Solved BSOD from nvlddmkm (running verifier) when trying to open GeForce Exp

[Chowderdude]

Hi all,

Sorry in advance for the long and rambling post, but I've tried a few different sets of settings with driver verifier in an effort to pinpoint the problem, but I'm not at all experienced in the nitty gritty aspects of debugging BSODs. I'll try to explain the origin of all of my earlier dump files below in italics, with my most recent dump files pertaining to the text after the italics:

I recently built a new desktop for gaming, but it seemed to BSOD randomly while playing Battlefield 4 (0x50 usually). There was also one BSOD while playing Spec Ops: The Line, but I haven't been able to replicate it.

First, I reinstalled Windows 7, but that didn't fix the problem. Looking at the ensuing BSODs, the 0x50 bugchecks originated from dxgmms1.sys and a single 0xA originated from something called nt, during bf4.exe. I ran Memtest86+ overnight and woke up to see 7 passes and 0 fails, so it didn't seem to be memory. I then ran driver verifier, setting all settings except Low Resolution Simulation to On, verifying only non-Microsoft drivers. This caused eventual BSODs that pointed to nvlddmkm.sys, though I don't remember what I was doing at the time of these BSODs. After this, I did a clean reinstall of NVIDIA 332.21 Driver through GeForce Experience. I also reseated the video card in my motherboard, making sure all the power connections were in all the way. At this point, it appeared that the driver verifier was messing with my ability to browse the internet (pages weren't fully loading, so I couldn't play BF4), so I turned driver verifier off.

At this point, I tried the same settings with driver verifier (everything on except Low Res Simulation) and checked the dxgmms1.sys driver, as well as a driver named ntoskrnl.sys. This, I think, gave me useless BSODs whenever I tried to log in to windows, telling me that my Creative audio driver was trying to do something illegal. I think this is extraneous because the only thing I changed was adding Microsoft drivers to the list, and I read somewhere that having the Force Pending I/O Requests setting on may result in some spurious BSODs if a driver doesn't deal with receiving a pending signal for I/O.

Finally, yesterday, I turned on driver verifier to standard settings to verify all drivers. I ended up playing Spec Ops last night for several hours without issue. However, my most recent dumps, from today, seem to point to nvlddmkm.sys as the culprit, with nvspcaps64.exe being the offending program at the time of dump. I found that every time I tried to open GeForce Experience (which seemed to be running in my taskbar), I got a BSOD pointing to these two things. I believe nvspcaps64.exe has something to do with Shadow Play, but after turning driver verifier off, I saw that Shadow Play was not on during these BSODs. I'm not sure if this means that GeForce Experience is bad, or if it's my hardware.

Lastly, I believe I can return my video card (or maybe it could the the power supply?) to Microcenter up until Friday, if it is actually corrupted hardware. This is obviously not my first choice, but if you guys recommend that, I'm pretty sure it's doable.

Again, sorry for the long post, and attached are my dumps and system information, grabbed through SF Diagnostic Tool. Thanks in advance for helping me out! Please let me know if you need any other information and I'll gladly provide it.

 

[Arc]

Hi Chowderdude.

Before doing anything else, disable driver verifier. Do a clean install with NVIDIA DRIVERS GeForce 332.21 Driver WHQL.

• Uninstall All nvidia items in Control Panel > Programs and features
  • 3D Vision Control Driver
  • 3D Vision Driver
  • Graphics Driver
  • HD Audio Driver
  • GeForce Experience
  • PhysX
  • nvidia Update
  (Are you using nvidia chipset drivers? If so, dont uninstall anything other than those are listed).
• Now follow Drivers - Clean Left over Files after Uninstalling
• Download 332.21 WHQL. While installing, Select Custom (Advanced) install. In the next page, follow this settings: (install nothing other than display driver and PhysX)
  
  

Let us know the results.

One unfortunate fact is, 332.21 is not yet widely tested. The tested stable version of the display driver is 314.22 which does not work with 700 series GPUs.

Also, Stress test the Graphics Card using Furmark.
Video Card - Stress Test with Furmark

Let us know the results.

 

[Chowderdude]

Hi Arc,

Thanks for the reply! I'll follow these steps when I get home later this afternoon. A couple quick questions:

How do I know if I'm using NVIDIA chipset drivers? Is it one of those things that I would know if I were using them?
Should I also uninstall GeForce experience?

I'll let you know as soon as I get through all of your outlined steps.

 

[Arc]

Hi Chowderdude.

The data you have posted says almost everything about your system, if analyzed systematically.

About GeForce Experience, uninstall it; and dont install it back. Frankly speaking, not a single version of display driver having that bloatware proved to be stable.

 

[Chowderdude]

Hi Arc,

Got through all the steps and ran FurMark on my computer. The temperature seemed to top out at about 80 to 82 degrees C in a few minutes, so I stopped it. On my first run, I didn't notice any artifacts, but when running it a second time a couple minutes later, I saw some artifacts pop in and out in the lower left quadrant of my screen. Does this mean the graphics card has some issues, or did I run it too soon after the previous one? I can imagine that repeated heating of the GPU might not be good for the card.

On the upside, I didn't experience a BSOD from running it, though I only ran it for a few minutes. Should I run the test for longer to see if I get one?

 

[Arc]

As you have said earlier that you can return the GPU, IMHO it will be the best, as it is resulting artifacts.

 

[Chowderdude]

I've just exchanged the GPU and it seems fine so far. Stress tested it, and I still see some strange white artifact that pops in and out for a while on the bottom half of the screen during Furmark, though it becomes less frequent as the test goes on. This makes me think that what I'm seeing has nothing to do with the GPU, but I'm not sure.

Still no BSODs after the clean install of drivers, but I'll keep playing games to test it over the next few days. If nothing crops up, I'll mark the thread solved.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Arc]

Let us see a screenshot of the furmark window?

 

[Chowderdude]

It's remarkably hard to get a screenshot of what I'm talking about, so I pointed my phone's camera at it and took a video (kind of horrible quality). Here's the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukYRI70fJmk

As you can hopefully see, there's a white line near the bottom that kind of pops in and out. Over time, it seems like this behavior becomes more infrequent, as the temperature of the GPU gets to its maximum, but I can't imagine why that would be. I also tried this on my TV through HDMI, and it looks the same. Any suggestions? Is this even an artifact?

 

[Arc]

I have asked essenbe to take a look on the video.

 

[essenbe]

As best as I can tell from the video, it looks like it is supposed to look. I don't see the white line you are talking about or the statistics. What were your temps on it? The video quality may be why I can't tell a lot from it. It depends on what settings were and which test you ran. If you ran a benchmark test there is a line and graph at the bottom of the oage, like this one, running the benchmmark at user defined settings. Ay most other preset settings, the background is a differeny color and you don't get the ;watery' effect.

View attachment 302195

 

[Arc]

Thank you Steve

Chowderdude, so dont be worried, and use the computer normally
Let us know it it is causing any more troubles.

 

[Chowderdude]

Thanks guys! You've been a lot of help

 

[Arc]

You are most welcome

 

[essenbe]

At the 720P or 1080 preset benchmark, this is what mine looks like.

View attachment 302198

 

[Chowderdude]

Oh, sorry essenbe, I guess I didn't see the entirety of your post. The white lines I was referring to was in the bottom third of the screen, and it kept popping in and out. I ran the benchmark at my resolution though, ready to take a video with my better camera, but I didn't notice the lines. It appears to only appear during the burn-in test, right where the statistics should be shown, which makes me think that the issue is Furmark's problem during the regular burn-in test. Attached is a screenshot of the benchmark while running.

During the indefinite burn-in test, the GPU temperature reached around 80 degrees C and stayed in that neighborhood. The user-setting benchmark isn't long enough to push my GPU to that temperature though.

 

[essenbe]

Chowdwedude, I just wrote a long post, but can't find it. Basically it says what you are describing to me and what I see in the screenshot above seem to be artifacts. Notice your doughnut has very little definition on the outside edges and in the top right corner, the background is overlapping the doughnut. For a better screenshot, if you think it is the camera, press print screen during the test. Open Paint and press paste. Then save as to somewhere you can find it. You can also go to our benchmarks section and look at the Ungine Heaven thread and see some of the scores.http://www.sevenforums.com/benchmarks/223272-show-us-your-unigine-heaven-benchmark-scores.html.

Just keep in mind that many of the scores, the card was overclocked, but it should give you an idea of you card's performance. You should be 'in the ballpark' of those scores. You can download the test from this link http://www.sevenforums.com/benchmarks/312922-download-links-all-benchmarks.html. But, stay with the Heaven benchmark as it is GPU only. Many of the others are CPU and GPU benchmarks.

 

[Chowderdude]

That screenshot I just posted was actually just using the print screen and copy to paint method. I confess, I don't really see the artifacts that you're mentioning, but I don't really have a trained eye for this sort of thing. I'll run the Unigine Heaven Benchmark and report back my score in a little bit.

 

[Chowderdude]

Just ran the Heaven benchmark on the extreme preset and below are the results. I'm not exactly sure what the score for a GTX 760 should be, but I saw a GTX 660 on the leaderboard (first post) of that first link you sent me, which was 890. I was under the impression that the GTX 660 was slightly better than the 760, but perhaps my card is factory overclocked? In any case, I'm not sure that I saw any artifacts when I ran the benchmark, but again, I might have missed something.

 

[essenbe]

As far as the 660 and the 760, you have it backwards. The 760 is basically similar to the 670, and your score pretty much reflects that. I have a 670 and get roughly the same score you have.

As far as the screenshots, it is really not a 'trained eye'. It's the details you can or cannot see. My background is a different color than yours, but the same pattern. The fur ball is just that. You should be able to see a distinct pattern on the background and fur on the firball, even on the edges. The background should look exactly like a background and should not ever become part of or overlap the furball. That's what I'm seeing.