Display driver nvlddmkm.dll stopped responding + artifacting | Forums

[rlmergeuser]

First off system specs:
DFI Bloof Iron P35 T2RL
E6600 on Tuniq Tower
2*1gb OCZ Platinum Revision 2 PC2-6400C4
Leadtek 8800gt powering Samsung Syncmaster 205BW
Corsair VX450W + 320gb Maxtor + 500gb Seagate 7200.11
Vista Ultimate 32bit

And I've re-installed Vista 3 times, no help.

So everytime I play Trials 2 SE, I get the screen going black, then coming back, and a message in the corner from the taskbar saying "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered."
This happens whatever res i run in, full screen or not, whatever graphics options, and with the 169.25, 174.74 and 175.12 drivers.

Sometimes it happens so often the game is unplayable, sometimes I only get it every five minutes so I can get a bit done.

I get this error in no other games whatsoever, Crysis, UT3, TDU, MOH:A, DOW, COD2, COH, GTR2 etc etc.

And the other thing, sometimes, after I get my nvlddmkm.dll error, my screen sometimes goes crazy artifacting, and I mean crazy.
They're everywhere, and wont go away without a reboot.

It's really putting me off Trials 2, I've dropped ~10 places since I started getting this because it's not worth the agro playing.

And aero still works (with artifacts though), but I have found that switching to classic theme makes the artifacting go away, but only for a few minutes before they come back again.

And both of these errors happen with the full version of the game and the demo.

And this happens with my CPU at stock or overclocked, and my GPU at stock or overclocked too.

I would really appreciate any help in making this go away, I love the game, had it since the original Trials 2, loved it then too. I don't want to stop playing this!

[sebastianaalton]

My rig is pretty much the same as yours (P35 + E6600 + 2GB of fast memory + 450W power), even the CPU cooler is identical (but Radeon 3870 instead of Geforce and 64 bit Vista). No problems here.

It's really putting me off Trials 2, I've dropped ~10 places since I started getting this because it's not worth the agro playing.

So Trials 2 SE run fine before, and it has now started to crash? Did you change anything in your hardware when this started to happen?

And aero still works (with artifacts though), but I have found that switching to classic theme makes the artifacting go away, but only for a few minutes before they come back again.

Aero glass not working properly sounds like there is a serious problem somewhere in your setup. My friend has had problems like this with his setup. Those fast OC memory chips break easily, and start to cause problems. I suggest downloading an running a memory tester (http://www.memtest86.com/).

[rlmergeuser]

nvlddmkm.dll is a nVidia driver problem, so that's why you wouldnt be getting it.
But it only happens in Trials 2, and with a variety of drivers, so it has to be related to that program :S

It happened before whilst I had my P965 board with my old HDD as Vista install, and now when I have my new HDD and P35 board.
I changed nothing in my hardware at all, it just appeared.

Aero glas does work, just the whole screen is filled up with artifacts.
Memory is fine, have tested it multiple times at many speeds (it's way way underclocked at the moment).

I have no idea what has been causing this, it has to be in game, as no other games do this to my rig, and it's 100% stable with everything else (Orthos, ATItool test etc.)

Thanks

Mat

[sebastianaalton]

it's 100% stable with everything else (Orthos, ATItool test etc.)

But the Aero Glass issue seems to indicate that there is something wrong in the system. Seems odd, as you have already tried different driver revisions and the other games you are running are not having any artifacts.

[rlmergeuser]

The artifacts are caused by one of the errors, which are in turn caused by Trials 2. They just don't go away when Trials 2 is stopped.

I don't have any artifacts in any other games at all at any point.

[sebastianaalton]

The artifacts are caused by one of the errors, which are in turn caused by Trials 2. They just don't go away when Trials 2 is stopped.

Oh, then I misunderstood you. Sorry. I thought the Aero Glass was always having artifacts. Then the problem most likely is in Trials 2. We have one 8800 gt + Vista ultimate test machine at work, and the game works perfectly on it. Is there something special in your computer setup? For example are you running the game on a TV connected to the computer, do you have secondary graphics adapter, etc?

[rlmergeuser]

Running nothing else than said.
(actually I lied there, didn't realise I didn't mention my Creative X-Fi music, but I always turn sound off in game anyway)

Monitor is plugged straight into GPU (via DVI), and it happens when plugged into either port too.

Have dropped 20 places now :L

[rlmergeuser]

if you have a second gfx card an old spare or something why not try that? or partition your drive with basic xp and try it on there?

[rlmergeuser]

if you have a second gfx card an old spare or something why not try that? or partition your drive with basic xp and try it on there?

I have a 7900gt that I can try with when I get home.

If that doesn't work I can set up an XP install at some point.
But from what I have found, that specific driver error has only been found occuring on Vista.

[sebastianaalton]

(actually I lied there, didn't realise I didn't mention my Creative X-Fi music, but I always turn sound off in game anyway)

Other players have also had serious problems with SB X-Fi in Vista in Trials 2 and other OpenAL games. Games hanging and having blue screens, etc. The newest just released Creative SB X-Fi drivers has improved the situation for some players, but many are still having problems (especially with more than 4GB of memory). I suggest upgrading your X-Fi drivers, or trying to start the game without the sound card installed. You can alternatively select "No Audio" from the startup dialog to disable the audio completely (using the ingame volume adjust meters just turns off the volume).