Display driver atikmdag/nvlddmkm stopped responding and has recovered

[Piratesteve]

This is NOT a hardware issue.

I have a clean install of Windows Vista Business SP1 and all updates and the latest Nvidia drivers. I get the same "nvlddmkm not responding" after a few minutes playing WoW and sooner when trying to play Day of Defeat. It resets and I continue, and the problem then occurs again and again.

I put a disk with XP on it on the SAME computer with all the hardware and settings exactly the same and it runs WoW at highest settings and Day of Defeat highest settings for hours and never a hiccup.

I plug the Vista Bus hard drive back in and same thing over and over.

From Windows bug reporting "nvlddmkm not responding bug" is 33% of all bugs reported to Windows by all users.

I guess according to some of the statements here 33% of Vista users have defective hardware.

Q6600
Biostar TP43D2-A7
2x1g OCZ 8500
Zotac 8800GTS G92 512
OCZ 1000watt PS

I even tried manually lowering the clock speeds on the GPU and Mem and setting the fan to 100% ....still same error.

 

[taltamir]

nvlddmkm = nvidia driver. atikmdag = ati driver. If the video card crashed, for ANY reason. be it a buggy game, a buggy driver, or a hardware failure, you will get that message.

So 33% of all bugs reported in vista (which does not corrolate to 33% of users, the same user can report a crash again and again), means that 33% of the crashes on vista were an nvidia crash. Either driver, game, or hardware caused. There is absolutely no way of telling which percent belonged to each category.

Most of the time when I have to help someone with such an issue, I find that it is a specific game bug, the second most common issue is a hardware issue. And sometimes it is a real driver issue as well.
Also, just because it doesn't happen in XP doesn't mean it isn't a hardware issue, it could be related to how much of the GPU is being utilized. For example, a 32bit and a 64bit OS would crash the same chip at different OC levels, due to 64bit enabling additional sections of the chip that otherwise go untilized.

It is quite possible that YOUR problem specifically is not a hardware issue. It still leaves software and driver. so it can either be the game, or the driver. (or it could be that you had a ram / cpu error while installing and it left you with a corrupt OS file)

 

[ModemManCJ]

So I've been getting this problem on my new machine and I was getting ready to RMA the card. I'm running an ASUS 4850 on a Gigabyte P43, Intel E8400, and 4 GB RAM. Specifically, I get this error when playing Mass Effect for over an hour. After the crash, I can't get most of my games to run at all (Mass Effect gives me a runtime error at launch, TF2 does the same when connecting to a server, etc), even after a reboot. It takes a long time for the games to suddenly start working again. Any idea why this is? I've tried different driver versions (CCC versions 8.5 through 8.8). Should I RMA the card? Is it just Mass Effect and its bugginess? I appreciate any insight.

 

[Mem]

I have only ever had this happen with my old 7800GT factory overclocked card with some games,first time was in XP a few years back and it took me quite awhile to find the cause,basically I had to reduce my video card factory overclock by 10mHz or so and problem was fixed,I could reproduce the same problem with the same card in Vista too,again underclocking by 10mhz or so fixed the problem.

In my experience its NOT an OS problem but normally hardware related,I wonder if video card manufacturers actually test their factory overclocked cards properly?..I would recommend everybody uses a quality PSU as well to rule out problems caused by other hardware ie PSU,especially for those people that have the problem not overclocked.

I'm using 4870 card now and that has no issues .

Overclocking,poor quality PSU and faulty video card can be main factors for the" Display driver atikmdag/nvlddmkm stopped responding and has recovered "errors.

To say its Vista or XP is just stupid in my experience.

I guess according to some of the statements here 33% of Vista users have defective hardware.

How do you explain ALL those XP and Vista users that don't have the problem?..if it was an OS issue then everybody would be getting the problem,fact is it can be caused by other things that has nothing to do with the OS,blaming the OS is the easiest cope out on the planet,yes we know troubleshooting can take time but its worth it in the end,took me 6 months to find the cause in my case but well worth it.

 

[thurst0n]

So I have this same problem after about 10-15 minutes of crysis on high. I'm not sure what's going on because everything was fine when I first put my computer together, i'm not sure if it was a windows update, or the driver update, as I did them both around the same time.
Here is my RIG.

Asus Rampage Formula x48
750TX PSU
QX6850 Bus 400. Multiplier 9. @ 3.6
DDR2 800 4-4-4-12
Diamond 4870 XOC Black Edition 800 Core, 1100 Memory

I have tried the fan fix, doesn't help the error. I will be trying many more things but wanted to see if anyone knew of any specific issues with my hardware. I should have the most current drivers. I read someone using only the display drivers and not using ATI Catalyst would help/fix the problem It didnt for me. So now i'm using 8.6 catalyst. I will try clocking down the memory on the GPU, I think core clock is ok.

 

[Zillatech]

I just got off the phone with HIS Tech. Support and they told me it was "Driver Related" and that ATI is aware of the problem but has not fully fixed it yet. I've had my HIS "Turbo" 4850 card for about 3-4 days and thou I haven't crashed, I have seen the "Display Driver stopping responding" error with the added error logs in event viewer (Vista x64).

The rest of my system is rock solid so I know it?s either the factory OC'd card or a Driver issue.

I was gonna stress test the card out a little more & even down clock it before I attempt an RMA. Even the HIS Tech said he has a 4870x2 card that does the same thing in event viewer but never crashes in games. My card has a modest OC @ 650MHz core and it never gets above 68C under load. Idles @ 58c so its not heat related either. I'm using Cat. 8.9's as well.


Update: After further testing, it seems the factory OC is not stable so I have RMA'd it. I could get it to crash to the desktop consistently with loops of 3DMark06 "Canyon Flight" @ 1680 x 1050 w/ 4/8AA x 16AF. I guess HIS didn't test this one enough

 

[hclarkjr]

ttt

 

[pthomq]

I have a one-year old quad-core system. Quality components, very simple, very stable, good power supply, no excess heat (GPU 37 degrees C), no over-clocking, running Vista 32-bit. The motherboard is an Asus P5K-V. I do not play games. I recently upgraded to a dual-monitor system, which required more than the integrated graphics, so I got the Radeon Sapphire HD4670, another simple mid-level solution that would provide two DVI outputs at any normal resolution. (Somewhat reluctantly, remembering other ATI cards in systems and years past.) I installed the latest stable driver (8.12). Now I am experiencing _daily_ crashes with the atikmdag display driver message. This is highly frustrating. ATI support says to check hardware issues, and attempts to put the blame on any and everything else in the system. For many enthusiasts who tinker with their systems this will result in them thinking "Hmm, I must have done something wrong here." I don't buy it. In my system the only change was the ATI card, so it is the problem. Looks like the tradition of shoddy engineering, incompetent programming and poor customer service is alive and well at ATI/AMD today.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: pthomq
I have a one-year old quad-core system. Quality components, very simple, very stable, good power supply, no excess heat (GPU 37 degrees C), no over-clocking, running Vista 32-bit. The motherboard is an Asus P5K-V. I do not play games. I recently upgraded to a dual-monitor system, which required more than the integrated graphics, so I got the Radeon Sapphire HD4670, another simple mid-level solution that would provide two DVI outputs at any normal resolution. (Somewhat reluctantly, remembering other ATI cards in systems and years past.) I installed the latest stable driver (8.12). Now I am experiencing _daily_ crashes with the atikmdag display driver message. This is highly frustrating. ATI support says to check hardware issues, and attempts to put the blame on any and everything else in the system. For many enthusiasts who tinker with their systems this will result in them thinking "Hmm, I must have done something wrong here." I don't buy it. In my system the only change was the ATI card, so it is the problem. Looks like the tradition of shoddy engineering, incompetent programming and poor customer service is alive and well at ATI/AMD today.

Before you get hated on by all the ATI supporters on this forum, here's a few links and leads that may provide more help and troubleshooting:

ATIKMDAG Error @ AMD Forums

ATIKMDAG error and TDR FAQ at AMD Forums

I will say that it can be a hardware or software incompatibility elsewhere causing the problem, and that it does not necessarily mean you have a faulty videocard. I understand your frustration about only replacing the video card, but the very same video card might not exhibit the problem in a different system. If all else fails or if you get too frustrated trying to troubleshoot, you should be able to get a refund/replacement or RMA that GPU within 30 days or so.

 

[Qbah]

I got one a few days ago. I ran BG Trilogy, exited the game and the screen started to blink. After each blink a Driver Stopped Responding thingie showed up on the Tray. it started to loop with the driver restarts and after a few "tries" a BSOD showed. Was a one-time only for me (played BGT since then without issues). So no biggie, I guess.

 

[nerp]

I get the error a couple times a week and it seems to only happen when I have full screen video on my second monitor. It never happens in games. It doesn't seem to be heat related and I've basically chalked it up to a driver quirk. Removing the second monitor resolves the issue, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a driver update takes care of it. Either that or I'll just get rid of the second monitor. It's only a 17 inch standard monitor and I really don't need it that much. My 22 inch WS monitor is my main monitor and i could live with just that.

 

[Zlatanbelg]

Ok , here we go again THIS IS YEAR 2009 AND STILL DIDN'T fix it ... the nvidia forums have more then 2000+ peeps with same problem , no one at nvidia has the guts to say they cant do a thing about it ( actually they just closed that thread , bad for the reputation i guess).

I bought this pc 8 months ago yet this problem seems to be already from in the year 2007 ( see other forums ).

Ms Windows Vista Home Premium SP1
Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40Ghz , 3,0GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9300 GE

i get this error when i play Runescape ( java ) my screen turns black and this is what i get:

heres a screenie of the error ( in dutch ) :
http://i166.photobucket.com/al...hermstuurprogramma.jpg

after the first error this one comes on:
http://i166.photobucket.com/al...latanbelg2/error-1.jpg

i allready reinstall drivers ,updated ... nothing

this is everything i have on it , hope someone has a REAL FIX and not the usual talk about it...

Grtz

 

[Kraeoss]

i beleive that error is heat related or power related... i run crysis on mainstream and i doesnt happen but running NFS: MW @ highest settings screen freezes up get error... running 3dmark06 oc card whene temps cross 88-90c card crashed the test.... so i guess it's the card not the driver for me, need aftermarket cooling

 

[kankurou]

check www.nvlddmkm.com for more solutions to this error.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Originally posted by: kankurou
check www.nvlddmkm.com for more solutions to this error.

I would have liked to have tried a few of those before RMA'ing my 8800GTS to eVGA, but I suspect my card was actually failing. I swapped an old 6600GT into my rig and had no problems, whereas my 8800GTS would cause graphical corruption and blue screens just booting into Windows with the same drivers.

 

[alfonzo]

Hi,

So I am a computer tech and have received this same problem with the atikmdag driver.

I have not worked with graphics cards and overclocking, how many volts are on a rail and timing, although I have read alot about them I still don't really get it.

So if anyone wants to give a little run down on how all that works, I would love to know, or be shown links that explain it well because I have had trouble understanding the places I have read about it.


ANYWAY, so I looked into this problem about 4 months ago when my office first got Vista PCs in, the only computer that has this problem is 1 of 4 that have dual monitors, and a non-stock graphics card. And now after other issues I am back on to the task of figuring this out.

I will be running a memory diagnostics and attempting to figure out exactally which one it is, because I am suppossed to be out of here 10 minutes ago, but I was hoping someone would be able to lead me in the right direction with this one, as I see NVIDIA and VISTA still have not solved this problem.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Pykl]

Thanks very much for this post, it has a lot of useful info.
I've been dealing with this tdr issue for several weeks now. First my specs:

ASUS P5N32-ESLI
Geforce 8800 GTS runs around 55-60C
4 GB Crucial ram
Intel Core 2 Duo 6600
Vista 32 bit

I've reinstalled various video drivers numerous times. I've run memtest and all the hardware tests the machine will let me at the moment and all are fine, I tried the video card out in another xp machine and it's fine. This started after updating to the last nvidia drivers. Basically I could run in windows but when I played bfbc2 it would generate tons of artifacts and the driver stopped responding error. I've reinstalled windows and am running with as little as possible installed. I can't get a video driver to work. I can run in safe mode only now, when I try booting to windows I get the BSOD. Now even in safemode I'm getting artifacts on the screen so I don't know how long that will last. I believe I've ruled out all hardware issues and now I don't know how to go about fixing the software as I can't get into regular windows to change anything.
Any help is greatly appreciated.