Updated on: 05th March 2013

 

Looks like the Nvidia version 311.06 (obtained through Windows update method, WHQL) is the most stable driver as on date on Windows 8

How to?

Uninstall all nvidia software

Using driversweeper in safe mode, remove all possible files for Nvidia from your box

Use CCleaner in safe mode to remove references from the registry

Reboot to normal mode

Go to device manager, right click on the display adaptor and let windows download and install the driver, using driver update node

Most probably you will be asked to restart after the driver update (311.06). Once restarted, do the driver upgrade for HD Audio as well.

Download and install the latest edition of Physx from NVIDIA site (if required)

That’s all folks, we hope you will get rid of 90% of BSOD, “Driver stopped responding and has recovered” from then onwards.

 

Updated on: 9th February 2013

Good news for few out there! We are on 310.90 from last three days without a single lockout or BSOD

Following exercises were performed

1. Disabled automatic driver download for devices.
2. Uninstalled the NVidia drivers from programs and features
3. Used “DriverSweeper” in safe mode to remove all entries for NVIDIA driver, physx etc. You can restart the Windows 8 box in safe mode through msconfig, have a look at this image. Do not forget to change the boot mode back to Normal once cleaning stuff are done
4. 
5. Used CCleaner to remove whatever was left with Registry
6. Done a clean installation of 310.90

After 72 hours, the box is still intact without experiencing any kind of commonly experienced lockouts(blank screens) or BSOD.

Note: Please do not under estimate the importance of having a strong PSU to support the box.

Cheers guys, we are wrapping up this month long test with definite positive results.

 

Updated on: 4th February 2013

We tried NVidia driver version 310.90, by custom installing only graphic driver. Within the first 40 minutes, during each wakeup from sleeps, this windows 8 box crashed, causing BSODs

 

The only version of NVidia driver not causing BSOD after a long sleep/hibernate is 306.97 installed by Windows

The full package of NVidia 306.97 downloaded from NVidia site crashes miserably during the same sleep/hibernate test(s)

Not a very good news for gamers, 3D enthusiastic right?

 

 

Updated on: 03rd February 2013

NVidia driver bundle installs a bunch of software like

1. Physx engine
2. Update
3. HD Audio driver (HDMI enabled boards)
4. Audio driver
5. 3D Driver

and a BSOD could be caused by one of these, identifying the exact culprit?

Out of curiosity, we updated the driver to 310.90. The clean installation removed the existing 306.97 Display driver and installed the latest and the BSODs returned almost instantly.

Uninstalled all the software installed by NVidia driver package and restarted the box, Windows does a default driver installation, following the prompt, restarted the box.

306.97 version driver installed with control panel. No more additional software and after 8 hours of sleep, box came alive instantly.

 

Next course of action:

Going to install 310.90 package once again, this time only the graphics driver and see whether the issues were with graphics driver or other drivers installed by the package.

 

Updated on: 27th January 2013

Never stop experimenting. The major BSODs we experienced were during a wakeup, which exceeds few hours of sleep. The doubts were shifting from faulty GPU to memory sticks to HDDs etc..

We never thought the PSU could be a reason, as the PSU was 600W with a decent +12V/24A rating. Actually for GT 520 2G GPU which was plugged to a computer with following configuration, the PSU was too weak to meet the power demands

4x4GB memory sticks
3 Different sized SATA Drives attached
(

466GB Seagate ST500DM002-1BD142 (SATA)
1863GB Seagate ST2000DM001-9YN164 (SATA)
75GB Western Digital WDC WD800JD-60LUA0 (SATA)

)
1 External terra station
3 NICs :D
A Bluetooth adaptor
2 DVD Drives
1 logitech 720P webcam
1 ThermalTake chasis fan
2 USB expanders

Not bad, right? :)

To come to the conclusion that the power supply was not adequate enough, we used the following exercise

1. Replaced the GT 520 GPU with less power hungry GT 210 (1GB) GPU. Computer was left alone under sleeps exceeding 24 hours and while a wakeup initiated, the responses were instant.
2. Moved the GT 520 GPU (2GB) to a Windows XP Box, almost bare metal one with single HDD, Motherboard and a DVD Drive. Results were excellent. No BSOD while a wakeup.
3. Scanning dozens discussions dealing with “nvlddmkm.sys + dxgkrnl.sys + dxgmms1.sys”, hardly any explained anything about inadequate power being a major culprit (besides numerous other reasons), however a guess work and the instinct has forced us to come to an answer that, the power insufficiency could be the reason BSOD in our case.
4. We are not hardware geeks, however putting stuff in place, we made a sequence for the waking up process for our box from a sleep
5. Keyboard tap or mouse movement triggers the wakeup process
6. Motherboard is pumped in with current, followed by HDDs and other attached devices to support the OS and the state of OS while it entered into the sleep mode
7. Finally, once the OS is ready to send the output to the GPU, GPU doesn’t have adequate amount of power to start, thus causing errors which were interpreted like driver crashes, IRQ errors which are not at all relevant to the actual reasons.

 

We were able to get rid of those BSODs by replacing the PSU with a higher capacity one and by installing the NVidia drivers provided by Windows updates

Following are the suggested exercises for you, if you are a victim of BSODs caused by NVIDIA GPUs

 

Check your PSU (Power supply unit). Are you plugging your new GPU to an age old PSU with maximum 240W output?

Whats your +12v AMPS? Is it anywhere above 24Amps? Other than the GPU what else is plugged onto your case? Number of HDDs, Number of NICs?

If your PSU is old, its time for a new one. Go to following link and do a math yourself to find out the approximate Wattage you need for your puter

http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/

(Few Geeks suggest Corsair make the best PSUs, we are using XFX one though, whichever, none of them are very cheap)

Whichever brand you choose, please make sure you are going for a PSU which supplies 600W minimum and if you can afford, 850W could be optimum with +12V amps nothing less than 40A

(XFX PRO850W has +12V/70A which should be more than sufficient for a moderate gaming box)

 

Now, get back to your Windows 7/8. Uninstall the NVIDIA supplied drivers completely.

Restart the box, wait for windows to re-install the WDM 1.2 drivers. Right click and update the drivers using Windows update

Keep the box on for minimum couple of days, giving it sufficient stress by

Gaming for minimum couple of hours

Keep the box idle(sleep) for minimum 6-7 hours (usually after this much of idle time, the box must crash while trying to wake up). Make sure the power settings are configured as “balanced”

Try it, keep us posted :)

Go through this thread if you are eager to see how much time we spent to come to the conclusion that, most of the BSODs related to Nvidia GPUs/drivers are due to lack of sufficient power.

 

 

If it doesn’t work, you have near perfect solution forwarded by Michael 

 

A perfectly working solution: Tested for 4*24hrs already

The following set of instructions were forwarded by a visitor, Michael and the same is tested under following conditions

1. Windows 8 Pro 64bit
2. nVidia GT520 2Gb with 310.70

Power settings

I found 100% working solution for serious after 2 months of searching. Disadvantage – lower performance with 5-10%
My solution :
1. Download Nvidia control panel performance that allows u to change graphic clock speed from official site.
2. Install it
3. Open the new Nvidia Control panel
4. Enter in performance settings
5. Select “I agree” to open overclocking settings.
6. Decrease the GPU clock (Ex from 672 MHZ change to 550 MHZ and memory clock from 800 to 850 MHZ (this are my settings))

Our TEST experience: No BSOD were experienced once after the GPU,Memory clock speed were reduced. However, we didn’t try any gaming scenarios. Now everything is overclocked :), So??? It’s your call.

–Actual Post

You experience regular BSOD (blue screen of death) with your Windows 7 box, with a nVidia display card

BSOD scenarios long idle time, running huge games etc

This link beautifully explains how to resolve this issue http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/201437-bsod-windows-7-x64-nvlddmkm-sys-dxgkrnl-sys-dxgmms1-sys.html (Post #2)

In our case all we needed was to download the “Direct X” components (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35)

Give it a try folks

for Windows7bugs

Admin