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BSOD: Driver Power State Failure (linked to nvlddmkm.sys)

Anonymous
2023-06-06T20:04:24+00:00

Hello,

I tried to find a solution on the web for hours, however nothing worked out for me. So I'm reaching out for your help as an ultimate resort.

System information : I have an ACER PREDATOR PH317-53 laptop, with an Intel i7-9750H @2.6GHz, and an NVIDIA RTX 2060. I have 16GB of RAM. I'm running on Windows 11 22H2 (KB5026372). I bought the laptop 3 years ago and it did not receive any external damage (except for a bit of water on the keyboard 8 months ago). For a period (1 year ago), there has been significant amount of dust inside due to negligence, leading to overheating during this period (and my dumb brain did not figured out why for some time).

Dump file : https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsVxnDhQIr3Sg6ZXUXxN9-HUW3xmJw?e=9fpXcC (after most recent BSOD, if needed)

The issue : I got quite a few different BSOD lately. Before (a few months ago), it was Kernel errors and mostly occurring when PC was idle. Now, I'm never getting one of these, but two new type of BSOD occur now : 1) when a game using NVIDIA GPU is running or 2) when PC is unplugged (less often).

  • For the first case (game running), after a few minutes, the game crashes and PC freezes for like 30 seconds, and then i get a BSOD "Driver power state failure". This error only happen when I'm playing resource-intensive games, requiring high GPU usage. My CPU seems to work very well on the other hand.
    Please note that if I unplug the charger right after the crash occurred, I get a different BSOD immediately : "System thread exception not handled", the error being nvlddmkm.sys (NVIDIA pilot)
    I got those BSOD for the first time maybe 2 weeks ago. I remember doing a Windows update but I'm unsure. I purchased an external SSD driver one week or so before. I did not change my system or any parameter. I've been using Trend Micro as antivirus for years.
  • For the second case, I get a BSOD "Video dxgkrnl fatal error". This error never occurs while I'm playing, and is relatively rare (~twice per week), and I was getting this one way before the above-described situation (since months ago). I did not find any pattern leading to this error, except laptop unplugged

What I tried (among other) :

  • Installed Driver Display Uninstaller (DDU) and Registrar Registry Manager Home version as to uninstall drivers and delete registry keys linked to NVIDIA in safe mode, before downloading the most up-to-date driver from Geforce experience. Automatic driver installation from Windows Update has always been deactivated on my computer. The process did not change a thing
  • Changed power settings in any way possible : running PC in "high performance" mode, in "energy saving" mode, setting up high performance mode for network card, deactivating/enabling PCI, USB selective suspension and sleep mode
  • Used NVIDIA control panel to force "prefer maximum performance" for the games that crash -- that seems to work only from time to time ?
  • Performed a SCANNOW (no issue found)
  • Performed a CHKDSK /F /R /X (by the way, this got me a new BSOD when repairing was at 99%: "bad system config info")
  • Reinstalled Intel drivers to be sure (sound, network..)
  • Checked updates for every driver on Device manager
  • Performed a full antivirus scan
  • Changed game files location to another drive
  • Run multiple windows troubleshooting (none found anything wrong)
  • Turned off quick starting
  • I'm not overclocking CPU or GPU. During some testing, I set maximum CPU usage to 99% and let it that way. I also turned minimum to 5% (instead of 0%)

I want to emphasize that my computer works perfectly fine except for those BSOD. It's quick, games run smoothly (when no BSOD) even very demanding ones (RDR2 etc..). I had BSODs before, but never while running GPU-intensive games.

Your help will be extremely much appreciated ! I hope this is not a hardware issue. I think not, because I found quite a few people having similar issues on the web, but answers I read did not help me. Thanks !

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-06-07T14:54:19+00:00

    The log files were in a foreign language and could not be scanned or read.

    Please use English as the default language during the troubleshooting and post a new V2 hare link into the newest post.

    Add, Remove, and Change Display Language in Windows 10 | Tutorials (tenforums.com)

    Change Display Language in Windows 10 | Tutorials (tenforums.com)

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-06-07T13:19:48+00:00

    Hello, thanks for your answer.

    I did step 1 and I'll do the other ones if I still have issues. I'll go back to you on this.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-06-07T08:04:43+00:00

    Please find the link to the output of the V2 log collector : https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsVxnDhQIr3Sg6ZYHXz4Iuy13fOlYw?e=nNlab9

    Also note that I ran into one exception during sleep diagnostics :

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  4. Lester Bernard Reyes 77,980 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-06-06T22:40:36+00:00

    Hi, and thanks for reaching out. My name is Bernard a Windows fan like you. I'll be happy to help you out today.

    I understand the issue you have, there is nothing to worry I am here to help, as per checking and analyzing the DMP file you have, there is an error in nvlddmkm.sys, which is your Nvidia graphics card driver, for us to fix the issue kindly follow the steps below:

    We need to run a Clean installation of the Nvidia driver, this is different from using DDU and reinstalling the driver, as this method will delete all registry entries of the older GPU driver, kindly follow the steps from this link:

    https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/...

    Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

    Method 2. Restore default power options

    -Press Windows key + R then type:

    powercfg -restoredefaultschemes

    -Restart PC and check.

    Method 3. Run power, Troubleshooter

    • Press Windows key + R then type:

    msdt.exe /id PowerDiagnostic

    • Click OK then follow the prompts to run the power troubleshooter

    -Restart the device after

    Note: If the issue persists, I suggest contacting a local technician to physically check the device for any hardware-related issues.

    Let me know how it goes and I hope that helps.

    Bernard

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-06-06T22:15:43+00:00

    Please run the V2 log collector and post a share link into this thread using one drive, drop box, or google drive.

    https://www.tenforums.com/bsod-crashes-debugging/2198-bsod-posting-instructions.html

    https://www.elevenforum.com/t/bsod-posting-instructions.103/

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