nvlddmkm.sys stopped responding blackscreen (Dark Souls 3, Overwatch)

I assume people can already see my system specs since I filled them in properly.

This is my first time here but it's been a while that I'm having this issue.

Basically in certain games (mentioned in title) when getting into the game world, sometimes the MOMENT I spawn in the game, sometimes soon after, sometimes after 1-2 hours my monitor will go black and say I have lost signal input. The computer is still working in the background, I can hear the warning sound from the error, the game of course will crash thanks to that so any sound from that is cut, but there is no application error on the event viewer, just the Display error. I have managed to shut windows down while my screen was black (blindly hit Alt+Tab and then WinKey + Right Arrow + Enter), so it's not a system wide freeze.

When this happens, display is unrecoverable until a reboot. My graphics card is still powered when this happens, plus a PSU issue would probably cause a shut down or a reboot (I have a BeQuiet! Straight Power 10 80plus Gold 600W, so it's good quality.)

I have already tried the various power settings (max performance etc) and they didn't solve it, I have tried underclocking (-100 Core, -100 Memory) and it didn't fix it. I tried 6 different Nvidia drivers and it didn't fix it (all clean installed with DDU). I even re-formated my PC and installed fresh, didn't fix it.

Currently sent my Graphics card back for a possible RMA, I attached a dump file I found in the WATCHDOG folder in windows, which was made the same day I got the display issue. Didn't know display crashes created dumps in there before.

Hiya and welcome to SevenForums!

Code:

BugCheck 117, {fffffa800df8f4e0, fffff8800f7dd5c4, 0, 0}

Unable to load image nvlddmkm.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys
Probably caused by : nvlddmkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+14a5c4 )

Run DDU(Display Driver Uninstaller), make sure to tick the "Remove C:\NVIDIA and C:\AMD folders" option when you are in DDU. After you have uninstalled your graphics driver, install it again. Display Driver Uninstaller: How to use

Laith said:

Hiya and welcome to SevenForums!

Code:

BugCheck 117, {fffffa800df8f4e0, fffff8800f7dd5c4, 0, 0}

Unable to load image nvlddmkm.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys
Probably caused by : nvlddmkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+14a5c4 )

Run DDU(Display Driver Uninstaller), make sure to tick the "Remove C:\NVIDIA and C:\AMD folders" option when you are in DDU. After you have uninstalled your graphics driver, install it again. Display Driver Uninstaller: How to use

Unfortunately, as I state, I have gone through this procedure multiple times already and it did not resolve the issue :c

Ah, I didn't know you ran DDU, my apologies.

Run Furmark, if the temps goes too high stop the test. Video Card - Stress Test with Furmark

Laith said:

Ah, I didn't know you ran DDU, my apologies.

Run Furmark, if the temps goes too high stop the test. Video Card - Stress Test with Furmark

I've ran Furmark and 3DMark11, temps never went higher than 73C degrees with the fans only running at 50-60% speed. CPU wasn't overheating either, while gaming it was always at a stable 55C, the only program able to make it rise higher was Prime95, but it still ran at 68C stable and nothing can realy push the CPU that much in terms of gaming.

To specify further, I have the CoolerMaster Hyper TX3 EVO CPU-cooler installed, using Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, I think it's litteraly impossible for my CPU to overheat. The case is a Corsair Carbide Spec-01, with one 120mm fan at the front and one more at the back, while the case does have have a top exhaust as well to make life easier. It's certainly not a heat problem.

Can you borrow a friends card and test it on your computer? I might have a feeling that this is a failing card.

Laith said:

Can you borrow a friends card and test it on your computer? I might have a feeling that this is a failing card.

Unfortunately, the only card I could test this with is my old GTX650 and playing the games which give me issues is relatively impossible with that card, or I'd have to play at such low resolution and settings that I doupt it would recreate the problem and it would leave other subtler issues undetected.

I have already sent the card back to my provider to check it, just in case for an RMA as a last resort. I thought I'd still provide the dump file here in case it had something useful in it. I realy have no idea how these files work.

The card is relatively brand new, I purchased it on the 11th of April this year, but the problem was present since day one of installing it on my new rig (In fact everything in my PC is brand new, I purchased everything at the same time)

Update your BIOS drivers.

Laith said:

Update your BIOS drivers.

Done that as well, I have the latest BIOS for my motherboard. Came with F2 version, I now have F5 which is the latest listed BIOS update from Gigabyte.

Can you try to put your GPU in a different PCI-E slot?