[SOLVED] No nvlddmkm.sys file

[Mo10Ko]

Hi all, I have been having problems on and off with all sorts of errors with this nvlddmkm.sys file since I built my PC. I can use it just fine for the most part, as in I don't get BSOD or crashes, but when I try to restart I run into problems, where I have no display, or I will get to login to windows but then immediately freeze and force restart. I then have to power off completely, unplug and drain power, then I can get it working again. All signs in event viewer point back to nvlddmkm.sys, and looking at other threads they pointed me to DDU and run sfc scan, which I did and it still happens. I saw guides that also said I can try to replace the current nvlddmkm.sys file by using expand in cmd, but upon searching for this nvlddmkm.sys file I realized I just don't have it in the Windows/System32/Drivers folder. It is located in some filerepository folder in driver store instead. I don't want to mess with it just yet in case there is any harm that might happen with me just moving the file over. The guides also say I should have a nvlddmkm.sy_ file, but I don't have a NVIDIA folder in C drive and upon searching both NVIDIA folders in program files I don't find this file either. Many people say DDU and reinstall graphics driver should fix it but I still don't have this file, and I think this might be the cause of all my problems. Appreciate any help!

Specs:
12600K
EVGA CLC 280
EVGA FTW3 3080
Gigabyte Aorus Z690 Aorus Ultra DDR4
G Skill Trident Z DDR4-3200
EVGA Supernova 850 GM

 

[obexx]

If you got your current drivers from EVGA's GPU support page, DDU & Install drivers from the official NVIDIA site. Vise-versa if you had done it the opposite.
But, I assume you have obviously tried this.
Have you tried re-flashing your GPU's vBIOS? Try using Nvflash. There are lots of great guides on how to flash NVIDIA cards if your not sure how to!
Also, undervolting your GPU may help with the freezing/err screens or whatever you have. This should be a good temp solution if you don't feel like flashing your card.
Don't be scared to mess with your file dir. But if your scared of local corruption/broken sys instructions, I recommend just backing up onto another drive and completely going ham with your PC.
And if your scared about something happening to your card, remember EVGA warranties and your card/drivers have been having this issue since day one which marks your card as defective from EVGA (qualifies). But remember too, warranty also depends on your place of purchase.

Very sorry if I missed any info!!

 

[Mo10Ko]

If you got your current drivers from EVGA's GPU support page, DDU & Install drivers from the official NVIDIA site. Vise-versa if you had done it the opposite.
But, I assume you have obviously tried this.
Have you tried re-flashing your GPU's vBIOS? Try using Nvflash. There are lots of great guides on how to flash NVIDIA cards if your not sure how to!
Also, undervolting your GPU may help with the freezing/err screens or whatever you have. This should be a good temp solution if you don't feel like flashing your card.
Don't be scared to mess with your file dir. But if your scared of local corruption/broken sys instructions, I recommend just backing up onto another drive and completely going ham with your PC.
And if your scared about something happening to your card, remember EVGA warranties and your card/drivers have been having this issue since day one which marks your card as defective from EVGA (qualifies). But remember too, warranty also depends on your place of purchase.

Very sorry if I missed any info!!

Thanks a lot, there was a lot here that I didn't know. I will try to install drivers from EVGA and maybe even flash a vBIOS, though I'm not exactly sure what flashing my vBIOS will do. I have tried undervolting and everytime I mess with the power limit and anything I crash anyways, so I haven't really tried touching precision X1 other than fan curve. EVGA warranties and support is very good so perhaps I will reach out to them.

 

[Mo10Ko]

Quick update: EVGA drivers didnt really change anything, I still cant consistently restart the computer. Touching the undervolt is hard because it takes minimum 2 to 3 restarts to get back into windows, so it takes too long to try and mess with undervolts. Apprently nvlddmkm.sys is fine not being in the drivers folder, but I still get problems regarding this file, not just event ID 14 but also bugchecks x116 which in WinDbg says is video tdr delay, and also sometimes event ID 0.

 

[obexx]

Quick update: EVGA drivers didnt really change anything, I still cant consistently restart the computer. Touching the undervolt is hard because it takes minimum 2 to 3 restarts to get back into windows, so it takes too long to try and mess with undervolts. Apprently nvlddmkm.sys is fine not being in the drivers folder, but I still get problems regarding this file, not just event ID 14 but also bugchecks x116 which in WinDbg says is video tdr delay, and also sometimes event ID 0.

So it sounds like your card isn't reading your CPU's instructions properly.., or maybe just reading them too slow.
You mentioned your card is throwing up timeout detection & recovery errors, in which could mean your CUDA kernels are not doing what they are supposed to. But I don't think this is whats happening.
Your TDR delay values may be too low, which is more than likely.
Basically Windows is freaking out when your card doesn't render/finish tasks fast enough and kills your drivers must faster than it should, instead of waiting a bit longer for it to finish up. Then after it kills your drivers, it attempts to restart them. Yours's won't restart after they have been killed from my understanding, or, the most likely problem, you are only waiting a few seconds then restarting your PC instead of letting your GPU finish it's current tasks when Windows locks the card up so no more instructions can be added to its queue (which makes your PC look frozen).

Luckily, Adobe has created an article on the topic, that shows in great detail how to change your tdr reg keys here.

Before you jump to changing your reg keys, please allow your system to lock up and instead of restarting it immediately, give it a minute. I think you restarting too soon is the issue. Try the article listed above if this doesn't work.
If all fails, just try flashing your vBIOS.

Best of luck., hope this really helps!

 

[Mo10Ko]

So it sounds like your card isn't reading your CPU's instructions properly.., or maybe just reading them too slow.
You mentioned your card is throwing up timeout detection & recovery errors, in which could mean your CUDA kernels are not doing what they are supposed to. But I don't think this is whats happening.
Your TDR delay values may be too low, which is more than likely.
Basically Windows is freaking out when your card doesn't render/finish tasks fast enough and kills your drivers must faster than it should, instead of waiting a bit longer for it to finish up. Then after it kills your drivers, it attempts to restart them. Yours's won't restart after they have been killed from my understanding, or, the most likely problem, you are only waiting a few seconds then restarting your PC instead of letting your GPU finish it's current tasks when Windows locks the card up so no more instructions can be added to its queue (which makes your PC look frozen).

Luckily, Adobe has created an article on the topic, that shows in great detail how to change your tdr reg keys here.

Before you jump to changing your reg keys, please allow your system to lock up and instead of restarting it immediately, give it a minute. I think you restarting too soon is the issue. Try the article listed above if this doesn't work.
If all fails, just try flashing your vBIOS.

Best of luck., hope this really helps!

Thanks a lot for the info. I'm gonna try to do the win Ctrl shift b to refresh my graphics drivers when I restart. The downside of letting it run too long is I feel like I'm wasting power, and sometimes it does come back on within a minute but I restart after around 3 minutes or so. Is that still too short?

 

[Mo10Ko]

So it sounds like your card isn't reading your CPU's instructions properly.., or maybe just reading them too slow.
You mentioned your card is throwing up timeout detection & recovery errors, in which could mean your CUDA kernels are not doing what they are supposed to. But I don't think this is whats happening.
Your TDR delay values may be too low, which is more than likely.
Basically Windows is freaking out when your card doesn't render/finish tasks fast enough and kills your drivers must faster than it should, instead of waiting a bit longer for it to finish up. Then after it kills your drivers, it attempts to restart them. Yours's won't restart after they have been killed from my understanding, or, the most likely problem, you are only waiting a few seconds then restarting your PC instead of letting your GPU finish it's current tasks when Windows locks the card up so no more instructions can be added to its queue (which makes your PC look frozen).

Luckily, Adobe has created an article on the topic, that shows in great detail how to change your tdr reg keys here.

Before you jump to changing your reg keys, please allow your system to lock up and instead of restarting it immediately, give it a minute. I think you restarting too soon is the issue. Try the article listed above if this doesn't work.
If all fails, just try flashing your vBIOS.

Best of luck., hope this really helps!

Update: it is currently working, I can restart all I want without black screen. Still odd that I often don't get the bios screen and it would just boot straight into windows but other than needing to flash my bios its not a big deal. What I ended up doing was going into edit tdr. I already had a tdr delay because when I ran aida64 for stress testing I remembered a pop up that said my tdr was too low so it automatically set it to 8 for me, but I guess that wasn't enough. I also didn't know about the tdrddi delay that the adobe article suggested. Anyways it is working now, and I appreciate all the help.

 

[obexx]

Update: it is currently working, I can restart all I want without black screen. Still odd that I often don't get the bios screen and it would just boot straight into windows but other than needing to flash my bios its not a big deal. What I ended up doing was going into edit tdr. I already had a tdr delay because when I ran aida64 for stress testing I remembered a pop up that said my tdr was too low so it automatically set it to 8 for me, but I guess that wasn't enough. I also didn't know about the tdrddi delay that the adobe article suggested. Anyways it is working now, and I appreciate all the help.

Glad I could help! I understood your headache, my PC has a bunch of random unexplained problems since I've built it too.