nvlddmkm.sys - Not the normal..

[DaveLCR]

Just noticed a crashes and debugging forum - If the thread could be moved, please do, ta!

Hi there,

I've recently rebuilt my old man's Asus barebones machine from a Vista Ultimate 32 machine to a Windows 7 Ultimate 64 install.

It's spec I'm not 100% on, but I'm not sure it's totally relevant.

To the best of my knowledge it's:

Asus Barebones
AMD Athlon Dual Core 5800 (AM2)
nVidia 7900GT GFX
4GB Corsair XMS2 PC2-8500
500GB Seagate SATAII

Now, the PC has actually been up and running with 0 problems for the last couple of weeks since the build, however as he's using more memory intensive apps I today bought him the said Corsair memory. It previously had 2x1GB XMS2 PC2-6400 in.

Upon installing this memory, the PC appeared to start as normal, up until the dreaded Bluescreen, which faulted nvlddmkm.sys
Immediately I tried the repair option from the CD as I just thought it was a blip to no avail.
After a fair bit of screwing about, and determining that the PC would run without fault in safe mode, I removed 1 stick of RAM, and it booted without a hitch, BINGO!
..Until I tried the other stick, and again it booted without fault!

BIOS detects all 4GB, Windows in safe mode will detect all 4GB and has run for an hour or two within it, but as soon as you try and boot into normal mode, it fails!

Any ideas why this would happen? I'm most confused about why the memory would interfere with the loading of a driver? And most importantly, anything to try!?

Cheers

Dave

 

[DaveLCR]

As a further update,

I've tried removing all copied of nvlddmkm.sys from all the file repositories

The default Windows driver works fine as you'd expect with it working in safe mode, but the max res is 1280x1024.

As soon as the nVidia drivers go back on, old or new, the error reoccurs.

Using one of the new pieces of memory, and one of the old (1x2GB PC2-8500 and 1x1GB PC2-6400 - 3GB total, clocked down obviously to 6400) the problem is nonexistant.

Using 1 of the new sticks and both of the old the problem occurs again.

The driver doesn't seem to like 4GB of memory? Surely that's not right!?

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

Hi DaveLCR, Welcome to SF,

I guess nvlddmkm.sys is your nVidia Display driver. What i would recommend would be to download the Latest nVidia drivers from their website for Windows 7. Then disconnect from internet so Windows update won't try to install the drivers. Then remove the drivers completely. Use this guide this will help

Info: nVidia Driver Cleaning Guide - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

Then reboot the system then install the drivers that you have downloaded.

Hope this helps,
Captain

 

[Total]

I had that error and what fixed it for me was to disable in services the Nvidia services .. No crashes since I did this . and I'm using the 191.07 drivers NVIDIA DRIVERS 191.07 WHQL

 

[DaveLCR]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your input, I tried disabling the service last night with the 195.62 driver but that stops Windows loading at all (Just sits on the black screen) - Will try with the older drivers later as it seems like a really viable solution!

Failing that I'll try the dirty file-cleaner later and let you know fingers crossed because I'd love to sort it!

Cheers

Dave

 

[Total]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your input, I tried disabling the service last night with the 195.62 driver but that stops Windows loading at all (Just sits on the black screen) - Will try with the older drivers later as it seems like a really viable solution!

Failing that I'll try the dirty file-cleaner later and let you know fingers crossed because I'd love to sort it!

Cheers

Dave

keep us posted ..

 

[DaveLCR]

Sorry for the delay in getting back. I've been playing with the car

Tried the older drivers and disabling the service to no avail, using some obscenities, getting wound up, and finally using some different search terms on Google, however.. I stumbled across this article:

Windows 7 Crashs With 4GB Ram But Works With 2GB Ram

Now -- The PC actually starts, boots and runs (WOOP!) but only shows 3.25GB of usable memory - To reiterate, this *is* x64.

Any ideas on why that would be?

Thanks for help so far

 

[rick475]

hi, i've had the nvlddmkm.sys problem for 2 years. I used to have vista 64, now I bought windows 7 (using 64bits) and hoped to get rid of that cursed problem. The only thing you can try is to go back to 32 bits. 32 bits is the mainstream and from the feedback i got from microsoft, many 64 bits drivers have compatibility issues.

I'm going back to 32 bits with my 4gb of RAM as soon as i'm finished researching problems on my computer with the microsoft research team.

Let me know if you still have the nvlddmkm issue on 32 bits.

Edit : By the way I had 3 video card RMA, changed the power supply, changed the soundcard and bought a new motherboard, scanned all my hardware for problems, underclocked the video card and so on... nothing fixed the issue.

 

[DaveLCR]

Strange - I've had no real driver issues with 64-bit other than this one, although I am now doubting if it's really drivers or just Windows memory handling.

There's no real point in running 32bit with 4GB memory given you'll still be capped on the amount you can use anyway - unless you patch, have you tried the guide I posted last? Seems weird but that solved my non-boot issue at least.

I could try it fairly easily as I'm an MSDN subscriber and can get it without an issue, however the nature of this PC means it'd be 12+ hours of setup, and as it's currently working I'll leave it be for now

 

[rick475]

Hi Dave, if I go back to 32bits my main goal will be to achieve stability. So if the 4gb causes me trouble i'll ditch one 2gb stick.

2-3 weeks ago I tried 32 bits for 2 days as part of the debugging plan of the microsoft research team, the computer seemed very stable. I didn't game much so I don't know if it also got rid of the nvlddmkm issue.

I'm currently running 64 bits on 2gb, and it's not stable.

The link you provided seems like a nice trick for the 4gb on 32bits OS. I'll try that for sure.

 

[DaveLCR]

That particular guide won't make 4gb usable in 32bit - Although there is a link on there with instructions on how to patch it for use with.

Mine was consistantly failing at boot time, couldn't get into Windows

Still seems to be running OK with the 4 in at the minute, but still 3.25 usable.