Vista - BSODing at login

Hey folks, this issue started last night, and having exhausted the limits of my err, limited technical knowledge, here I've arrived.

After a seemingly random shutdown last night resulting in a BSOD (see below), I've only been able to get Vista to work as far as the login screen. After inputting my password, it just sits there with a black screen plus cursor for anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute or more, before the monitor begins to flick in and out of sleep mode (usually 3-5 times), ultimately resulting in a BSOD

(Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed. STOP 0x00000116).

Safe mode works fine, although when I attempted to do a system restore (initially assuming some sort of malware or virus), I encountered another BSOD
(PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA STOP: 0x00000050).

After a few more failed restarts (resulting in the first BSOD above each time), I tried updating my video card's drivers to the latest version in safe mode. After doing this, I was actually able to boot normally, and see something other than a black screen plus cursor for just long enough to open MSN and Firefox - about ten seconds later, the screen began to flick on and off (with the message "Display Driver has suddenly stopped responding" popping up in the lower right corner each time), before returning to the initial BSOD once again. Any attempts to start outside of safe mode since then have just resulted in the black-screen-plus-cursor-turning-to-BSOD issue again, effectively sending me back to square one and out of ideas at this point. Anyone out there have any insight into this particular issue?



OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q3900 @2.50GHz
RAM: 8GB DDR2 SDRAM

Are you by any chance running Symantec Endpoint Protection v11? If you haven't updated from the very early builds of the product, a defective LiveUpdate from the 19th caused what you're seeing. Updating SEP to the latest build (11.0.4xxx) or manually running LiveUpdate fixes it.

FWIW,

Ray

CFP

Im coming to this party a litle late. Since you can boot in safe mode could you go to c:\windows\minidump. Your BSOD dump files are stored there. Dump file (*.dmp) the most recent one and zip it and upload to us here. to upload look for the attachment icon in your reply (shaped like a paper clip).

With the dump file we can help diagnose what is ausing these

Hope this helps and let us know if you need help with that

Ken

Here you go. Sorry for the delay.

CFP

Just a quick look while waiting for someone with a true de-bugger. It seems to refernce dxgkern.sys and when lookiing at Ms I found a reference to a fix. Take a look at it here Download details: Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB953026).

Hope this helps and Im sure someone with a real debugger will spot the dump file shortly

Hope this helps

Ken

Here is the debugging output:

*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************
VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (116)
Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed.
Arguments:
Arg1: fffffa800b90b4e0, Optional pointer to internal TDR recovery context (TDR_RECOVERY_CONTEXT).
Arg2: fffffa600281df30, The pointer into responsible device driver module (e.g. owner tag).
Arg3: 0000000000000000, Optional error code (NTSTATUS) of the last failed operation.
Arg4: 0000000000000002, Optional internal context dependent data.
Debugging Details:
------------------

FAULTING_IP:
nvlddmkm+12f30
fffffa60`0281df30 ?? ???
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_FAULT
CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1
BUGCHECK_STR: 0x116
PROCESS_NAME: System
CURRENT_IRQL: 0
STACK_TEXT:
fffffa60`05732a08 fffffa60`02468398 : 00000000`00000116 fffffa80`0b90b4e0 fffffa60`0281df30 00000000`00000000 : nt!KeBugCheckEx
fffffa60`05732a10 fffffa60`024681cb : fffffa60`0281df30 fffffa80`0b90b4e0 fffffa80`0af88010 fffffa80`0b90b4e0 : dxgkrnl!TdrBugcheckOnTimeout+0xec
fffffa60`05732a50 fffffa60`02422d8a : 00000000`00001889 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`0af88010 00000000`00004925 : dxgkrnl!TdrIsRecoveryRequired+0x16f
fffffa60`05732a90 fffffa60`024e32a3 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000002 00000000`00000002 00000000`00000002 : dxgkrnl!VidSchiReportHwHang+0x312
fffffa60`05732b40 fffffa60`024e1ea5 : fffffa80`0af88010 fffffa80`00000000 00000000`00004925 fffffa80`0af88010 : dxgkrnl!VidSchiCheckHwProgress+0x7b
fffffa60`05732b70 fffffa60`024270f8 : ffffffff`ff676980 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : dxgkrnl!VidSchiWaitForSchedulerEvents+0x199
fffffa60`05732bf0 fffffa60`024e1cc5 : 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`0afe6da0 00000000`00000080 fffffa80`0af88010 : dxgkrnl!VidSchiScheduleCommandToRun+0x398
fffffa60`05732d10 fffff800`02479fd3 : fffffa80`0af89a60 fffff800`0224f947 fffffa60`01d46850 00000000`00000001 : dxgkrnl!VidSchiWorkerThread+0x95
fffffa60`05732d50 fffff800`0228f816 : fffffa60`01966180 fffffa80`0af89a60 fffffa60`0196fd40 00000000`00000001 : nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x57
fffffa60`05732d80 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KiStartSystemThread+0x16

STACK_COMMAND: .bugcheck ; kb
FOLLOWUP_IP:
nvlddmkm+12f30
fffffa60`0281df30 ?? ???
SYMBOL_NAME: nvlddmkm+12f30
FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner
MODULE_NAME: nvlddmkm
IMAGE_NAME: nvlddmkm.sys
DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 4a2fc3d4
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: X64_0x116_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys
BUCKET_ID: X64_0x116_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys
Followup: MachineOwner
---------

You'll need to update your nvidia drivers. Uninstall them from device manger in safe mode, reboot back into safe mode and run driver sweeper:

www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/

Then reboot once more into safe mode and install the newest nvidia drivers. Also update your BIOS if you can and other drivers.