Error: The display driver NVLDDMKM has stopped responding

[psychoul 10]

Hello everyone,

Yesterday I bought a new graphics card GTS 250 and immediately I started up ARMA to play since my previous graphics card was not performing well.

Soon I realized that something was wrong :( The game was freezing and the display was going black and then resuming after 6-7 seconds.

At first I thought "Oh well another problem, I will solve it soon and I will play my ARMA" little did I know!!!

Looking up this problem in google "Error: The display driver NVLDDMKM has stopped responding" showed posts in forums since early 2007 up to now (april 2009) !!!!!!!! People are still to find a solid solution for this!

Anyway I read a lot and lots of forum discussions, tried a million things (install/uninstall drivers, changing hardware configuration etc) but none of it worked.

Anyway I was wondering if other people have this problem here and found a solution. I searched this forum, and I found some posts but nothing too clear.

So I would love to hear any suggestions or experiences from other people.

Thanks!

[desertjedi 3]

A couple of things I would try would be to run Driver Cleaner Pro and possibly use the drivers that came on the CD...believe it or not.

[Lagussi 9]

I had the same problem in the very beginning with my Vista-64b and 2x8800GTX. I then installed latest drivers (1.78 back then) from Nvidia and wow, no problems and game was running nice! But I'm not sure, if that was in combination of some Vista update too, as I recall there was something big coming via Windows Update at the same time.

So, the eternal mantra: have you downloaded newest drivers either from Nvidia or from your GPU manufacturers website? Is your OS up to date? Did you install latest DirectX (to eliminate that d3dx9_30.dll issue)? Did you set Vsync off (is this still an issue, btw)?

Not sure, if these helps, but just to be sure.

By the way, I recently started to get that same message again...after some research I found out that the second GPU was broken, the damn GPU fan was soldered wrong and it was loose. I removed the whole card and now system rocks again.

[dm 9]

Yeah, I recently got this error with an 8800Ultra, turns out the card was fried (it started doing all sorts of crazy gfx artifacts and was crashing even in windows)

Swapped it out for a new card and all is working again.

[mr.g-c 6]

Yes no real solution so far.... i have to admit i only have this Problem in 64bit version of Vista and ONLY with Arma1 - no other game so far... With my 32bit Vista installation it never happened.

Before i update my Nvidia Drivers, i uninstall them, restart, drivecleaner, install new ones an d restart again.

It is a Nvidida Settings independent Problem, as i tried some enormus combinations. Also the Window-Mode can't solve this....

I don't know if BIS is aware of that and if we even can await any support on this and Arma1 anymore, but i just hope it wont happen for Arma2 and that they test-play some hour-long sessions with Vista 64, 4GB+ Ram and recent Nvidia Cards, to verify that this issue is not in Arma2.

@DM, this is a possible source but not on my case, my card stays rather cool because its only a 9600GT......

[Yoma 0]

I used to have this problem now and then before setting texture settings in Arma to "default" on my 8800GTX.

Now i have it very very very sporadically, still happens but nearly never.

[mr.g-c 6]

Yes i think its a V-Ram issues aswell....

BTW: The only difference between 1.14 and 1.15b is that with 1.15b i wont get kicked from a game by Battleye, while with 1.14 i will......

[psychoul 10]

Ok first of all, thanks everyone for replying.

A couple of things I would try would be to run Driver Cleaner Pro and possibly use the drivers that came on the CD...believe it or not.

Thanks for the suggestions but i am afraid I have exhausted that method. I installed drivers in all different combinations and colors!!!!

So, the eternal mantra: have you downloaded newest drivers either from Nvidia or from your GPU manufacturers website? Is your OS up to date? Did you install latest DirectX (to eliminate that d3dx9_30.dll issue)? Did you set Vsync off (is this still an issue, btw)?

I have installed the latest drivers and DirectX (also BIOS, Inter firmwares on mobo). Hmmm Vsync??? I don't know about that!!! You give me one more hope :) I will report back later (tomorrow). What exactly is the problem with Vsync?

Yes no real solution so far.... i have to admit i only have this Problem in 64bit version of Vista and ONLY with Arma1 - no other game so far... With my 32bit Vista installation it never happened.

Before i update my Nvidia Drivers, i uninstall them, restart, drivecleaner, install new ones an d restart again.

Interesting and important!!! :D I also noticed this problem only on Arma1. Please read below and reply with your results please!

**** Update ****

Ok the most fundamental thing in problem solving as we all know is to be able to reproduce the problem and find out under what conditions it occurs.

-If I play ARMA and and the temperature of the GPU goes above 70 degrees © then the problem occurs! I replicated this numerous times and its true for my system! By the time the temperature steps from 69 to 70 degrees, the game immediately freezes and the display reloads! So we have something interesting here. What happens when it reaches 70 degrees? Does it try to draw more current from the PSU to cool down quicker? Does it try to use external RAM (from the mobo) ???? The strange thing here is that when I play other games, they work fine even with temperatures above 75 degrees!!!! Why only on ARMA? Any suggestions?

-> It would be great that if someone else can test this on his system and write here. It takes 2 minutes not more! Just use Nvidia Monitor software to monitor the temperature (or any other software). Thanks! <-

-Another thing that I noticed many times but I was not able to replicate 100% is that the problem occurs when ARMA tries to play a new sound and has to load it to memory. At first I though this was stupid, but the interesting thing here is that I read in other forums that people disabled sound completely (in other games) and the problem disappeared!!! Any suggestions?

Thanks again!!!

[-)rStrangelove 0]

I'm on XP SP3 and get the "nv4disp.dll" Problem as well. It always happens after i run ArmA for abou 1 hour (doesnt matter if i'm playing or in the menu).

After i took out my Audigy4 and uninstalled the creative drivers ArmA ran straight for several hours (no sound though).

Haven't tested it with onboard sound yet because onboard sound is NOT an option for me.

Imo it could be down to:

- soundcard in a slot where its shared resources interfere with the gfxcard

- MB slot is broken on that spot

- soundcard is not seated fully (i noticed after i unscrewed it i could take it out very easily)

- soundcard is broken (i want an X-Fi anyway)

Hope this info helps somebody. This problem has bugged me since i got my new pc mid january. :rolleyes:

[Andi 10]

I have the exactly same issue, but luckily it doesn't affect gameplay very much. The game just kinds of stop shortly, then turns black. I Alt+Tab to desktop, in the bottom right is the funny message "nv4disp.dll" had some error blabla. I just switch back to ArmA and it just loads the drivers again. I lose just some seconds, due to the switch and the following "Receiving..." black screen and then all is normal again.

[desertjedi 3]

psychoul, is there a way for you to prevent your card from hitting 70C. Possibly increase the fan speed, blow dust out of fan, or maybe run with the case door off?

I don't think I've ever seen Arma hit over 65C but I run my GTX 260's fan at 70%.

Edited April 24, 2009 by DesertJedi

[psychoul 10]

Thanks again for the replies...

psychoul, is there a way for you to prevent your card from hitting 70C. Possibly increase the fan speed, blow dust out of fan, or maybe run with the case door off?

I don't think I've ever seen Arma hit over 65C but I run my GTX 260's fan at 70%.

DesertJedi you are quite right. I suspect that I can run the fan faster and prevent it from reaching 70oC. However, I want to figure why this problem occurs and solve it :/

Lets hope that more people can run some tests on the weekend and have some more feedback!

[psychoul 10]

Thanks again for the replies...

DesertJedi you are quite right. I suspect that I can run the fan faster and prevent it from reaching 70oC. However, I want to figure why this problem occurs and solve it :/

Unfortunately that did not work either :(

Damn it... I just got my new 26'' screen and I can't play my ARMA... If anyone else got any more info on the temperature thing please let me know...

[Horus 83]

Look this site maybe u finde solution http://www.nvlddmkm.com/

[mr.g-c 6]

Look this site maybe u finde solution http://www.nvlddmkm.com/

Interesting, especially this method is interesting:

UPDATE2: Try turning off the timeout detection:

1. Regedit.
   
2. Navigate to: HKLMSystemCurrentControlSetControlGraphicsDrivers
   
3. Add the following DWORD: TdrLevel and set the value to 0.
   
4. Reboot.
   

See this Microsoft support page for more information.

Fact is this sh*t is so wide-spread that even Blogs and websites are existing about this problem.... and neither MS nor The graphic-card manufacturers have solved it so far.... how poor :rolleyes:

[-)rStrangelove 0]

What do you want to fix? It's a generic failure message that your gfx driver stopped working. There are 1000+1 things that can cause problems in PCs. Hence nobody has a clear answer to this problem.

I guess the only thing that helps is to have a stable system and a stable game.

Now that i think about it: there are also 1000+1 sites on the www where ppl overclock their systems and tell others how to do it. See the irony? ;)

[mr.g-c 6]

This Thread was very interesting to read.... i Read nearly all pages....

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=25381

@])rStrangelove :

Its not... its mostly a Vista+Nvidia Graphics specific issue which i never had before with the same Card before i moved to Vista X64 SP1 - thats a fact.

[kridian 33]

Psychoul, are you on Vista by chance?

If so try and turn off the Vsync (in NVidia Control Panel for ArmA -- Manage 3D Settings) as was suggested earlier and turn off the Aero appearance. Use Windows Vista Basic in Appearance Settings.

For what it's worth, I'm using the Vista Service Pack 2 beta (which seems to unavailable now) and haven't had that horrid problem anymore. Hopefully it'll be available soon so others can be nvlddmkm-free.

Best of luck dude!

p.s.: What ArmA version are you running? 1.16b?

Edited May 16, 2009 by Kridian

[aXEMAN098 10]

New to the forums and I caught this thread. I am also having this issue. This is occuring for me using Vista64bit, on an HPxw8400 Workstation with Dual 3.2Ghz Xeon's, 2Gb of Ram and a BFG 285GTX OC, onboard sound, and using BOTH Nvidia's latest driver, AND latest Tweakforce driver.

It occurs after a bit of gameplay, screen goes blank.....takes as much as 3 minutes, and then comes back. I am ususally dead by this time. Especially sucks in flight. Have tried both drivers, various detail settings, card is NOT overheating, as settings are stock, and temps are nominal... yet I will see the same driver error (Nvidia), and it's really annoying. Any ideas or progress on this issue?

I noticed someone mentioned an X-fi, but I'm using an M-Audio Delta44 PCI Audio Interface with Nearfield monitors. Error occurs in both 16 AND 24bit mode.

I'd really like to nail this down. Sometimes it occurs frequently, but then tonight I played for 4 hours with no issues... Doesn't "Appear" to be driver specific, but I'm seeing the same driver stop errors.