I can confirm this is not a specific problem with Nvidia cards. I went out
and bought a new ATI graphics card because I could not afford to wait any
longer.

I immediately installed this card and my system immediately sprang into
life. And in the two hours it was working I managed to backup or otherwise
retrieve all my data.

The next I saw was a 'display driver stopped working' error in Vista, also
know as a TDR error, where timing between Vista and graphics card is lost
somehow. Basically this error appeared maybe 4 times then my system crashed
again with the same error BSOD 116 but with the ATI driver file instaed of
the nvidia driver.

THIS IS A VISTA UPDATE problem where my system has been corrupted by a
wayward Vista Update. SOmehow this is killing graphics systems...

I hope they fix it soon.... Vista is becoming unusable



"JW" wrote:
[color=blue]
> It is a system file so be sure you have Show system files enabled.
> Mine is in C:\Users\JW {591eae36-caf9-4999-be96-827b1bc00499}
> and I found it using Windows Explorer Search
> It was created on 5/10/2007 and modified on 4/272007 so it was not part of
> my original install
>
>
> "Smilerfive" <Smilerfive@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B1D54E64-C5C2-4ACE-B4DD-7DEF2DE79868@microsoft.com...[color=green]
> > Which program file are you referring to? Can you be specific?
> >
> > I tried a few more things:
> >
> > Disabled UAC to see if driver was having problems with rights - no
> > success,
> > same BSOD on boot
> >
> > Downloaded and ran 'Driver Cleaner' from Guru3d which appeared to clean up
> > a
> > few stray Nvidia registry entries (I REALLY thought that was it fixed)
> > however, upon reinstalling Nvidia driver it crashed again on boot with
> > same
> > error.
> >
> > Downloaded and ran 'Nvidia - nasty file remover' again removed some known
> > nvidia files but again no success.
> >
> > Each time I am booting into safe mode, uninstalling nvidia driver
> > (deleting
> > files), rebooting to safe mode, scrubbing driver files and registry
> > entries,
> > rebooting to Vista normal and cancelling auto attempt to install driver
> > for
> > 7600GT (never install driver for this device). Then rebooting again to
> > windows normal and attempting to install latest official Nvidia drivers.
> > Same
> > BSOD nvlddmkm.sys at boot...
> >
> > I must have tried almost every driver/fault finding/troubleshooting
> > combination...
> >
> > This is driving (ha) me nuts!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "JW" wrote:
> >[color=darkred]
> >> I have one copy of the problem file in one of my system folders and it
> >> appears that it came with the original install of Vista. Have you tried
> >> renaming or deleting any copies of it on your system?
> >> Have you run check disk?
> >>
> >> "Smilerfive" <Smilerfive@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:0718F7F5-9DA3-40CB-B1F7-F4A5A79C8F8A@microsoft.com...
> >> > Hi. THanks for your input. I have tried these various ideas for
> >> > resolving
> >> > this issue but I am still int he same situation.
> >> >
> >> > Right now I have my machine running but it is without ANY installed
> >> > driver
> >> > for my NVidia card. Therefore I only have very basic display
> >> > functionality.
> >> > Whih at least allows me some more tools to troubleshoot the problem.
> >> >
> >> > If I try to install any driver whatsoever then I get the same
> >> > nvlddmkm.sys
> >> > error on boot. I've tried about 7 different drivers. Each time same
> >> > thing.
> >> >
> >> > ANy more ideas people?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > "JW" wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> From safe mode can you uninstall the update using Control
> >> >> Panel/Program
> >> >> and
> >> >> features/show all updates?
> >> >>
> >> >> "Smilerfive" <Smilerfive@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> >> news:D1C84BB5-170B-42B6-B774-46F89C20AEB6@microsoft.com...
> >> >> > August 27th, Vista Ultimate 32bit, Nvidia 7600GT, 4Gb Ram
> >> >> >
> >> >> > My Vista Ultimate system has an XFX NVidia 7600GT card in it. It has
> >> >> > been
> >> >> > working fine since the day I put it in. My system is always on and I
> >> >> > usually
> >> >> > let it update automatically via Windows Update as required.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > The other day I came home from work and began to notice a
> >> >> > degradation
> >> >> > in
> >> >> > graphics quality. There were artefacts on the desktop and things
> >> >> > were,
> >> >> > well,
> >> >> > twitching… I became concerned and then I noticed that Vista was
> >> >> > recovering
> >> >> > a
> >> >> > crashed Display Driver repeatedly (first I had ever seen that) and
> >> >> > then
> >> >> > I
> >> >> > was
> >> >> > really concerned. I had not updated or changed anything myself so I
> >> >> > started
> >> >> > to check Windows Vista Update to see what it had updated in my
> >> >> > absence.
> >> >> > I
> >> >> > only managed to begin to see that Update had downloaded or started
> >> >> > to
> >> >> > download, among other things, an updated NVidia driver..
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I never got a chance to fault find any further since my system then
> >> >> > became
> >> >> > so unstable the graphics went for a loop and I could not make
> >> >> > anything
> >> >> > out
> >> >> > on
> >> >> > screen. Next thing it somersaulted into a BSOD blaming nvlddmkm.sys
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Now my system will not boot up and immediately crashes with a BSOD
> >> >> > every
> >> >> > time blaming nvlddmkm.sys – an nvidia display driver. The only way I
> >> >> > can
> >> >> > get
> >> >> > into my system is via safe mode and it has limited tools,
> >> >> > particularly,
> >> >> > it
> >> >> > does not allow access to Windows Update for me to check what Update
> >> >> > did,
> >> >> > what
> >> >> > it installed etc etc
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I don’t know the version of the driver that was working fine
> >> >> > previously. I
> >> >> > had never updated it since the card went in and it has worked fine
> >> >> > ever
> >> >> > since, that is until this recent event. I don’t know what version
> >> >> > Windows
> >> >> > Update tried to install because I can’t check it out.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > What I’ve tried:
> >> >> > Installing a variety of updated drivers from NVidia Website
> >> >> > including a
> >> >> > beta, from Safe Mode in Vista: no result, same BSOD
> >> >> > Rolling back driver to previous: no result, same BSOD
> >> >> > Using Sys Restore in Safe Mode to jump back to a previous known good
> >> >> > position: no result, same BSOD
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Basically my system is trashed because Update downloaded some
> >> >> > monster
> >> >> > driver
> >> >> > that screwed up my system. Usually I’m pretty good troubleshooting
> >> >> > and
> >> >> > fixing
> >> >> > these kinds of things, I work in IT, but this one has me stumped. I
> >> >> > have
> >> >> > no
> >> >> > idea what Update did and feel I have exhausted my troubleshooting
> >> >> > options.
> >> >> > Can anyone help me? Thanks.
> >> >> >
> >> >>
> >>[/color][/color]
>[/color]