NVIDIA display adapter / graphics driver failure

Question

Original Title: NVIDIA display adapter / graphics driver failure - help please

Greetings all, I have an ASUS ET2400INT, purchased 1/2011:

SPECS:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Intel Core i5 -650

NVIDIA G310M 1G/512M

ASUS Super Hybrid Engine

Touchscreen

PROBLEM:

Blank screen/crashing.  More specifically:

A) Blank screen... black screen at startup, or after windows loading screen, or after log-in screen.  The computer appears to be running (based on the normal processing sounds), but there is nothing displayed on the screen.   I have to hold the power button to shutdown, and restart.

B) Freezes or crashes during normal operation, sometimes with BlueScreen error message.  This occurs when doing something requiring graphics processing (e.g. opening a scrolling menu, adjusting screen saver, changing to an HD channel in Windows Media Center, etc)

C) Error message:  "NVIDIA kernel mode driver stopped responding at node ##.## and has successfully recovered"  (paraphrase).  Event Viewer says it has to do with the "nvlddmkm" driver.  Happened 2 or 3 times.

MINIDUMP:

There are 3 minidump files from the past three months which may shed light on the BlueScreen events:

http://cid-02974794eabd7617.office.live.com/self.aspx/Public%20folder/minidump.zip

These files were alerted as BCCode 9f, 1000007e, and 116 errors, respectively.  They may indicate a driver issue?  The last may be the video adapter? However, in most instances the problem is during startup and no minidump file is created.

TIMELINE:

The first time I encountered the blank screen was after having left the computer on for vacation, with Wake-on-LAN successfully enabled.   I used WoL for remote access of Windows Media Center files via the Orb server program (http://www.orb.com/). The computer was set for automatic sleep and hibernate after 45 minutes of inactivity. 

For the first week, I was able to access files on the computer from abroad and stream WMC recordings, after remotely waking the computer.  However, approximately on 4/23 (around when a BlueScreen error occurred), Orb began stating that the computer was asleep, despite sending Wake-on-LAN packets.  Yet I knew the computer was not asleep, because using Remote Potato (http://ww2.fatattitude.com/software/software-about-remotepotato.aspx) I could still schedule recordings and access photos.  However neither program could stream videos as before.

Upon return, I found that the computer was on (having failed to hibernate evidently since 4/23) but the screen was blank.  Forcible shutdown and restart resulted in seeming normal graphics and operation. However, the system was sluggish after resumption from sleep, and finally froze when attempting to configure power options (hibernate and sleep times).

Then, the typical symptoms began: blank screen during startup, or crashing during graphics operation.

ACTIONS TAKEN:

For instances with the blank screen repeatedly manifesting after shutdown/upon startup, I did the following on these three separate instances:

1. Restart with "Last Known Good Configuration" + System Restore

-- this apparently worked, as the system booted normally.  I also conducted a System Restore operation to a March restore point, just in case.  The system was normal for several days, could stream video remotely etc. But then, it crashed while changing to an HD channel in WMC, and the same blank screen at restart issue returned.

2. Safe Mode + Deactivate Display Adapter + Driver reinstall

-- this second time, having difficulty entering Windows (blank screen after log-in), I restarted in Safe Mode. I deactivated the display adapter, NVIDIA GeForce 310M, in the device manager to isolate it as the cause of problems.  With the display adapter off, the system rebooted normally (therefore display adapter/graphics card is the problem)

--In safe mode again, I checked the NVIDIA GeForce 310M display driver in Device Manager for updates (none available).  I went to ASUS' support site and downloaded the display driver (http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=ET2400INT&p=26&s=4).  I deleted the existing driver and attempted to resinstall the one from ASUS' site. This appears to be the same driver version (Version  V8.17.12.5888) .

-- I'm not sure if the reinstall worked, but I recall restarting the computer, and upon successfully logging-in to Windows, a popup message said "installing display driver" and then stated "successful".  The system worked normally for several days.  But then, it crashed while opening a scrolling menu box in Firefox, and the same blank screen at restart issue returned.

3. Safe Mode+Deactivate Display Adapter

-- this third time, I deactivated the GeForce310M in Safe Mode, and can now log-in and operate a stable computer (but without higher graphics capabilities).  I'm now looking for possible solutions.

UPDATED DRIVERS?

I've looked at NVIDIA drivers for the GeForce 310M from the manufacturer; updated versions do not have support for Intel Hybrid systems.  The search page (http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us) leads to an April 2011 version (http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-270.61-whql-driver.html) but it and all older versions have the caveat "Notebooks supporting Hybrid Power technology with Intel chipsets are not supported by this release".  Since this is an Intel Core i5 with "Super Hybrid Engine" technology these drivers would be incompatible?

DIAGNOSIS?

I think there is a problem with the display driver or display adapter.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Right now without the graphics card, images, videos, standby/hibernate are all crippled. Thanks in advance for any help!

Answer 1

UPDATE

I attempted to reactivate the graphics card, and restart the computer.  Immediately it was having trouble, blank screen after the initial "ASUS" startup image.  Subsequent restarts to get to safe mode were very difficult; sometimes it was a blank screen completely, not even the startup image; it would freeze at the F8 'Safe Mode' selection screen.  Finally, I entered Safe Mode and deactivated the graphics card, then tried to shutdown--the screen went blank as expected in a shutdown, but the process did not continue--just hung at blank screen.  I then had to restart over and over; sometimes there was a blank screen entirely; pressing F8 didn't seem to work; finally it entered the Log-in screen and I am now in regular Windows 7, with the display adapter/graphics card disabled, and all seems normal (for now).

Needless to say I am very concerned at this blank screen issue, am doing an immediate backup of key files in case I am unable to login again.

If there are any suggestions as to how to resolve this graphics card problem it would be greatly appreciated, this is far more severe than any problem I've encountered with Windows XP and older version computers, I wonder if the more graphics-intensive nature of this computer and the GeForce 310M card have something to do with this issue (this is the first computer I've purchased that came with a dedicated graphics card, the past models were all Intel Integrated Graphics).

Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer 2

Hidreamweaver8287**,**

I would suggest you to download an older version of the driver from the Nvidia website and check if this assists you resolve the issue. You may check if installing the driver version 267.76 (released date – March 24, 2011) assists you. Refer to the below link to get the drivers and check -

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us

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If issue still persists I would suggest you to contact the Asus support and check if they can assist you get compatible drivers for the display card of the computer.

http://support.asus.com/ServiceHome.aspx?SLanguage=en

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Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Thank you for the information, however I still have some questions.

Firstly, what makes that 'older' driver the right one among those choices?  Given its release date I'm wondering how this compares.

Also, the notes say "Hybrid Power technology with Intel chipsets are not supported by this release" and since I have a Hybrid Engine feature that would be incompatible?

Furthermore, the NVIDIA notes suggest to not use the Windows deactivate driver dialog, and instead to use Add/Remove Programs to delete NVIDIA programs.

There, I noticed that there are 2 NVIDIA programs:

1. NVIDIA Display Control Panel 6.14.12.5888
2. NVIDIA Drivers 1.10.62.40

Do I uninstall those?  Etc.  The version #s don't match up with the NVIDIA site information, which makes this confusing.

Anyhow, I will be looking for more information before making any changes. 

I'm still also not sure what is the actual issue, despite having narrowed it to the display adapter.  Even with the GeForce 310M deactivated, sometimes startup leads to a blank/frozen screen.

Thanks for the advice.

Update: I managed to stop the freezing/startup issues by turning off the Wake-on-LAN capability. Since then the computer has turned on, restarted, hibernated, and gone to sleep without incident on a daily basis for over a week. So it seems that there was some incompatibility with the Wake-on-LAN capability, I'm guessing. I have no idea how the PCI Devices wake capability + the graphics card led to this freezing, but turning off Wake-on-LAN has helped.

Answer 4

I know this issue, the answer is actually on microsofts site.

Problem: a thing called TDR checker monitors the computers hardware, particularly the GPU, is say the GPU stops responding with the computer for 2 seconds TDR checker restarts the driver. The TDR checker was good on paper but did not work in the real world. as a gpu can stop responding when it is working hard.

Issue since the time of vista, thats why this problem virually never happened on XP

Here is the solution

Exit all Windows based programs.

Click Start, type regedit in the Search box, and then double-click regedit.exe from the results above. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Browse to and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002 (sometimes called ControlSet001) \Control\GraphicsDrivers

On the Edit menu, click New, and then select the following registry value from the drop-down menu specific to your version of Windows (32 bit, or 64 bit):

For 32 bit Windows

Select DWORD (32-bit) value.

Type TdrDelay as the Name and click Enter.

Double-click TdrDelay and add 8 for the Value data and click OK.

For 64 bit Windows 

Select QWORD (64-bit) value.

Type TdrDelay as the Name and click Enter.

Double-click TdrDelay and add 8 for the Value data and clickOK.

Close the registry editor and then restart your computer for the changes to take affect.

This puts a delay on the tdr checker of 8 seconds thus the gpu can stop responding for 10 seconds, usually this fixes the problem, if you are still suffering from this issue (after updates or a reinstall of drivers, you know all that annoying driver stuff)

Then do this, do the same thing but instead of "TdrDelay" type "TdrLevel" enter the data value as 0 (it is set to that natively, but double check) then delete the TdrDelay, 

Restart 

That completely turns off Tdr checker, so now windows 7/vista/8 now works more like windows XP

Share the info XD

Answer 5

Hello. I have the same problem with the same type of Asus all in one.

Do you confirm that you complete resolve this issue turning off WOL on the lan adapter?

If you resolved could you please explain to me How you set up this option? Did you manage only lan network card option in windows or Did you find something about this in Bios?

I do not find anything in Bios about WOL.

Do I need to set up wireless card too?

Please explain me step by step.

I tried to set up registry as AJS explained but with no result.

I thougt to call Asus support to change motherboard but I prefer resolve by meself this issue and I do not Know if It is a drivers problem or a Hardware problem.

Thank you very much.

Bye, Mark