Constant Nvidia display driver crash/recovery

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parsnips

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Nov 10, 2013
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First let me apologise - I used to be fairly computer saavy, but I've lost touch over the years. I'll probably need you to explain things more than usual.

I built my first desktop in years last week, and at first everything seemed absolutely fine. Then, I installed a game (Sims 3) and played it yesterday. At first that was fine, too, but after a few hours my graphics driver would stop responding, then recover. This happened whenever I scrolled out to map view, which I assume is more taxing. Annoying, but it always came right back, so I figured it was a game problem and didn't worry.

Then I quit the game and in the course of normal use - browsing the internet, checking email, sitting staring at the screen in despair - I was getting constant failures. Every other minute the graphics drivers would stop and recover, no matter what I was doing.

I rolled back the drivers. I did clean installs of yet older drivers. I rebooted. I took out the card, then reseated it and made sure all the connections were sound.

Nothing I've tried has helped, and I don't know what to do.

Windows 7 Home Premium
EVGA GTX 770 GeForce
SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze Modular PFC

Event viewer calls it Event 4101.
I'm not sure what other information might help. I'm at my wit's end.
 
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parsnips

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Nov 10, 2013
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So far I've tried drivers 320.49, 327.23, 331.58, and 331.65. I haven't tried any betas - I didn't see anything newer than 331.65, which came out on the 7th.
 
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Drew010

Drew010

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May 11, 2013
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It almost sounds as if your card isn't receiving enough power. Have you tried using another PSU/double checked to make sure that you have the right cords plugged into your 770?
 
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parsnips

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Nov 10, 2013
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I don't have another PSU to try, unfortunately.

As far as I know, the cords are right. There's a six pin and an eight pin slot on the card, and I've got a six pin and a 6+2 pin plugged into it and the PSU.

ETA : As a weird side note, if I try to play Sims 3, the driver is stable. Meanwhile, if I try to use the internet, it crashes four out of every five minutes.
 
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abdu3

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Dec 6, 2013
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I'm going to build my first gaming rig with nearly identical part as yours very soon, have you resolved this issue? Would be grateful if you could post an update.
 
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parsnips

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Nov 10, 2013
8
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10,510


Yes and no. EVGA customer support had me try a few things which didn't work, and then they told me to RMA the card to them, and then told me to try updating the motherboard, uninstalling every nvidia thing possible, then reinstall all the drivers except hd audio. Once that was done they had me change some 3d settings - under 3d settings, 3d management, power management, set to prefer maximum, and vsync to adaptive.

This worked until I tried to play the ESO beta a couple weeks back. I got past character creation, but during loading the drivers died another miserable death, locking up the whole system. I couldn't load Windows at all if the card was installed. When I contacted EVGA the second time they just said "you had an RMA last time, just send us the card".

I mailed them my card a while ago, so now I'm just waiting for that whole process to sort out. This does rather mean my gaming rig is now...well. Not much use, without a graphics card, or any way of knowing when I'll have one again.
 
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abdu3

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Dec 6, 2013
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Thanks for the update, does this mean you got 2 bad cards from EVGA? Was the second card they sent brand new? Was your first card perfect at any point before a driver update?
 
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parsnips

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Nov 10, 2013
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So far, just the one bad card. The first time they told me to RMA my card they then told me a way to fix it, so I didn't have to send it back. The second time it failed, they had me actually RMA it.

At first, I thought my card was working perfectly. Until I alt-tabbed out of a game, I wasn't having any problems. From then on, it was nothing but problems.
 
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parsnips

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Nov 10, 2013
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The new card arrived today, and I installed it. Well, attempted to install it. What actually happened was I put the card in and the computer refused to boot. When I took the card back out, the BIOS had been changed and I had to fix all the settings again.

I'm so frustrated at this point that I don't know what to do.
 
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Cassidismal

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Mar 15, 2014
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4,510


Hey any luck resolving this issue? Ive had a very similar experience with my custom build

Asus mobo
Intel i7 ivybridge cpu
Nvidia gtx570
16gigs of ddr3 ram
750 watt corsair psu
Windows 7 professional

My system was golden for about 6mo, then one day i went to work and let my roommate at tge tine try guild wars 2 and then it started and has never been the same. Rebooted, clean driver installs, RMAd all hardware since it was under warranty. Stress tested, tested all memory, monitored twmps and all was good. I had a programing friend and an IT friend check it out both of which are really good with comps and nobody can figure this out..

So I completely feel your pain on this. Makes me want to drop kick it off a bridge and go live in the woods away from all tech >.<

I too have plans on playing ESO and actally just ordered the 770 upgrading from a gtx570 to see if that will work for whatever reason, if you found a fix or cause of this please let me know!
 
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hdarkace

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Apr 27, 2014
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4,510
I had the same exact issue New PSU will work graphics card is not getting enough power so the driver crashes instead of a BSOD Windows will blank to a black screen and then restart the driver with an OPENGL error code 3
 
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D

DearJules

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Aug 14, 2014
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4,510
Hey guys, I know this is an old thread that has recently been rezzed, but I may be able to shed some light.
Go into BIOS and set your motherboard's PCIe gpu lane to 2.0 rather than 3.0
It worked for me and I just wanna spread the word to those who it might help.
Believe me, I tried everything - Returned one probably perfectly good gpu as faulty, fresh installed windows 8.1 and windows 7, tried multiple drivers, tried alternative ram...

And if this fix works for you, please take the time to share the word with another lost traveler just trying to get his or her game on with the money they spent.
 
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T

toml88

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Aug 18, 2014
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4,510
I built my own computer roughly 6 months ago. Everything worked great for a solid 3 months and then I started getting BSODs. Long story short, I had a bad memory stick. Replaced the faulty sticks and then a month later I started getting the driver crashing/recovering issue. After doing research, I realize that this is not a driver issue at all. I tried many of the solutions from numerous threads/posts but in the end my issue was memory timings.

List of fixes I attempted:

  • ■Moved video card to a different slot/cleaned out current slot (cleaning didn't help - computer was too new to have dust buildup)[/*]■Changed 3D performance to 'Prefer Max settings'[/*]■Increased Windows TDR detection[/*]■Changed IE option "Use software rendering instead of GPU rendering[/*]■Underclocked graphics card/increased voltage[/*]■Disabled RealTalk from starting up[/*]■Checked for the bitcoin mining virus[/*]■Checked voltage requirements to ensure my PSU was sufficient (which I obviously did before building my computer - just had to be sure)[/*]■Reset MOBO bios[/*]

Some of the issues above worked temporarily - whether it be for a day or two or a couple of hours. I eventually read this link, https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/389688/geforce-drivers/nvidia-statement-on-tdr-errors-display-driver-nvlddmkm-stopped-/ , which is what helped me in the end. Towards the bottom of the first post in the link, a list of common issues that cause this are given. The very first one is incorrect memory timing/voltage.

To check/fix the memory timings/voltage, turn off your computer and take out a memory stick. Read the label and you'll see a series of four numbers with dashes between them (something like CL 9-9-9-24 1.5v). This tells you the memory timings and voltage you should set. Put stick back in computer, turn it on, and get to BIOS screen (mash 'Delete'). Go into your memory settings and override the "auto" setting (or whatever values were there before) with the correct timings found on your card. Also be sure the voltage is correct. For more information, Google "memory timings."

Hopefully this helps but my number one suggestion is to read the post I linked above!

Good luck!
 
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Enbatt

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Oct 1, 2014
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I have solved the same problem with my xfx GTX 295 under windows 8.1. I have lost a much of time to understand the cause but at the end i have understood. I think many people have che same problem and can solve in my mode. If you execute the windows tool dxdiag you can see that your video memory is higher than the memory installed on your video card. This is because windows add to video card memory some amount of system memory. In my case i have 894MB * 2 = about 1,7 GB of video memory but dxdiag reports i having more than 3GB available for video memory. Now the clock of the video memory of the my GTX295 is about 1008 * 2 = 2016 MHZ but the clock of my system memory is 1600 MHZ. When i play massive 3d game, for example Dark Souls, until the game graphics load into the video memory i can play without problems, but when in some more complex parts of the game the graphics is loaded also into the system memory then the different clock between the two types of memory cause a memory error and the video driver stop to work and i have a black screen.. To solve this problem i nave installed MSI Afterburner and slowing down the clock of the memory of my video card from 1008MHZ to 800MHZ. in this mode the video memory clock become 800*2= 1600MHZ in the same mode of my system memory and the game stop to crash.
 
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Ahmed Habib

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Nov 9, 2014
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4,510
Im having similair isues wheres previously everything worked fine. No overclocking or anything

EVGA GTX 780 SC ACX SLI
ASUS MAXIMUS VI FORMULA Z87
4770K OVERCLOCKED TO 4.6 GHZ * although tried playing at stock settings and still experienced failures

kingston hyper x beast @ 1600 mhz 9-9-9-27 1.5v (havent touched ram and preiously all games worked fine with these which are stock values )

 
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M

munchy22

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Oct 31, 2014
27
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4,540
I was having crashes on my gtx970 all the time kernel thingy and the a new driver came out 2 days ago. Cross my fingers even in bf4 on full settings its perfect now, I even overclocked it and no crashes, so im guessing it was their 344.60. All I know is once 344.65 was installed and restarted my gaming rig completely stopped crashing in games and in dual screen move. Im now very happy. If anyone else solves same problem same way plse let me know.
 
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jeffro4

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Nov 17, 2014
2
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4,510
I'm having the exact same issue. I have a Gigabyte H97M-UD3H micro-atx mobo and Seasonic 430 watt S12 II PSU. Also have 8GB of Hynix 1600 MHz ram a Creative Recon3d mini PCIe soundcard installed and I've had 2 Geforce video cards acting up. My first card is an EVGA GTX 650ti and I just today installed a brand new PNY GTX 760 card and I get great performance from the new card but still have the video driver crashing. I'm currently downloading the latest Nvidia driver 344.65. I'll see what happens.
 
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jeffro4

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Nov 17, 2014
2
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4,510
The new driver didn't help. Still having crash issues. I play Tomb Raider 2013 when it acts up. I'm wondering if there's some conflict with the soundcard or maybe it's a haswell cpu issue.
 
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