "DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION" with GPU temperature around 50 C. That makes me very sure temperature is not the issue.

When I play any game, there is usually some minor artifacting that gradually increases in severity until a BSOD occurs.

This is strange you only see driver_verifier_detected..... when driver verifier is running and it isnt, theres been a few threads like this yesterday/today i think something weird is going on