display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding

I'm having fits trying to play games or view videos due to "display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding". The screen goes black for a few seconds and then returns most of the time. I have the triangle in the bottom right corner with the box which has that statement in it. This issue freezes or crashes games and creates "flashes" or "flickers" during videos or freezes them. My display driver is up-to-date and there's no notice of a conflict. I'm willing to provide whatever info is necessary to fix this. I sure miss being able to play Civ games.

Eek it seems you have a 7600GT, which is quite old in computer terms.

It seems the card is failing on you and it is time to replace it. Fortunately the rest of your system is worth putting money into.

When was your last driver update? I'd try uninstalling all nvidia display programs and drivers then redoing them.

The other thing you can do, and this is what I do on my laptops 9600m GT, is use evga precision to underclock your gpu 25 to 50mhz and see if it stablizes.
|MG| EVGA Precision 3.04 Download

For an fyi, you camn replace your card for $50 bucks for a gt520

That has to be the most useful reply I've gotten to any question. I have tried all of the recommendations from folks on various threads....removing Norton's entirely, scandisk, checkdisk, defrag, removing other software which controls the fan speed and monitors the system, and a host of other things. I even went in and did something to the nvlddmkm.sys and .sy_ files which caused my PC to download at 150MB NVIDIA video driver and software file. My main screen now seems nicer but my game immediately begins having issues from the moment it starts. I mentioned this at work to a little nerdy Soldier working on radios (no offense to any nerdy people) and his first response was to ask what card I had. When I replied, his response was almost identical to yours. He told me that my card was overworked and couldn't manage all of the things it was doing. He then explained that, while I play a game, my PC still does a lot of other things and that the demand on that video card was too much for it to keep up with. So, it overloads or backjams, which is why it sorts out when I pause the game, Alt-Tab to the main screen and then go back in. So, that said, I shall take your advice and purchase a new card. Is the card you recommended suitable for my system and awesome enough to run the strategy games I play?

The gt520 will perform better than your 7600gt, because of the gue archituecture change that came in the 8 series cards.

In honesty, depending on your power supply and budget, you could put a very good card in the system.
I have a q6600 system running with a gtx260 in it, which at the time was 3rd best card nvidia made.

As for how good a 520 is, is it isn't that great... Here is the review for of it doing Civ 5
ZOTAC GeForce GT 520 1 GB Review | techPowerUp

Here's a good read/benchmarks of mid priced cards.. under $100 on newegg mainly.

My main advice is to look over the bench marks and set a budget.

Your advice is awesome. Would it be too much to ask if you could gather info on my PC and tell me the best course of upgrades (video, power, etc.)? I don't want to drop a grand on it since I'm deploying this summer and will be buying a laptop (recommendations?), but my PC is my main source of relaxation and entertainment when I'm not deployed. I don't play any RPG and heavy action games on it, just the Civ, Age of Empires, Empire Earth style games. It'd be nice to be able to do that again without the freezing, flickering, BSOD, etc. I'm willing to replace stuff in it to make it work properly; I'm just not very bright on what goes with which and what's good or not. I did build this PC myself so I am capable. If you tell me what you need to know about it, I'll get the info to you.

I can help narrow things down for you, then it becomes what you prefer.

I really only need to know a couple things. Biggest is obviously power supply. What size is it? As in how many Watts, and since it's on the side of the psu, who makes it and what model?
Just for completeness and since youre loking inside the case, what is your motherboard model?

the 3rd is budget. You have a decent system, q6600 are beasts, I have mine running at 3.0Ghz for the last 5 yrs, but since you're going to be heading out and getting a laptop, I'd not invest too much, if you can swing $100 you'll be set for another few yrs.
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An AMD 7750 would be your best pick at just around the $100 mark. A nvidia gt640 would be the 2nd best at around $80 to $100. Newegg has sales that can get you some good savings, but don't count on the mail in rebates as they sometimes don't pan out.

GET ME your psu size, 500W is hopefully what you're running and I can be more certain.

PSU=400W. MB=NVIDIA NForce 730i

Ah a 730i... hmm 400W slightly limits you, but a 640 and 7750 will both work great

Since putting big money into this is counter productive, and means more to a badass laptop, I'd go for a gt 640, nice mid range card, ad you'll be set for a few more yrs with it gaming and even longer as a useable machine.

But if you find a 7750 on sale.. grab it

I thank you brother. I shall endeavor to upgrade this machine into productivity. I don't imagine $100 is too much to sink into something that I use to knock out some work, surf news and play games. If the laptop works out well enough, I'll move this PC to my main TV and use it to broadcast video onto my TV network. I appreciate your help and I'll update you once I've done the upgrades.

Yha $100 is a decent amount for this. Like I said, still rocking a q6600 on a 680i board, or my mom is now, and don't expect problems.

If an htpc, hooking it to your tv, get a card that ha hdmi output.. I think 99% do but double check.

Glad I can help.

Stay safe when you're out playing BF3 for real.

I went to Newegg and input the two cards you mentioned. A whole list of cards came up which contained the NVIDIA chips and the AMD chips. There were different details and prices listed so I realized it wasn't just one card being sold by different stores, but actually similar cards put together by different companies. Can you do me the favor of checking this out and letting me know which one is best for me? Based on the price difference, I have no issue going with the 7750. It seems to be around twenty to thirty dollars more. If it's a better card, it seems worth the extra few dollars.

While I'm bending your ear here, I'd like to bring the laptop into the discussion. Since I'm due to leave in the next few months, I need to wrap my mind around the right laptop so I can shop around for it and spend the money. Can you recommend a laptop for me? I'll be using it for pretty much the same thing I do on my PC. I'd like a really good laptop which will last me for awhile and not be totally outdated by the time I get back next fall.

Personally I'd get one of the xfx brand cards, I like their products and great support and warranty but the want a bigger power supply.

Realistically, this HIS
HIS iCooler H775F1GD Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Newegg.com
Will be perfect, yes it is only 1Gig of memory, but it is DDR5 which is faster than ddr3. Unless you/'re playing at ginormous resolutions, 1Gig of memory on a gpu is perfect.

Laptops are tricky, because everyone has their favorite model, and unlike desktops, theyre all prebuilts. Which means you buy the best you can afford as you can't upgrade it.

I like MSI And ASUS for quality nicely spec'd systems, though I'm using a 4 yr old Acer and its doing just fine.

Which ever brand you get, a dedicated video is a must. They make entry level all the way up to top end gpu's, but as they're mobile processers they game like a level below the desktop version. So a amd 7750 runs like as 6670. or a NVidia gt 645 runs like a gt620.

I'm not to knowledgeable about the mobile AMD chips, but I don't think they're too bad. AMD is usually 85% of the performance at 75% of the cost.

A very good upgrade, I would add in a SSD drive, best single upgrade you can do for a laptop!

If it was me buying a laptop I would spend $1000 to $1300 to guarantee decent laptop for a few yrs, with $1300 having to be a really good system.

Here is neweggs dedicated gpu selection Best Laptops & Notebooks - Newegg.com
there bare only 180 models! You can narrow the list by price and it'll shorten the list.

Take a look through and ask away, i'll help as much as I can.

What's your thoughts on this one? Price seems right....just wondering if a strategy gamer like myself will be very happy with this machine?

lenovo IdeaPad Y500 (59359554) Intel Core i7 3630QM(2.40GHz) 15.6" 12GB Memory 1TB HDD+16GB SSD HDD Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M SLI Notebook

And this one? That's it, I promise.

SAMSUNG Series 7 17.3" Gamer NP700G7C-S02US Intel Core i7 3630QM(2.40GHz) 16GB Memory 1.5TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M Notebook

They are both good laptops, with the Samsung being really good.

The Lenovo has a factory SSD drive but at 16Gig it's tiny

Not sure or the build qualities though. If you're looking to drop $1400 i'd suggest an ASUS G75 model of MSI GT70

dON'T WORRY ABOUT THE QUESTIONS... ASK AS MANY AS YOU WANT AND I'LL TRY TO ANSWER THEM., doh caps locks.

Lost me at SSD drive brother

Hey, I have another question for you. My MB apparently has a built-in graphics card. If so and if the problem is my graphics card, shouldn't removing the 7600GT cause the issues with flickering, flashing, lines and other things to go away?

BigMacQ said:

Lost me at SSD drive brother

Click to expand...

No problems SSD is a Solid State Drive. Basic ally a internal memory stick style hard drive. Very Very quick and uses v ery little power due to no moving parts.

BigMacQ said:

Hey, I have another question for you. My MB apparently has a built-in graphics card. If so and if the problem is my graphics card, shouldn't removing the 7600GT cause the issues with flickering, flashing, lines and other things to go away?

Click to expand...

Hmm, t0tally forgot about that. Yes it would eliminate those issues, though it is a nvidia 9300 cardx, so I'm not sure how it'll perform.

However, since it is a 8 min operation, try it out in you games.

Pop out the 7600 and plug your monitor into the board... You may need to get the newest drivers
Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers
It's in the 7 series N-force tab.

Giver a try

I will. I was wondering more as a confirmation that my issues are with the video card rather than as a solution. I seem to recall researching those graphics before I bought the MB and realized that the graphics wouldn't stand up against games very well.

Found a problem and I don't know what it is. Here's the issue:

PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
Location: PCI bus0, device16, function0
This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)

Any ideas?