[XenoSage]

I made a post about it here (http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=51182&st=0&p=279315&), not getting any responses so I found this TSF site on a corner of the internet and figure I'll try here as well.

I also made a response here (http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=45422&st=0&p=279787&) at the end of the forum with any additional info that might help.

The first link has a youtube video of exactly what happens to me.

 

[Aus_Karlos]

Looking over the threads i have come to the conclusion that its the 8 Series. As i have an 8800GTS the game also freezes on mine. But its more of a shuttering motion when i move really fast, like my HDD is to slow (When the led light hardly flickers)
It worked great in XP but with Vista and especially 64-bit there are lots of bug to work out.
The best you can do is make sure all drivers are up-to-date as well as the game. Close all unwanted processes, and try disabling any Anti-Virus they have the most adverse affect on games.

I also would like to know your full specs of your PSU running 2x 8800GTX require a very decent PSU, Its not all about the Wattage.
For a spec example look at my system PSU on the left.

 

[XenoSage]

Click a link and have at it.

CASE: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
PSU: COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro RS-850-EMBA ATX12V / EPS12V 850W
MB: GIGABYTE GA-M59SLI-S5 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD(Has F7 BIOS)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 Windsor 2.8GHz Socket AM2 Dual Core (AMD DC Optimizer Installed)
RAM: 2xG.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit(4-4-4-12-2T)
GPU: 2xXFX PVT80FSHF9 GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP(Controlled by RivaTuner, 169.04 XFX drivers)
HDD: 2xMaxtor MaXLine Pro 500 7H500F0 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
SC: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS 70SB035000000 7.1 Channels
Bay 1: PLEXTOR 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Beige SATA Model PX-716SA/SW(Firmware v1.11)
Bay 2: SIIG JU-91RW12-S4 9-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader/Write + Floppy
MNTR: Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP Wide-Screen
MS/KB: Logitech Cordless MX Duo 967300-0403 Black USB + PS/2 RF Wireless
SPKR: Creative Inspire 5.1 5200 Speakers
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate

 

[Aus_Karlos]

Just as i suspected your PSU is no where near powerful enough to run 1 8800GTX at full speed.

Yours: [email protected]
Nvidia rec: [email protected]

Yours: [email protected]
Nvidia rec: [email protected]

For now i would remove 1 of the 8800GTX and play the games, sometimes under-voltage hardware can be damaged. Then buy a new PSU.
If you need any help to pick out a PSU just ask.

 

[XenoSage]

Just as i suspected your PSU is no where near powerful enough to run 1 8800GTX at full speed.

Yours: [email protected]
Nvidia rec: [email protected]

Yours: [email protected]
Nvidia rec: [email protected]

For now i would remove 1 of the 8800GTX and play the games, sometimes under-voltage hardware can be damaged. Then buy a new PSU.
If you need any help to pick out a PSU just ask.

Huh?

I was told by an official nvidia member that my PSU was more than capable of running 2 GTX's it's actually a powersupply recommended for SLi for 8800GTX's.

I can play Hellgate london; which is more intensively graphic in detail than NFSCarbon and with SLi enabled I can run that game at 70-90 sometimes up to 140FPS with no drops in FPS, and your telling me a game I run at 50-70FPS that drops down to 0FPS 3-4 times a track is caused by my PSU, I'm sorry I just don't believe that. I also play trackmania united and it's more intensely graphic than NFSCarbon and I have it on the max settings, not one glitch at all from that game and that's with 16-30+ cars running around the race track.

I'm sure if my PSU was too weak I'd be experiencing BSoD's for sure.

From wwwSLIZone.com (http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html)

For Dual GeForce 8800 GTX
Choose from the following manufacturers:
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W (RS-850-EMBA)
what's in my specs?
PSU: COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro RS-850-EMBA ATX12V / EPS12V 850W
.... looks like a match to me.

Plus I have 2x 12v rails going into a PSU thats 18+18 = 36A x 2 that's 4 rails taken up for the cards a total of 72A and a total of 2 rails left for the motherboard drives, etc.

Yours: [email protected]
Nvidia rec: [email protected]

Also that 12V1 rec rail is "IF" the card only has 1 12V rail that is powering everything and it's not split, some PSU's do have that and have a much higher amperage for the 12V rail, but mine uses 6x 12V rails.

 

[Aus_Karlos]

But thats only one 12v rail not a combination of all. I have 6 12v rails @80A "each". I will get a second opinion. See if we can sort this problem out.

 

[Indoril Nerevar]

Hi,

Before going any further, please click on "Common Game Issues" in my signature, and run through all the steps there. Post back with results.

In one of the NVIDIA Forum threads you linked to, you said you were using the 169.04 drivers. Those are Beta drivers, and can't be considered stable; go here and download the latest release version drivers - 163.75.

I do not think the power supply is the problem, although I would be running that system on a 1000W. Your 850W should be able to handle it though.

 

[XenoSage]

Hi,

Before going any further, please click on "Common Game Issues" in my signature, and run through all the steps there. Post back with results.

In one of the NVIDIA Forum threads you linked to, you said you were using the 169.04 drivers. Those are Beta drivers, and can't be considered stable; go here and download the latest release version drivers - 163.75.

I do not think the power supply is the problem, although I would be running that system on a 1000W. Your 850W should be able to handle it though.

I did say that I used the 163.75 drivers in the links I posted in my OP, but I still get the same issues. That's why I went to 169.04, but instead of nvidia's site I went to XFX's site and am now using the Official XFX 169.04 drivers as of now.

I already read the stickied post about what needs to be done before posting on the forum, I can assure you my system meets the specs, I can run the game with the CD or through a backup and it still occurs. In SLi it's worse, in Single card mode it still occurs but not as bad. I can assure that maybe NFS Carbon is not rigged up to handle SLi, but the problem is not entirely resolved with just the single card. The game is patched to v1.4 and I restart my computer every time I do anything drastic like change drivers, install something or get a nvlddmkm.sys error.

**note about the nvlddmkm.sys error** It seems I get this only in SLi mode, but I'm testing it thoroughly. I thought I narrowed it down to the issue occuring with the Vista GUI and the Nvidia drivers or DX10, but that ruled that problem out when I got the error on Windows Classic GUI with no addons running such as WindowBlinds that would attempt to force some features of the Aero GUI to run. So now I'm just running 1 card with the SLi feature disabled; like I mentioned above, NFS Carbon runs a bit better, but the drop to 0 FPS for 1-1.5secs still occurs but not as frequently as it did before, and it doesn't stall out as much on some maps as it does on the first map I tried. Where my example was 3-4 stalls during a race of 2 laps around the track, where on a mountain drift run it might stall out 1 or 2 times.

It's hard to believe though how smooth the game runs for it to abruptly stall out like that.

Here's my dxdiag just in case anything else may be needed from it.


--- Also let me give you a listing of games I play that DO play fine.

WarCraft 3 - FT (Runs with SLi fine, even though there's no benefit)
Unreal Tournament 3 Demo (Ran SLi Fine)
Titan Quest (Ran SLi Fine)
Supreme Commander and FA (Runs fine in SLi, never seemed to have an issue with nvlddmkm.sys error with this game)
Oblivion (Runs in SLi fine, until nvlddmkm.sys error shows up)
RF Online (Runs in SLi fine)
Need for Speed Pro Street (Only runs good with 1 card, SLi not supported)
Need For Speed Carbon (Already a given)
Lineage 2 (Runs fine in SLi)
Hellgate London (Runs great in SLi, except for the nvlddmkm.sys error)
Halo 2 (Runs fine in SLi)
Gears of War (Runs fine in SLi, havent had an issue with it yet)
FarCry (Ran fine in SLi when I played it, had some BSoD errors but that's when I first got my 8800GTX's and drivers weren't mature, ran good after that)
F.E.A.R (Runs fine in SLi)
EverQuest 2 (Could run in SLi but FPS dropped, only supports single card)
Company of Heroes - OF (Ran fine in SLi, until nvlddmkm.sys error occurred)
Call of Duty 4 Demo (Ran fine in SLi, no issues)
9 Dragons (Ran fine in SLi)
Half-Life 2 (Ran fine in SLi)
CounterStrike Source (Ran fine in SLi)

now most of these games ran good, the nvlddmkm.sys error is very random it could happen 5mins to 2hrs to 2 days later from showing it's face. It's a very odd error and something new to me with Nvidia cards, honestly I've used ATI up until Dec last year when the 8800's were out. I never once had an issue that would disrupt my system with ATI like I am now with Nvidia, ultimately it's greatly irritating.

So the games I did not receive that error on doesn't mean that the game itself was immune to that error, it just probably wasn't that right time, whatever in the hell that means I dunno, but that's just how the error seems to work, it want's to show up when it feels like to.

I could play maybe 3 or 4 different games after another without the error, really it hasn't been that big of a deal for me and really I remember having this issue before a long while back and haven't seen it since so I really don't know what was done to fix it, if it even was a driver issue or not. Some people recall not even seeing the error at all so that's just some added information to include with my main problem NFS Carbon's performance drops.

I don't experience any BSoD's, no crashes, no freezes or random reboots, nothing out of the oridnary. My BIOS are at F7 and my drivers on all my hardware is at the latest version or firmware.

 

[XenoSage]

Also on top of that, let me give you the link to my nvlddmkm.sys error post I created on another forum just to give you some extent in detail of what I've already done and tried doing with my troubleshooting.

It's very important you read this thoroughly for some of your idea's you may be giving me to try may have already been tried or done in my post here.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?act=ST&f=25&t=50939&st=0#entry278211

I ended my posting on troubleshooting there so far for the moment after trying out the XFX Drivers have failed after they worked for such a long time without giving me that error.

I've also contacted XFX and they are supposedly contacting their managers about something, regarding this issue, I have yet to hear any updates from them yet. I can post it here too for you to see what they replied with.


Messages
[Xeno326 - 11/15/2007] I don`t know who to take this up with. It appears I cannot contact Nvidia directly. I ruled out the issue to be related down to the Windows Vista Aero/Vista Basic GUI and either the Nvidia Drivers or DX10. What happens is when I have one of those 2 GUI`s enabled after awhile of gaming or exiting the game I get the notorious "nvlddmkm" error. I resolved it by using the Windows Classic Theme. There are a few posts I have on the SLI Forums that you can find here with some extensive testing (http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?act=ST+f=25+t=50939+st=0#entry278211) I also have another issue where no matter what I do I cannot stop random drops in FPS from 70-90 down to 0 FPS on the game Need For Speed Carbon. No clue if it`s driver related or what, but it`s an issue that needs to be brought up for fixing none-the-less. I have a YouTube video made of the issue happening and I have 2 posts made, here (http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=51182+st=0+p=279315+) and here at the end (http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=45422+st=0+p=279787+) Also I`m using driver version 169.04 (no need for the latest one) and I`ve also ran 163.75 WHQL and had the same issues. The name I go under on the forums is Xeno326. Hope that helps with all the information needed to assist in solving my problem, thanks.

[CURTIS - 11/16/2007] Thank you, I will forward this information along to our management for a bug submission. Is Neeed for speed carbon the only application you get these randome drops in performance? Do you have the latest patches and hot fixes for the game installed. Also if possible , update your motherboard BIOS and chipset drivers. Please let us know how you are doing. Curtis

[Xeno326 - 11/17/2007] Yes I have the latest v1.4 patch for NFSCarbon as well as any and all posted hotfixes for WinVista 64-bit. BIOS is already updated as well as the nforce drivers to the latest version and this is the only game I`m having issues with in this manner. As for the nvlddmkm error is there nothing that can be done with that, or just wait from a response to that issue when you get info back from management? Also if that`s the case will I hear a response of what will be happening, as in a fix in the works a fix in an upcoming patch, et cetera.

[Xeno326 - 11/19/2007] Figured I`d update this, oddly enough while using just the Windows Classic theme, I started up Hellgate London and when I entered the game I got the error again. So I don`t know where to pin-point this issue now, because it`s now happening in the any theme used, just seems more frequent and determined witht Aero or Vista Basic enabled. Something wrong with my cards or is this a driver issue? Also I was using AF2 in the SLi config.

 

[Aus_Karlos]

I use to get the "nvlddmkm" error on all source games. I later found out i had a faulty motherboard (after going through three other GPU's). But it may not be the same case. But as i said before i also own a copy of NFS:Carbon and a 8800GTS and the same thing happens to me. Considering we both have Vista 64-bit and a 8 Series GPU, it must mean the problem lies either in the Nv Drivers or Vista.
But try what a few ppl say on the other forums, undercock your GPU's only by 15-20mhz, you wont notice any loss and it wont void your warranty.
The 8 Series temps have a max of 80c before they throttle down to stop damage.

 

[XenoSage]

Ya underclocking is the only thing I haven't tried yet, but my temps I recorded on the other forum shows 58/64c or 62/70c on the temps. It's barely even passing 70 if even. I've had the nvlddmkm.sys error happen to me when the card was VERY cool, so I doubt underclocking would fix that error message from showing up. The card at max is supposed to withstand what is it up to 110 or 120c before completly burning up. So it's hard to figure in a heat issue when it happens, see the wierd thing is, the skip happens EXACTLy in the same parts of the map, it's not like a random thing that happens when more action takes place in certain areas, it happens whether I got 6 cars near me or I'm in the lead by myself ahead of the pack.

 

[Aus_Karlos]

If they happen in the same part of the map, all the time you may have a fragmented HDD. Also underclocking isnt always to keep heat at bay, underclocking should help stable any driver issues, or if your M/B FSB is working to hard, underclocking may help stability in that area.

 

[XenoSage]

Well I defrag'd my hard drive 2 days ago using ultimate defrag so I'm sure that's taken care of. I underclocked the card 20Mhz on the core; which automatically took it down to 1300 on the shader clock and then I took the memory clock down to 880.

My original clocks are 576 / 1350 / 900

I'll give it a try running SLi on NFS Carbon see if it skips anymore, I'll try with single first before enabling SLi to see if that changed anything at all. Then if it did or didn't I'll run SLi and see if it gives me an error at all.

 

[XenoSage]

Ok tried it out, NFS Carbon still does it. The reason it's not as noticeable as it is in SLi is because when SLi is running the game seems a bit more sluggish, but much smoother in Single-card mode. The frames still drop in those 2 places goes from 60FPS on menu to 40-50FPS at start of game down to maybe about 30-40 in some areas then it hits that recognizeable area and drops to 16fps for a second and pops back up to 30.

That is a single card, underclocked 20+Mhz and I can tell ya right now that I will not see the nvddlmkm.sys error with a single card, BECAUSE I've been playing EverQuest 2 for the past few months and that's the reason it hasn't popped up, since EQ2 is not SLi capable I've been just running the single card mode during that time since that game was more of a daily thing, now it's not so much and I want to play my games that actually use SLi, meaning HGL, CoH and I'll get the errors randomly and just to make it clear it didn't just happen in-game all the time, I had an example of where it occurred just on a simple menu right click in the OS and the screen just flashed and displayed the error balloon.

So I dunno where to go from here, Single card works fine in some cases, unfortunately theres some issue with NFS Carbon, but SLi is what I paid for and I want it to work without those issues. Someone asked me before if my SLI bridge was cracked or damaged in any way, nope I can guarantee nothing is wrong with the chip. I examined it closely and I have only removed it from the cards a total of 2 times during this PC's life and it seems to be working properly, I'm sure if the SLI chip was cracked it would cause a problem with detecting SLi with my system.

Man I dunno where to go from here, I mean EA can go to hell they make **** games, I don't think I'm worried too much more about the NFS Carbon issue, what my main concern is - is the nvlddmkm.sys error that pops up when SLi is running.

 

[Aus_Karlos]

If the error is constantly poping up (even on the desktop) then more than likely you have the same problem as i did, a faulty motherboard. But it could just be the drivers ur using. But wait until Indoril Nerevar pops his head in as i dont want you to spend money and find out the M/B wasnt the problem, he may have some tests u can try.

 

[XenoSage]

Well not constantly, I may use that term a bit loosely, but it feels that way, it's several times a day for sure and of course once that error shows up because the GPU is resetting itself to overcome the error, you are forced to reboot otherwise if you start up a game and once it starts rendering anything 3D again it will consistently blank out the screen until you go back to desktop to see the error there.

I can play games for awhile like 2hrs or 2days and be fine or I can play them for 5 -10 minutes and have it appear, it's oddly random.

I updated BIOS from .F7 to .F8H version, all it had was CPU ID G1/G2 stepping though.

I'll try testing it some more in SLi mode later on today, going to get some sleep now. If ya think of anything just let me know.

What's wierd about it being a mobo issue is that it runs fine with 1 card and errors out with SLi and I had my first card i bought in the primary slot for a long while then bought my 2nd card and put it into the secondary slot, then I dunno what the deal was but I had switched the cards in their slots and I know I didn't have any problems in Single card mode with my primary card nor my secondary card that has been in the primary slot for awhile now.

I remember when I first started having the nvlddmkm.sys error was an actual BSoD screen telling me the error and not a pop-up balloon. This was early when I first had my 8800GTX and I was testing out Far Cry. The game seemed to work on everything but Far Cry and I believe they fixed it with a driver upgrade to where I didn't get that error anymore and I could play it just fine. That's why it boggles me why it is appearing now, and I can't remember if I was using WinVista 32-bit or if I was still using WinXP Pro SP2 at the time it occurred, but regardless the problem was solved.

 

[Aus_Karlos]

Tell me, are both GPU's completely identical in every way

 

[XenoSage]

Well yes they're the same manufacture model number. The only thing different; which is what kinda dissappointed me a bit was the one I bought first in Dec was made out of black PCB material and the second one I bought a few months ago was made out of green PCB material, but the name, stickers, model identifications are the same. I doubt PCB material would have an impact on the card functioning or not because PCB is made the same and stamped on with the electronic components, just various different colors.

The only thing I can't verify is if the clocks are set the same on both cards, like I mentioned before with RivaTuner I wasn't able to set any underclocks or overclocks in SLi mode, but I could with just single-card enabled.

I can see the backs of the cards easy in my case and read the sticker labels, the one that tells about the cards read

Card 1: Black PCB
PV-T80F-SHF9 v1.2 W11/06
GF 8800GTX 575M 768MB DDR3 DUAL DVI TV
Card 2: Green PCB
PV-T80F-SHF9 v1.2 W12/06
GF 8800GTX 575M 768MB DDR3 DUAL DVI TV

 

[XenoSage]

I did another test today running some games.

Temps Idle: 49/58c
Company of Heroes (Started Game 6:00pm / NVLDDMKM.SYS Error at 6:16pm)
Temps on Error: 48/62c
Game Settings: AA off / VSync Off / Rest of settings on and maxed at 1920x1200 res
Game Type Settings: Victory Point Control / Point Goal 1000 / 8 players 7 AI / Dusk Rain Weather
NV Control Panel Settings: AF 8x / On / Override App / AA 4x / Multisample / Use hardware / off / off / Trilinear / Single Display / Force SFR / on-board DIN / Off / Clamp / High Quality / Off / Auto / Off / Force Off

Rebooted PC

Temps Idle: 52/55c
Supreme Commander (Started Game 6:31pm / NVLDDMKM.SYS N/A)
Temps on Error: N/A
Game Settings: AA off / VSync Off / Rest of settings on and maxed at 1920x1200 res
Game Type Settings: Annihilation / 8 players 7 AI / Setons Clutch Map /
- First attempt showed a wierd 4'x3' rectanglular box in the upper left hand corner with a mesh of virticle lines showing colors that matched the ground map and scrolled as I panned my view over the map.
- When I hit spacebar to get into a 3d view of the world terrain I noticed pixelated black dots in the sky area.
- Closed game out opened again same issue. Took screenshots.
- Changed SLi to AF1 tried again, still occurred.
- Went to GPGnet checked for any updates, updated to latest, tried again same issue.
- Disabled SLi went with just Singl-GPU for the app only, same issue.
- Disabled SLi completly in the NVControl Panel, game runs faster, the 4'x3' box is gone, but black dots still appear in the sky.
- Tried running Oblivion and I get no artifacts inside that game - took screens.
- I haven't played Supreme Commander with the XFX 169.04 drivers until now, so it may be a driver issue.

NV Control Panel Settings: AF 8x / On / Override App / AA 4x / Multisample / Use hardware / off / off / Trilinear / Single Display / Force SFR / on-board DIN / Off / Clamp / High Quality / Off / Auto / Off / Force Off
(Graphic Artifact Problem ruined test in search for a NVLDDMKM.SYS Error)

Temps Idle: 45/56c
Trackmania United (Started Game 8:42pm / Ended Game 9:14pm No Error)
Temps on Error: 54/65c (No Error)
Game Settings: AA None / Shader PC3 High / Texture High / Max Filtering Trilinear / Shadows Complex / PostProcexx FX's On / Force Motion Blur On / Lightmaps On / Force Bloom On / Water Geometry On / Geometry Details Normal / Cars Qualty All High / Cars Particles All High / Projectors on Cars All Cars / Opponents Always Visible / Opponents Shadows On / Opponents Limit Count 15 / Background Quality High / 1920x1200 Res
Game Type Settings: N/A
NV Control Panel Settings: AF 8x / On / Override App / AA 4x / Multisample / Use hardware / off / off / Trilinear / Single Display / Force SFR / on-board DIN / Off / Clamp / High Quality / Off / Auto / Off / Force Off

Oblivion

Temps Idle: 54/64c
Trackmania United (Started Game 9:17pm / Ended Game 9:43pm No Error)
Temps on Error: N/A
Game Settings: Maxed Sliders, HDR on, AA Off ingame / 1920x1200 Res
Game Type Settings: N/A
NV Control Panel Settings: AF 8x / On / Override App / AA 4x / Multisample / Use hardware / off / off / Trilinear / Single Display / Force SFR / on-board DIN / Off / Clamp / High Quality / Off / Auto / Off / Force Off

Other games I know I don't get the NVLDDMKM.SYS error in are Half-Life 2 and CounterStrike Source. So it still appears to be software related instead of hardware related.

 

[XenoSage]

--- More Info ---

Temps Idle: 47/55c
Gears of War (Started Game 12:21am / 12:29am Game crashed to desktop, no NVLDDMKM.SYS Error)
- Reinstalled 169.09 Drivers
- Testing again.
- Still crashes, still no nvlddmkm.sys error
- read up that you need to start-up GoW as administrator; I didn't need to do this before. When I first installed it I was able to play it fine without any issues up to the area where theres the courtyard and a round fountain type courtyard to take cover in.
- Tried as administrator and the game crashed 2 different times in 30 seconds, one on the menu looking at my keyboard controls and another loading into the game, this second one did produce the nvlddmkm.sys error, even though it didn't balloon, the screen blinked to reset and showed the yellow icon in the corner.
- Trying with single-card selected for this app while under SLi.
- Crashed to desktop again, but no nvlddmkm.sys error this time. (Guessing there's some kind of conflict with this game, running through campaign)
Error Temps: 48/57c
Game Settings: DX10 On / AA off / Maxed settings on 1920x1200 res

Supreme Commander (Graphic Artifact problem fixed)
- Figured out the pixelated dots was coming from the "background image" for the strategy map display, disabled that option and the graphics are fine now for the rendered clouds not looking artifacted anymore.
- Reinstalled 169.09 and can run Supreme Commander in SLi just fine without that 4'x 3' box showing up.