Solved BSOD playing any game, error 0x00000116 (dxgkrnl.sys)

[LorDisturbia]

Hello everyone,
One year ago I bought a Samsung RC730-S05IT laptop with Windows 7 Professional x64. It runs an internal Intel HD Graphics 3000, and an external nVidia GeForce GT 540M.

At first I didn't have any problem, but after some months it started to BSOD while playing games. The weird thing is that it was only with some games at the beginning (Amnesia, Nazy Zombie Army, Dead Island 2, ...) while other games weren't affected at all (Left 4 Dead 2, The Stanley Parable). Now, it BSODs with basically every game I play, regardless of the video settings.

The error is 0x00000116, and the BSOD points at nvlddmkm.sys, which is nVidia display driver. I tried installing older nVidia drivers, latest drivers available on Samsung's website and latest drivers available on nVidia's website, with no luck. I also changed HDD and reinstalled Windows (with a non OEM version and with no Samsung crapware), but with no luck.

I've never had to troubleshoot such an annoying problem, so I'm not familiar with which kind of tests I should run (or how to specifically run them), so please help me on that point also.

Thank you in advance,
LorDisturbia

 

[Arc]

Post it following the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions.

 

[LorDisturbia]

I've edited the first post and added the necessary files. Sorry I didn't do it already.

 

[Arc]

From the next time, supply data in your subsequent posts. That will help to maintain chronology to other people if they also want to analyze your data.

A stop 0x116 is a display/graphics related issue.

*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

[COLOR=Red]BugCheck 116[/COLOR], {fffffa8008097010, fffff8800f87c9bc, ffffffffc000009a, 4}

Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\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
[COLOR=Red]Probably caused by : nvlddmkm.sys [/COLOR]( nvlddmkm+7b09bc )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

And your display driver is too old.

fffff880`0f0cc000 fffff880`0fd3a880   nvlddmkm T (no symbols)           
    Loaded symbol image file: nvlddmkm.sys
    Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nvlddmkm.sys
[COLOR=Red]    Image name: nvlddmkm.sys
    Timestamp:        Mon Jan 17 22:21:05 2011[/COLOR] (4D347379)
    CheckSum:         00C77506
    ImageSize:        00C6E880
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

Download and install NVIDIA DRIVERS 314.22WHQL . It works fine with your GPU NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M.

Then let us know the situation.

 

[LorDisturbia]

I'll do it right now. However, I'm quite pessimistic: I had already tried any kind of drivers (including 314.22), and still had the same problem.

I'll let you know how things go in some 10 minutes.

 

[Arc]

I want to see the situation, coz as it is a loatop, it needs to be certain before starting troubleshooting hardware.

 

[LorDisturbia]

I installed the latest driver (with "clean install"), tried out Dead Rising 2 and it gave out a BSOD after 12 minutes of playing. I attached another .rar from the SF Diagnosting Tool. Any ideas?

 

[Arc]

Same stop 0x116 .... and so we need to search for the reasons elsewhere.

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

Is the computer hot? Report us the heat of the computer after a couple of hours of your normal usage. Upload a screenshot of the summery tab of Speccy.

 

[LorDisturbia]

Here is the screenshot. I've been using the laptop for the past 1h 15min, mainly for internet browsing and video editing with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 (which never caused a BSOD, not even while rendering).

What settings should I use for Furmark's test? How long should I let it run?

 

[LorDisturbia]

Here is another screenshot after 2 hours of watching a movie. The laptop did in fact get quite hot, but it was lying on the bed, so it might be due to that. It never gets this hot on standard surfaces (desks and tables).

 

[Arc]

You need to apply new thermal paste to the CPU. It is overheating.



As it is a laptop, and you may not be able to do it yourself, get the job done by someone who can do it.

 

[LorDisturbia]

I'll do it as soon as I get back home. However I'm not that confident it will fix the problem.

Can you give me some ranges of acceptable temperature for my specific hardware components?
Thank you

 

[Arc]

Temperatures varies ... you may accept the +5 degrees more than home temperature is normal.

 

[LorDisturbia]

I'll upload a last screenshot before trying to apply termal paste and to remove dust from fans/case. These are temperatures after 10 minutes of video rendering. I'm starting to think it may be the actual cause of BSOD (altough it never BSOD'd while rendering, even with these temps).

 

[Arc]

Do it as soon as possible, before that abnormal heat cause any more damage.

 

[LorDisturbia]

Ok then,
yesterday I replaced the thermal paste., both on the CPU and on the GPU. Today I had the chance to test if the problem was fixed and, after approximately 15 minutes of Dead Rising 2, it BSOED again, with the same error. Temps are somehow lower (35-40° C during normal use), however, they are still pretty high (80-85°) when playing games with advanced graphics (and medium-high settings) or while rendering videos. I'm still not sure whether it's supposed to be like this (it's a laptop after all) or if I have a problem. I checked with my brother's laptop (a 2 year-old acer) and its graphic card gets up to 85°C when playing Skyrim.
Yesterday I also took my time to clean out any dust from the MoBo and the fan, but there wasn't much.

What's the next step?

Thanks,
LorDisturbia

EDIT: Almost forgot, i'll attach the diagnostic from SF Diagnostic Tool.

 

[Arc]

Can you supply a screenshot of Speccy after adding new thermal paste?

And have you tried the furmark stress test?

 

[LorDisturbia]

This is Speccy after 30 minutes of normal using (mostly internet browsing). You can also see CPU meter and GPU meter gadgets displaying additional data.
Temps look ok to me.

About Furmark, I installed the program but I don't know what kind of test should I run, and for how long. If you give me some more details on what to do, I'll do it right now.

LorDisturbia

 

[Arc]

Try burn in benchmark 15 minutes test.

 

[LorDisturbia]

The preset test wouldn't start ("Could not switch to fullscreen mode", although fullscreen worked normally with custom settings), so I ran a custom burn-in with the settings you can find attached.
Also, I attached the result of said test. Temps were stable at 95-96°, they reached it almost instantaneously and stayed there for the whole test. A lot of throttling but no BSODs whatsoever. I had also made previous 60 seconds tests (I ran 3 of them at 720p) with the same results: 95°C, no BSODs.

What do you suggest?