Nvidia Kernel Mode Driver crash

[Anoyster]

I've been getting this "Nvidia Kernel Mode Driver has stopped responding and has recovered" issue lately. I play a game for 45-60min and then the screen goes black for a couple of seconds and I have that notification waiting for me once the screen comes alive again. Then I have to shutdown the game through task manager as it's frozen but the sound is still playing.

 

The weirdest part is I had this happen once maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago while just browsing and it was the first time it occurred and I had not updated anything for weeks. I downloaded the newest graphics drivers (335.23) and went about my business. Yesterday it happened again for the first time since then and now it was while gaming and the game crashed as I described and I fired the game up again and another 45min later again. Now today I was playing and about an hour in the same deal.

 

I have a GTX570 and I'm using Windows 7 64bit. I've been googling the issue and there seems to be a million and one fixes but usually people get it after an update or they fix it with an update but the first time it happened to me I hadn't changed anything for a long while. Also the fact that I got it while just browsing when it happened the first time has me scraching my head since from what I've gathered it usually seems to be gaming/youtubing related. Then again I'm not the most tech savvy person around.

[Volbet]

The problem can also occur if you have an unstable overclock on the card, so remove any overclocks, if any.

 

When you updated you driver, did you do a clean driver install? Sometimes a clean install is needed for problems like this to go away. 

[Anoyster]

The card isn't overclocked.

 

I just installed the new driver regularly, is there anything specific I should do when doing a clean install or is it just uninstalling old drivers from the control panel before installing new ones?

[Volbet]

The card isn't overclocked.

 

I just installed the new driver regularly, is there anything specific I should do when doing a clean install or is it just uninstalling old drivers from the control panel before installing new ones?

When you install the NVidia drive, you will get the option to do an express install or a custom install. To do a clean install, you will have to click ´Custome Install´ and then check a box that says ´Clean Install´ (Or something like it).

Alternativly, you could uninstall the NVidiai drivers using Driver Sweeper and then reinstall the NVidia drivers like you normally would.

[Anoyster]

Okay, I did a clean install and tested playing and I did a new record, it took only about 10 minutes worth of gaming for the driver crash to happen.

[Volbet]

Okay, I did a clean install and tested playing and I did a new record, it took only about 10 minutes worth of gaming for the driver crash to happen.

OK, so it wasn't a screwed up driver install.

Some other things you can try:

• Disable Realtek soundcard drivers
• Give your PC a virus scan
• Try a couple of different older drivers
• Check that the refresh rate in the NVidia Control Panel is the same as your monitors refresh rate

If all of this fail, try installing MSi Afterbuner and downclock the card by 10-20MHz. It might just be that the silicone has degraded so much that the card can't run at full speed anymore,