"Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding..." error

Xenoid · 12 Oct 2016

Hello,

I have purchased Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060, installed the latest drivers (version 372.54 at the time) and everything was fine. When version 372.70 came out I didn't bother installing it for quite some time but when had plenty of time, I installed it. On the next day I got "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." error (checked Event Viewer) and the HDMI sound disappeared. I checked for newer drivers and 372.90 was hot on the spot, so I downloaded it and installed. On next day, to my surprise same error happened. I decided to go back to driver version 372.54, since it was working fine, report about issue to NVIDIA and wait for the fix. Yesterday (almost 3 weeks later), with driver version 372.54 same error happened again. I have restarted computer and sound returned. I am planing to install 373.06 today, but if error happens randomly, there is no way telling if it will help or not right away.
Some other info:
Before installing driver, I uninstall it completely using latest version of Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU).
Each time error happened, same applications were Mozilla Firefox, Steam and HWMonitor. Other applications were different each time.
This never happened with my old video card.
I will try installing latest driver again, but it doesn't have any bug fixes as it seems.

Let me know, if you have any suggestions, what I should try or what may be causing it.

EDIT: After uninstalling NVIDIA drivers with DDU I have checked Programs and Features in Control Panel and 3 components were not removed by it. They are "NVIDIA Drivers", "NVIDIA Performance" and "NVIDIA System Monitor", all installed on 15.02.2014 as parts of "NVIDIA System Tools". I have removed them using Revo Uninstaller, but they are unlikely to be the cause.

Xenoid · 23 Oct 2016

Just now the driver stopped working and recovered twice in a row, HDMI sound disappeared, it lasted only for 1 week. At the moment only Steam, Firefox (watching twitch broadcast), HWMonitor and 2 windows of Windows Explorer were running. As I suspected, NVIDIA System Tools were not at fault. Also, instead of installing GeForce Experience v3.xx I used GeForce Experience 2.xx, which wasn't affecting the problem as well. Now I am going to install new driver version 375.57, which was released yesterday, but it's release notes don't have any bug fixes.
Any suggestions on what else should I try?

Xenoid · 23 Oct 2016

After removing old and installing new driver, 2 hours later "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." again and sound disappeared. It happened the moment offline twitch broadcast (HTML5 player) went online.

Xenoid · 24 Oct 2016

UPDATE: I've tried using different browser to watch twitch broadcast, but it happened again. Not sure if twitch is even related to the issue, but when it happens twitch window turns green.

Xenoid · 30 Oct 2016

UPDATE: After installing version 375.70 and GeForce Experience I have disabled automatic game optimization and in NVIDIA Control Panel restored 3D Settings to their defaults. Just now, when Twitch broadcast started (League of Legends World Championship Finals) the "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." error happened again, screen turned green and HDMI sound disappeared. I am out of ideas. Any suggestion is appreciated.

Xenoid · 14 Dec 2016

Hello,

I want to write small status update.
I've been running on 375.70 and had only 1 driver crash on 13th November.
Recently I started getting browser crashes when watching Twitch, so it could be Twitch player problem to begin with, but I'll keep monitoring for new driver crashes.