The Driver has stopped Working and Successfully Recovered

hey, i was playing Crysis and i can play it for about 3-4 mins then the screen goes black for 5 secs or so and then it exits the game, and i have to start the game again and then the problem occurs again,

The Display Driver has stopped Working and has Successfully Recovered

i've tried updating all the drivers and i still get the same problem , i got a BFG Geforce 9600 GT OC 512mb graphic card, does anyone know what the problem is and how i can fix it,

i think it might be the Power supply, and that the graphic card is not getting enough power to run, is that the case or should i be looking somewhere else ?

has any1 else had this problem aswell ? , if so i'd like to see some responses.


Benzmann.
A+ IT Technician
MCTS - Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist

The dreaded "Display driver has stopped responding and has recovered" issue. This issue seems to be tied to Vista by the way of Microsoft's "Timeout Detection and Recovery of GPUs through WDDM"

Microsoft:

Timeout detection: The Video Scheduler component of the Windows Vista graphics stack detects that the GPU is taking more than the permitted quantum time to execute the particular task and tries to preempt this particular task. The preempt operation has a "wait" timeout—the actual "TDR timeout." This step is thus the "timeout detection" phase of the process. The default timeout period in Windows Vista is 2 seconds. If the GPU cannot complete or preempt the current task within the TDR timeout, then the GPU is diagnosed as hung.

Click to expand...

In short, if an application takes to long to execute a task, a timeout occurs and thus your lovely "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" error. Unfortunately there is no one fix to this, and just about anything can cause it.

For me, my issue went away when I switched video cards. I had a 3870 that was overheating and had to be RMA'd. While awaiting my replacement, I decided to purchase an ATI 4850 - the surprise is that the display stopped responding error has been completely eliminated on my system.

Am I suggesting you replace your video card? No. There are various opinions on the cause(s) and solution(s) to the problem, and unfortunately while some fixes may work for some, they're not always universal, even with similar hardware.

The few common suggestions would be to:
- Update video driver
- Turn down overclocks – GPU/CPU
- Patch games
- Check for overheating – case, GPU, CPU
- Check that the video card isn't faulty

Note that this problem is an equal opportunist as it affects both ATI & Nvidia. A Google will show more hits with Nvidia, but ATI is there as well.

Here's a couple of threads I started at Rage3D (ATI fan base)

“Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” - Rage3D Discussion Area
Please Fix! - Display Driver stopped responding Issue - Rage3D Discussion Area

Hope this infor helps in finding a solution for you.

thx for replying, but can u tell me how i can "downclock" the GPU, i got the Graphic card in retail overclocked, where should i be looking to lower it ?

Hi Benzmann
I think he means any overclocking you have done. If not apologies Sygnus.

I used to get this problem all the time and tried all sorts of suggestions from forums to get rid of it but nothing seemed to help.

But then it suddenly went away.

This coincided with me getting SP1 for Vista and getting the latest drivers from Nvidia so I'm not sure which or both fixed it. Since then I have updated drivers constantly and had no problems.

Give that a try if you haven't already. There's a driver thread on the Graphics Card page.

It'd help folks help you if you filled out your system spec. Hope you get it sorted.

best wishes, John

If you're not overclocking, then I would advise against "downclocking" as that would just create more problems for you. If you are overclocking, then I would just set everyting back to "default settings"

Also be advised that since you've not listed your system specs everything is a guess on my part, and not really helpful to you.

System specs won't guarantee a fix, but they will guarantee more appropriate suggestions/solutions, greater participation, and "less guesswork"

Thanks.

@ johnwillyums, that's exactly what I meant. Thanks.

my system specs are:

Graphic Card: BFG Geforce 9600 GT OC 512mb
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Pentium 4 3.13 Ghz
Motherboard: ECS 945P-A v1.1
Power Supply: 350w


and i am not overclocking btw


i think the problem might be the Power supply, since i need a minimum 400W Power supply for the graphic card , what do u guys think about that, could that be the point of my problem ?

Just re-read this...

Benzmann said:

thx for replying, but can u tell me how i can "downclock" the GPU, i got the Graphic card in retail overclocked, where should i be looking to lower it ?

Click to expand...

You're card was "tweaked" (OverClocked) from the original reference card supplied by Nvidia to BFG, thus BFG's "OC" designation. However since the card is manufactured and sold in that tweaked condition, it is considered to be within normal operating conditions by BFG. Now if "you" overclocked the card from BFG's norm, then the card would be considered overclocked. If you have not overclocked the card, then downclocking is unnecessary.

Hope this clearifies things a bit

yep, but what can i do to make these problems go away ? so i can continue on playing games

Benzmann said:

my system specs are:

Graphic Card: BFG Geforce 9600 GT OC 512mb
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Pentium 4 3.13 Ghz
Motherboard: ECS 945P-A v1.1
Power Supply: 350w

and i am not overclocking btw


i think the problem might be the Power supply, since i need a minimum 400W Power supply for the graphic card , what do u guys think about that, could that be the point of my problem ?

Click to expand...

I just looked up your video card and it's not really that much better than an 8800 GT so don't expect much out of it in the way of Crysis.

Yeah, that "could" be causing problems. I would recommend a 450-550 for that system. If you look at my system specs, I'm running a 550 so I wouldn't recommend anything higher then that for you. BFG recommends a 425 watt so...

BFG Tech - BFG NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT OC 512MB PCIe 2.0 (under "Detailed Specs)


Got you on the no overclocks.

i was thinking about 650-700W, since i got lots of extra stuff in the PC, would that matter or would it be better, incase i would install something more, like go for SLI

here is the power supply i was thinking of
Tæknibær ehf

scroll down abit and then u will see the english version hehe, the above is icelandic

That's the same one I have. Had it about a year now and it's been great.
I recently upgraded from a BFG 8800 GTS OC to an XFX 260 Black Edition and I'm overclocking my cpu and running 7 fans and the power supply is handling it fine.
I'd recommend the power supply but I don't know whether that is what is causing your problem.
A bit more power than what you have certainly wouldn't go to waste.
Cheers, John

thanks alot for your help, i will run down to the store tommorow to buy one, and once i got it all set up, i'll post here the results

A 650-700W is fine for your system, even if you went SLI. Just make sure it's a quality PS. You don't want to go cheap here.

And bear in mind that this "may" not solve your problem, but it's a start in the right direction.

Incidentally I spent the summer of 2000 in Iceland, Loved Reykjavik and the open air Jazz scene there. I’ve also spent 2 winter months there – Jan – Feb 1998. Had a good time each visit.

Good luck.

hehe thx, u should come visit now, since it is very cheap here for Tourists, but expensive for me and the local ppl here that live here

Benzmann said:

hehe thx, u should come visit now, since it is very cheap here for Tourists, but expensive for me and the local ppl here that live here

Click to expand...

It's my sincere wish the visit again as I would love to photograph the island.

Good luck with your PS - and remember, it's not guaranteed to solve your problem, but if it doesn't, you'll at least know it's not a power issue, and you'll have a better PS.

Something to think about.

Good luck and do let us know what happens.

hey, oki i bought a new Power Supply, and i am still getting the same problem do u guys know of any other reason why this is happening ?, i did not have this problem on Windows XP :S

Benzmann said:

hey, oki i bought a new Power Supply, and i am still getting the same problem do u guys know of any other reason why this is happening ?, i did not have this problem on Windows XP :S

Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear that

Did you look at the other suggestions I listed?

Do you get this with other games? Have you tried other games?

sygnus21 said:

This issue seems to be tied to Vista by the way of Microsoft's "Timeout Detection and Recovery of GPUs through WDDM"

In short, if an application takes to long to execute a task, a timeout occurs and thus your lovely "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" error. Unfortunately there is no one fix to this, and just about anything can cause it.

The few common suggestions would be to:
- Update video driver
- Turn down overclocks – GPU/CPU
- Patch games
- Check for overheating – case, GPU, CPU
- Check that the video card isn't faulty

Note that this problem is an equal opportunist as it affects both ATI & Nvidia. A Google will show more hits with Nvidia, but ATI is there as well.

Here's a couple of threads I started at Rage3D (ATI fan base)

“Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” - Rage3D Discussion Area
Please Fix! - Display Driver stopped responding Issue - Rage3D Discussion Area

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, there are as many suggestions to the cause as there are fixes - you'll have to do some research…and experimentation. I suggest you look through the links I provided for some insight or to the Nvidia forums such as this one - Display driver stopped responding and has recoverd - NVIDIA Forums

Sorry

here is more detailed info

it is this problem
"Display Driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered"

this problem is very annoyjing and it seems only to be happening to Vista

there is a special website about this exact error

www.nvlddmkm.com wich i found lol

but i have not found any ways to fix this.

i asked my teacher about this and he did know what this problem is :S

i am learning MCTS MOC 5115A

The few common suggestions would be to:
- Update video driver - all drivers are up to date
- Turn down overclocks – GPU/CPU - i am not overclocking
- Patch games - games are patched
- Check for overheating – case, GPU, CPU - the tempiture in my case is around 8°C due to many fans, my graphic card tempiture is at 44-45°c
- Check that the video card isn't faulty - the card is rather new (1 year old or less)

This are just suggestions and in no way means you will solve the problem, although, you will have a healthier system.

Download the latest drivers for your Audio, Video & Monitor... make sure they are for your OS. Download those files to a Folder you can later get to

Download a trial copy of CCleaner if you don't have a good registry cleaner.

I am starting from the point that you have at least the 179xx drivers for your video card. if so

Uninstall your video drivers, DO NOT REBOOT, uninstall the PhysX drivers as well, DO NOT REBOOT, uninstall your Audio Drivers & Monitor drivers... Reboot and go to safe mode.

Once in Safe Mode, run CCleaner and tell it to clean your registry and clean your system as well... it will get rid of old instances of those drivers. Reboot to Vista

Once in Vista, go to the folder where you have downloaded the new drivers and make sure you Uncompress the files (DO NOT EXECUTE), IF IT ASK YOU TO OPEN new folders make sure you know where it will extract to.

Go to Device Manager, open up your Video card (it should have the Generic VGA driver install), double click on it and hit the DRIVER tab, click on Update Driver and look for the folder where you extracted the downloaded driver and let it install it. DO NOT REBOOT just yet

Back on Device Manager, do the same with your Audio & Monitor drivers and the reboot to Vista once again.

I had the same problem with my PC, it was on Vista x64 though so your miles may vary. Another suggestion is to make sure you set up your game with the Settings the Game wants (Auto-Detect Best Settings I think is called). Once the game runs for more than it did before then you can tweak settings here and there for better graphics or smooth gameplay.

Good Luck


P.S. :DANG... must learn to type fast as 3 or 4 more replies got in before mine :D