Nvlddmkm.sys crash and artifacts during bootup

[Nadril]

First of all this is about my roomates PC, not mine.

 

 

 

The problem I've narrowed down to his NVIDIA 8800GTX 768Mb video card. What happened is that he crashed during the middle of a game (WoW). When he booted back up he was not only treated to a BSOD (0x0008086) and a message that his "Nvlddmkm.sys" has crashed but also was having artifacts on the screen. (To be exact blue lines running vertically along the monitor).

 

 

 

 

 

I've read up o the Nvlddmkm.sys issue and it seems fairly widespread with Vista users. The thing is his video card is 3 years old and I'm starting to think that it may just be kicking the bucket (especially with artifacts showing up in BIOS). I should also add on that the artifacts in bios are various random characters all over the screen, very odd.

 

 

 

 

 

I've uninstalled the drivers from safe mode and that does allow him into a normal boot up. However the issue continues once he has to restart with fresh drivers installed (that are auto updated when he boots in). Also during all of this there are still artifacts on the screen (Blue lines and then the random characters in BIOs)

 

 

 

 

 

Is his card completely gone or is there any way to save it? I think he is probably going to end up getting a new one anyways but is there anything we could do to have it live for a bit longer? He's doing an adaware/malware scan right now (doubt it will help but w/e) and I'm still trying to find topics about the issue.

[Orpheus]

That sounds like one hell of an error.

 

 

 

I did some searching into it. If you're installing the latest drivers for it from the nvidia site, and the card is cleared of dust or w/e, then it's probably on it's last legs. I don't think it would be overheating, but it might be the problem.

[OldJoe]

Quite a few on different forums have had to buy a new card since their G80 cards have died in the last months.

 

Does he have a spare card laying around or you or someone could test your card in his computer?

[Nadril]

Quite a few on different forums have had to buy a new card since their G80 cards have died in the last months.

 

Does he have a spare card laying around or you or someone could test your card in his computer?

 

 

 

Sadly we don't have a spare card and I use a laptop now. At this point I'm like 95% sure the card is pretty much dead so he is just gonna get a new one.

[OldJoe]

Quite a few on different forums have had to buy a new card since their G80 cards have died in the last months.

 

Does he have a spare card laying around or you or someone could test your card in his computer?

 

 

 

Sadly we don't have a spare card and I use a laptop now. At this point I'm like 95% sure the card is pretty much dead so he is just gonna get a new one.

 

 

 

Before he buys a new one, which brand is it? Because some Nvidia partners offers a long period of warranty (EVGA&BFG offers 10 years for example, Asus 3...), tho this requiers you to have registerd it within 30days after a buy by most partners.

 

I think it's worth a shot before spending 150$ on a new card. I guess he or you could check the warranty at brand-x for his card, but i'd be happy to do so otherwise.

[Nadril]

We already bought a new one. (9800GTX+)

 

 

 

It's a 3 year old card and it came with a prebuilt machine (dell). I highly doubt it was still under warranty in any way. Either way problem is fixed now and this thread can be closed.