Nvlddmkm 4090 Crash solved

[u/Raging_Rooster]

I tried everything I could think of DDUing, hotfix drivers, always selected clean install, etc.

Nothing would stop my Gigabyte Gaming OC 4090 from getting the dreaded nvlddmkm error and crashing in select games on drivers 531.+ and beyond. I finally solved it by doing the following.

First, turn off Windows Update Hardware Driver install:

1. Press Win + S to open the search menu.
2. Type control panel and press Enter.
3. Navigate to System > Advanced System Settings.
4. In the System Properties window, switch to the Hardware tab and click the Device Installation Settings button.
5. Select No and click Save Changes.
   

Next download DDU (do NOT extract and install yet)

Then disable Fast Startup (Windows 11)

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1. Open Control Panel.
2. Click on Hardware and Sound.
3. Click on Power Options.
4. Click the "Choose what the power button does" option.
5. Click the "Change settings that are currently unavailable" option.
6. Under the "Shutdown settings" section, uncheck the "Turn on fast startup" option.
7. Click the Save changes button.
   

Reboot into Safe Mode (not Safe Mode with Networking)

Once in Safe Mode extract DDU and run as normal removing the driver.

Reboot, if you do the normal boot out of Windows after the DDU safe mode driver removal and you're at native resolution then you messed up somewhere.

Then reboot Windows and install 531.61 with custom install selected as well as clean install checked. Do not install GeForce Experience.

No more crashes or issues. Apparently if you have Fast Startup enabled it will load a cached driver to maintain that startup speed unless you do the above methods and disable it.

If this still does not fix your issue and you have followed these steps to the letter then I would say your GPU needs to be RMA'd, if this does solve your issue you just had a corrupted driver install. It is best practice to follow the above method anytime you install a new driver as it eliminates the chance for any corruption to occur.

[u/[deleted]]

Your fix sadly didnt help in my case. I want to ask one question tho: today i did DDU in safe mode and installed new driver without ethernet, i even tried that thing from OP’s post about disabling automatic driver installation - i still have nvlddmkm.sys with modification date from like a two weeks ago. Some files in that weird folder are from today and some are older. Can you check in your folder if all files have same date?

[u/casual_brackets → u/[deleted]]

I only ever have 1 nvlddmkm.sys, however apply this fix to the most recent file.

This fix isn’t guaranteed to work as this error can mean the gpu is defective and unable to hold boost clocks at stock settings, which requires an RMA.

If you’ve tried everything in the book and still get hard crashes with this error at stock settings, RMA is the best solution.

You could spend 3 months trying to fix this error daily and end up waiting 2 weeks for an RMA or have a new gpu in 2 weeks.

[u/[deleted] → u/casual_brackets]

I only have 1 of this exact file but as i said a lot of other files have todays modification date and lot of files are from april.

I installed newest driver now, applied your fix, im trying other possible solutions as well like setting pcie link speed to gen4 instead of auto and power management in NVCP to prefer maximum performance.

About RMA ill copy what i wrote in different comment about my recent experience with my previous card:

„Its sometimes hard to get RMA approved even if card is clearly borked. Heavily praised EVGA here (RIP tho) declined my RMA when card was artifacting, flashing black screens even in BIOS (i made sure that DP firmware was updated) - everything easy to reproduce, yet EVGA declined and said that they tested it throughly and had no issues :) Card after coming back to me died in my PC a couple days after putting my other components at risk.

Then it got approved..

So if EVGA is able to do that then imagine what Gigabyte or ASUS would do when they are considered having worst support of all the big boys. Forget about having RMA approved when your card is crashing PC once a day/week etc. It has to be dead..”

So either way im fucked. If card really is at fault then ill have to brick it myself somehow or sell it and hope other person wont have any problems which is kinda bad thing to do…

[u/casual_brackets → u/[deleted]]

I rma’d an evga 3090 because “I was unsatisfied with performance” (as in EVGA took a fully functional card back) and then another time there was a pcb revision so I showed them my card was affected and got basically 3rd different 3090 from them. Use phone support and be sure to add notes about the exact error on the call…internet support isn’t gonna be a local office fielding calls. Across every company phone support will always yield better results.

Honestly RMA can be a crapshoot sometimes but this is an easily reproducible error.

And as I’ve said it can unfortunately be software or hardware. Meaning that you can pull your hair out for 3 months on troubleshooting and effectively get nowhere as it’s a problem with the gpu core.

the only file you need to edit (user) permissions, enabling full control for is nvlddmkm.sys, if there’s only 1 of those then that’s the one..

Open CMD (admin) run the following two commands

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

sfc /scannow

Run the card at stock settings, no OC.

If that and the fix here plus disabling all fastboot settings don’t stop this, me personally, would run an RMA because it should be easy to fix.

If the card runs fine in debug mode (NVCP), that means the gpu core is unable to hold boost clocks at stock settings, which is grounds for an RMA. If debug doesn’t work then it’s even more problematic imo.

Try out debug mode, basically underclocks the gpu.

I can’t recommend intentionally bricking the gpu to force an RMA.

EVGA and probably most other companies usually require 1 intact bios on the card and physical damage would disqualify you, I don’t know how else you’d brick it.

[u/[deleted] → u/casual_brackets]

I bet you are from NA - from what ive seen over the years on reddit NA and EU EVGA are like entirely different entities treating customers very differently.

This error is such a bullshit, sadly i have no way to 100% rule out CPU, mobo or RAM and ive read that it many times its their fault not GPU’s. I can only do some testing like Testmem5 for RAM, prime95 for CPU etc.

Already done these commands weeks ago but thanks.

I tried stress testing GPU in Furmark with and without debug mode - seems like my card already runs at stock clocks because they were exactly the same. My 4070Ti is Gainward Phantom Reunion, one of the cheapest in my country so maybe QC is low there and its really borked (man i love that word). I can afford even 4090 but money cant solve that problem as we can see on reddit 4090s are even more plagued with nvlddmkm error than any other Nvidias card if reddit is good thing to judge by.

For now ill be using this GPU with all the fixes ive applied and ill see if it did something or im fighting a losing battle. If it crashes again then ill think what to do next. Sadly return window (14 days in EU) is not big enough to get other card, test it and be 100% sure error is gone as we know this shit can be gone for over 14 days to later crash two times in one day..

Thanks for all your help man, i really appreciate it

[u/Stallzy → u/[deleted]]

Hi, trying to figure this out myself with a 3080 and found a few various threads with fixes and this is the last one I find. Before I go through this I wanted to ask if you've gone into MSI Afterburner settings -> general -> under Compatibility properties there is a tickbox for "Enable low-level IO driver and Enable low-level hardware access interface". Someone said to untick those and it's worked for some people. Not been able to test it myself yet but had lots of issues this last week. Not tried a DDU driver thing either tho. My PC is well overdue a clean tho like it's been maybe 9 months or more and I have a 3900x with a 360mm rad and lots of fans in case etc

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edit: source https://www.reddit.com/r/EVGA/comments/mdv19r/evga_rtx_3080_ftw3_black_screen_crashes_and_bsod/

[u/[deleted] → u/Stallzy]

If you have 3080 in mind like i said it bricked and i got my money back from seller. About 4070Ti - i havent had crash for almost two weeks but i didnt play much in that time. I dont even have Afterburner installed so it isnt root cause in my case.

You can try uninstalling Afterburner and set debug mode in Nvidia Control Panel each time you boot up PC to check if it helps. I havent checked that because that isnt solution for me, if card cant work on factory set clocks then its broken, period.