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BSOD~DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE~0x0000009F~nvlddmkm.sys~ntoskrnl.exe
Howdy! In my time troubleshooting past problems with this laptop I've seen how helpful everyone here is, so I figured I would come here for help, as I've nowhere else to turn. This is my first post, so, bear with me. I'll try to be as cooperative as I can!
I'm dealing with a super pesky BSOD issue. It's always the same error - DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 0x0000009F. It happens at random times; I haven't been able to isolate what's causing it. I installed WinDbg and WhoCrashed and tried looking at the minidumps, they said it was nvlddmkm.sys/pci.sys/ntoskrnl.exe (?) causing an error. I also used BlueScreenView and in all of the dumps it highlights ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.exe+eacd2 as the error. In one of the more recent BSODs it also highlighted dxgmms1.sys as an issue as well (?).
I've done lots of troubleshooting through google, lots of which happened to be viewing threads on this forum! I saw someone whose Realtek PCIE Card Reader driver was the issue, but when I tried the driver that worked for him, I got a BSOD the next day (I then proceeded to uninstall that card driver completely).
I read also that it's an issue with the integrated graphics. That makes some sense because I never remember crashing while gaming, using the main card, but that could merely be coincidence as the BSODs aren't frequent enough to say. I didn't know if switching between integrated and the main card could be a problem..?
Regarding nvlddmkm.sys, I googled and found that it can cause some BSODs or errors. Supposedly nvidia's driver updates don't replace this file which causes issues, so I had to do it manually - didn't work - unfortunately I still got BSODs.
I also saw a thread online somewhere in which someone said that it was a problem with the GTX 460M (my card) itself, and that Dell said it was causing issues, and needed to be replaced. I didn't want to have to resort to that if I didn't have to, so I'm coming here for help!
My specs are in my profile info.
A few days ago I installed the GTX 460M Vbios A02 urgent update available from the dell site -- no luck -- I still got a BSOD.
The driver for my 460M is the latest Beta Verde nVidia driver - 290.53. I installed this a day or two ago, still got a BSOD. Before this driver I had 285.62 with a modded inf (I remember it not being able to install without the modded inf file).
I believe all of my other drivers are up to date as well (is there a suggested way to be sure of this?).
As for security, I've got ESET Smart Security installed. I've never had any issues with it before, though.
Anyways, I'm not sure if this will help, but here's other background info: Since, maybe, mid-October I've been getting these BSOD on a somewhat frequent basis. I might have 3 in one day, none for two weeks, and then 2 more in the span of 2 days. I had ignored it as it seemed to grow less frequent and I didn't have the time to attempt to fix the problem or have my laptop out of commission - as I was in the middle of my semester. I don't know what I changed on my machine to cause this -- about a day before the first BSOD, I vaguely remember attempting to install some printer driver for a friend's printer, which I uninstalled shortly after. I don't think that it's the cause, just coincidence, probably.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
I'm more than happy to co-operate and fix this thing that has been plaguing my computer!
Here's the files I believe you need: Attachment 194023