My NVIDIA Geforce GT 640M GPU keeps crashing when playing games.
I have been experiencing this for a long time now, for about 4 months already.
I am using an Acer V3 571-G Laptop,
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 x64
8GB Ram
Intel Core i5 3210M 2.50ghz 4CPU's
DirectX 11
BIOS: InsydeH20 Version 03.71.48V1.05
Serial Number of my Laptop: NXM15TA002XXXXXXX
What my Problem is:
Back then, about last month, upon playing my games (Specifically CSGO, GTA:SA, WARTHUNDER) after around 10-15 mins of gameplay, the game suddenly stops responding. The game screen freezes at the current frame and later on I will get the BSOD (nvlddmkm.sys video tdr error) .
But beforehand, I used the latest GPU Driver for my GT640M from the Nvidia site itself (425.31), but it gave me the error "the Nvidia Geforce GT 640M device is not removable and cannot be ejected or unplugged" and later gives me the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE BSOD.
I decided to use OEM Drivers, the 3.11 driver given by the Acer support center (yes I did put my laptop model and serial number in), and also installed the Intel driver given, because I read from Greybear it could fix the problem (I installed the Intel driver first before the Nvidia), but instead I get this nvlddmkm video tdr timeout detection error I have until now, I also tried installing the Intel driver and Nvidia driver from the Acer eRecovery management in my laptop (which installs the drivers this laptop had when it was completely fresh) (also i installed the intel driver first before the nvidia) but no luck, it seemed like the error got worse by doing that because I couldn't even run a game like Roblox for more than a minute before it completely freezes my screen. (I used DDU to uninstall drivers while in safe mode, too)
So now I'm using the OEM drivers from the Acer site, both Intel and Nvidia, but heres whats interesting: *Although the game still crashes, it no longer gives me the BSOD, however once it crashed i can never run the game again, and if i try to shutdown and reboot my system, it wouldnt completely turn off so i had to turn off the system through the power button itself. But im very positive that its still the nvlddmkm video tdr error.
My efforts on trying to fix/results:
Installing OEM, both Intel, and Nvidia from the Acer support site, uninstalled through DDU while in safe mode;
-GPU crashes (used to give me the BSOD nvlddmkm.sys video_tdr_timeout_detection error, now it just crashes the game, wont let me launch any other games or anything that renders 3D, and forces me to hard shutdown)
Installing drivers from built-in Acer eRecovery; -Same result above but worse.
Power configs like setting the power mode top High Performance, setting link power state management Off to both plugged in and on battery, configuting the Nvidia control panel to set the GPU as the preferred graphics processor and setting the power management mode to high performance;
-Still getting the crashes
Using different Nvidia drivers from the Nvidia site, from 353.xx - 425.31
-361.43 below gives me the crash im experiencing now, any later drivers give me the error "The Nvidia GeForce gt 640m device is not removable and cannot be ejected or unplugged" and gives me the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE later on.
Updating my BIOS;
-Using the latest one (1.13) from the Acer site seemed to make the crash appear much faster, so I downgraded to 1.05, which gave me the most time before it crashes.
Using the battery while plugged in;
-Nothing has changed. (I always use this laptop while plugged in, without the battery on)
Using Furmark for testing;
-Gpu doesn't crash even above 80 degrees celsius.
Undervolting my GPU;
-No changes.
Did the nvlddmkm.sy_ expand to nvlddmkm.sys trick;
-No changes.
Regirstry Hack (setting tdrdelay to 8/10)
-No changes.
Using the OEM audio driver, intel motherboard chipset drivers;
-No changes.
Reinstalling OEM OS;
-No changes.
Additional Notes: The maximum/minimum processor state in the processor power management section in the power options to 94% to prevent overheating, I did try to set it to 100%, no changes.
My max CPU temp when playing games (specifically CSGO) - 86 degrees celsius.
My max GPU temp when playing games (specifically CSGO) - I don't quite remember but it sure must have gone 80 degrees celsius and above.
Crash dump analysis using WhoCrashed (Home Edition) (these are the latest ones recorded)
On Sun 1/26/2020 12:09:39 AM your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: C:\Windows\LiveKernelReports\WATCHDOG\WD-20200126-0009.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: nvlddmkm.sys (0xFFFFF8801181E160)
Bugcheck code: 0x117 (0xFFFFFA800ECFE010, 0xFFFFF8801181E160, 0x0, 0x0)
Error: VIDEO_TDR_TIMEOUT_DETECTED
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys
product: NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 311.30
company: NVIDIA Corporation
description: NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 311.30
Bug check description: This indicates that the display driver failed to respond in a timely fashion.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: nvlddmkm.sys (NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 311.30 , NVIDIA Corporation).
Google query: nvlddmkm.sys NVIDIA Corporation VIDEO_TDR_TIMEOUT_DETECTED
On Sun 2/16/2020 7:38:12 AM your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\021620-38111-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: nvlddmkm.sys (0xFFFFF88011A26CF0)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFF88011A26CF0, 0xFFFFF880009E80F8, 0xFFFFF880009E7960)
Error: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys
product: NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 311.30
company: NVIDIA Corporation
description: NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 311.30
Bug check description: This indicates that a system thread generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: nvlddmkm.sys (NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 311.30 , NVIDIA Corporation).
Google query: nvlddmkm.sys NVIDIA Corporation SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
( I used a later driver for this one):
On Mon 3/9/2020 4:16:49 PM your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\030920-37877-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x93EA0)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA800A509A10, 0xFFFFF80000B9E428, 0xFFFFFA800E2F59F0)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state. A device object has been blocking an IRP for too long a time.
This is likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.
Edited the content to hide sensitive information
Acer-Samuel
