# [SOLVED] BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys



## mryumyum

Hi,

As the title suggests, I have recently been plagued by random reboots and it appears to be the fault of dxgkrnl.sys. I have included a link to an image that has a simple breakdown of the minidumps generated. I am running Windows 7 64bit and have a GeForce GTS 450 graphics card. 

The bsod's started before I updated my graphics drivers, so I decided to update them to see if that would fix the problem. Unfortunately it did not, so I uninstalled the drivers in the device manager and had Windows find them on it's own. After restarting, the bsod's are still occurring. I checked the fan on my graphics card, and everything seems to be working fine. 

I don't have a great grasp on drivers, so the image I included doesn't help me understand my problem very well. If anyone could make more sense of it and point me in the right direction, I would be extremely thankful. Also, if there is any more information I could provide that would make troubleshooting easier, feel free to ask.

Thanks for your time and for any insights you might have.


----------



## aciid

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

Hello Mryumyum and Welcome to TSF,

Please follow the posting instructions found here. Attach all files as a ZIP/RAR file to your next reply.

When you've done so, one of us (BSOD Staff) will take a look at it as soon as we can.


----------



## mryumyum

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

Ah... Thanks for the link.

I've attached the .rar as stated in the posting instructions.

Thanks.


----------



## aciid

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

So, the most recent BSOD's faultcode:



Code:


DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR:  0x116
PROCESS_NAME:  System
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x116_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys

Is blaming your graphic card driver for the fault:


Code:


nvlddmkm.sys     Sat May 21 05:07:04 2011 (4DD73A68)

_Driver was trying to reset after an unvalid command from an application, but wasn't able to._

That together with a few Nvidia service errors in your eventlog, leads me to believe that there's either something callign the driver(3rd party application) which is causing the issue, or that the driver wasn't installed successfully.

Please uninstall your Nvidia drivers > reboot the machine.
Go to Nvidias webpage and download/install the latest drivers available.

If problem still persists after that, try disabling all 3rd party applications, and see if the issue still persists:
Go to Start > Search.
Type "msconfig" > Hit ENTER.
Uncheck all items under the "Startup"-tab.

Also, if it persists, let us know if you play any specific games/graphical applications.


----------



## aciid

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

Also, theres alot of outdated drivers that you should update or uninstall, as they're not all made for Windows 7, which could cause BSODs (Among other thigns).



Code:


BS_I2cIo.sys    Mon Jun 16 07:45:18 2008 (48560BFE)

BIOSTAR application utility. Not a Windows 7 driver.



Code:


Rt64win7.sys    Thu Feb 26 09:04:13 2009 (49A65B0D)

Realtek network card driver. Newest driver is from september 2011.



Code:


lmimirr.sys     Tue Apr 10 23:32:45 2007 (461C108D)

LogMeIn/Hamachi driver. Not a Windows 7 driver.



Code:


VBoxUSBMon.sys  Thu Dec 17 13:58:01 2009 (4B2A38E9)

Virtual Box USB driver. Please update virtual box/virtual box drivers.

Also there seems to be a few Windows Updates available for you. Please make sure that you install all available updates (Security updates, drivers etc).


----------



## davegl1234

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

I don't know much about BSOD's so i imagine they may be completely unrelated but i have been getting dxgkrnl bsods since last week also. 

Googling dxgkrnl and the error code took me here, so i'd thought i'd chime in; maybe there are commonalities in our systems and it is a driver issue (hopefully).

Not sure of relevancy, but my blue screen view lists the exact same sequence of drivers (as far as i can see from the uploaded image anyway) from PSHED to dxgkrn.sys, as well as the same error code and dxgkrnl address in stack.

When do you get these blue screens? I got one whilst streaming a video and one whilst i was away from my pc. The third time didn't generate a dump file, but the pc completely froze up whilst gaming and i lost monitor signal, requring a reboot.

I also have a nvidia graphics card, and was on the latest WHQL, but have done a complete reinstall of the latest beta's from nvidia (using driver sweeper), but its happened once since.

What are your specs?
Mine:
i7 920 cpu
Nvidia 580 gpu
P6td deluxe m/b
6 gb corsair ram
xonar d2x sound card
windows 7

The only piece of software I've knowingly installed (not including auto windows updates) before getting these bsod's was ESET NOD antivirus....can this have any bearing?

Thanks


----------



## mryumyum

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

My blue screens seem to be somewhat random, but gaming tends to guarantee one, although not immediately.

My hardware specs aren't very similar;

Windows 7 64bit
Core 2 Duo
nVidiaGTS 450
4GB Muskin / Kingston ram
Audigy soundcard

I think it's a software thing, possibly relating to the nvidia drivers, or maybe it's a more generic problem.

Anyway, ****'s been getting serious over here. My pc restarted last night before I could put aciid's ideas to use, so I waited until after work today to start it up and get going. But every time I attempted to to boot the system, it wouldn't get past the Windows 7 login screen. I would enter my credentials, and before the desktop would show, the computer would restart. I ended up going into my bios and setting the graphics adapter to the onboard one and removing my GTS 450 altogether just so that I could get to the desktop and start to remove some of those old drivers. I even attempted to use safemode before I removed my graphics card, but that didn't work.

So I'll be attempting to take aciid's advice and put it to use, and we'll see how it goes...


----------



## aciid

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

It does indeed seem to point towards a software fault at this stage, especially considering the dates on a few drivers. However it could aswell turn out to be a hardware fault, but we'll get to that.

SO if you remove the GTS450 and just run on the Onboard one for a while, does that stop the BSOD all together?


----------



## jcgriff2

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

Also, remove Daemon Tools/ Alcohol 120 for now.

If not video hardware, VM is good candidate.

Do you have Sandboxie installed? It's another likely non-hardware candidate.

BSODs are somehow related to video.

For info, *dxgkrnl.sys* = DirectX Graphics Kernel.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

`


----------



## mryumyum

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

Alright, so here's the update in case anyone else comes to this forum and is looking for a solution to a similar problem.

Of the 4 suggested drivers (Biostar, Realtek, Logmein/Hamachi, and Virtual Box), I only could find two of them in use in the device manager (I didn't look for very long), and so I took care of those. I ended up removing 'lmimirr.sys' and updating 'Rt64win7.sys.' At least, I think that's what I did, but that was yesterday and I'm not exactly sure which two I found. 

Anyway, I then uninstalled my GTS 450 drivers and restarted my computer, reinstalling my GTS450 in the meantime. I had already done this once, but before it didn't seem to fix anything. This time, however, I have gone a short while without any bsods. I let Windows find and install the drivers for the card, and I didn't use anything I downloaded myself. I had already tried all of this once before, so I don't know if it was the reinstalling of the drivers, or if it was messing with the old/outdated drivers in the paragraph above. I have not done any serious gaming, but it wasn't necessarily stressing the graphics card that caused bsod's in the first place. Anyway, if I do get another bsod, I will be sure to update this post again.

I didn't use the onboard graphics extensively enough to see if they would have the same issues, but that would have been a good idea in order to see where the problem possibly may lie. I only had it on long enough to uninstall and update some drivers.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the help. I didn't realize that this forum existed, but I'm glad there is such a useful resource online for people to get troubleshooting help for their complicated pc issues. Again, thanks a lot, and take care.


----------



## aciid

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

No worries at all, it's our pleasure to help!
We're marking this thread as solved for now then.

Best of luck int he future, and take care!


----------



## mryumyum

Time for some bad news...

So, everything was running well for a while before I got another bsod. Before the bsod, I was mostly browsing the web and playing music, but I did get in some playtime with the Orcs Must Die! demo without any problems. 

Then, I decided to play some Mass Effect 2, and as soon as the intro screens were done, my pc restarted. Interestingly, I think my first bsod may have been while playing Mass Effect 2, but it happened well into a mission and not immediately after the intro screens like this one. It's also possible that I had a bsod before the original Mass Effect 2 bsod, since they kept happening, I don't really remember.

Anyway, it's always dxgkrnl.sys that causes the bsod's, and I'm assuming that's some sort of DirectX graphics driver. I don't know why that would suddenly start acting up, and I'm hoping it's not some sort of hardware problem. I remember seeing on a forum somewhere that you can set up something that will run during your next startup and it will try to find the cause of the bsod. I tried it, and I guess it found it because it would keep crashing and would never get to the sign in screen. I eventually booted into Safe Mode and disabled it from running. I can't remember what it was called, exactly, but I wonder if that would give us a better clue as to what's going on.

Anyway, I included another .rar archive with new reports I generated. I don't suspect you'll find anything different since it seems to be the same old problem.

Thanks for taking a look.


----------



## jcgriff2

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

Bugchecks are all *0x116*; all name NVIDIA

I see VM + Sandboxie are back. When did you reinstall them?

Test Video - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100356-video-card-stress-test-furmark.html?ltr=V

Regards. . .

jcgriff2


`


BSOD SUMMARY 


Code:


[font=lucida console]
Loading Dump File [C:\Users\PalmDesert\_jcgriff2_\dbug\__Kernel__\100711-32593-01.dmp]
Built by: 7600.16841.amd64fre.win7_gdr.110622-1503
Debug session time: Sat Oct  8 02:10:24.859 2011 (GMT-4)
System Uptime: 0 days 10:11:11.296
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys
Probably caused by : nvlddmkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+7b763c )
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR:  0x116
PROCESS_NAME:  System
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x116_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys
Bugcheck code 00000116
Arguments fffffa80`03921190 fffff880`0f7ec63c ffffffff`c000009a 00000000`00000004
BiosVersion = P1.10
BiosReleaseDate = 10/23/2008
SystemManufacturer = To Be Filled By O.E.M.
SystemProductName = To Be Filled By O.E.M.
MaxSpeed:     2930
CurrentSpeed: 3084
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨``
Loading Dump File [C:\Users\PalmDesert\_jcgriff2_\dbug\__Kernel__\100511-39125-01.dmp]
Built by: 7600.16841.amd64fre.win7_gdr.110622-1503
Debug session time: Wed Oct  5 20:23:53.166 2011 (GMT-4)
System Uptime: 0 days 0:01:08.619
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys
Probably caused by : nvlddmkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+801f10 )
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR:  0x116
PROCESS_NAME:  System
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x116_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys
Bugcheck code 00000116
Arguments fffffa80`039d5010 fffff880`0f8a8f10 ffffffff`c000009a 00000000`00000004
BiosVersion = P1.10
BiosReleaseDate = 10/23/2008
SystemManufacturer = To Be Filled By O.E.M.
SystemProductName = To Be Filled By O.E.M.
MaxSpeed:     2930
CurrentSpeed: 3084
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨``
Loading Dump File [C:\Users\PalmDesert\_jcgriff2_\dbug\__Kernel__\100511-40375-01.dmp]
Built by: 7600.16841.amd64fre.win7_gdr.110622-1503
Debug session time: Wed Oct  5 20:20:12.056 2011 (GMT-4)
System Uptime: 0 days 0:01:35.509
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys
Probably caused by : nvlddmkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+801f10 )
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR:  0x116
PROCESS_NAME:  System
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x116_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys
Bugcheck code 00000116
Arguments fffffa80`0692c4e0 fffff880`0f86ff10 ffffffff`c000009a 00000000`00000004
BiosVersion = P1.10
BiosReleaseDate = 10/23/2008
SystemManufacturer = To Be Filled By O.E.M.
SystemProductName = To Be Filled By O.E.M.
MaxSpeed:     2930
CurrentSpeed: 3084
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨``
Loading Dump File [C:\Users\PalmDesert\_jcgriff2_\dbug\__Kernel__\100511-44968-01.dmp]
Built by: 7600.16841.amd64fre.win7_gdr.110622-1503
Debug session time: Wed Oct  5 02:19:15.877 2011 (GMT-4)
System Uptime: 2 days 1:01:08.331
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys
Probably caused by : nvlddmkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+801f10 )
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR:  0x116
PROCESS_NAME:  System
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x116_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys
Bugcheck code 00000116
Arguments fffffa80`08b20310 fffff880`0f82cf10 ffffffff`c000009a 00000000`00000004
BiosVersion = P1.10
BiosReleaseDate = 10/23/2008
SystemManufacturer = To Be Filled By O.E.M.
SystemProductName = To Be Filled By O.E.M.
MaxSpeed:     2930
CurrentSpeed: 3084
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨``
Loading Dump File [C:\Users\PalmDesert\_jcgriff2_\dbug\__Kernel__\100511-62109-01.dmp]
Built by: 7600.16841.amd64fre.win7_gdr.110622-1503
Debug session time: Wed Oct  5 20:31:35.094 2011 (GMT-4)
System Uptime: 0 days 0:01:58.547
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys
Probably caused by : nvlddmkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+801f10 )
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR:  0x116
PROCESS_NAME:  System
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x116_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys
Bugcheck code 00000116
Arguments fffffa80`05e42480 fffff880`0f821f10 ffffffff`c000009a 00000000`00000004
BiosVersion = P1.10
BiosReleaseDate = 10/23/2008
SystemManufacturer = To Be Filled By O.E.M.
SystemProductName = To Be Filled By O.E.M.
MaxSpeed:     2930
CurrentSpeed: 3084
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨``
  

by [color=navy]jcgriff2     
             
         J. C. Griffith, Microsoft MVP[/color]   
             
           [url=https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Griffith][color=#000055][u]https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Griffith[/u][/color][/url]   


           [url=www.sysnative.com][color=#000033][u]www.sysnative.com[/u][/color][/url]
             
           [url=www.jcgriff2.com][color=#000055][u]www.jcgriff2.com[/u][/color][/url] 


¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨


  [/font]


----------



## mryumyum

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

I'm not sure what VM stands for. Do you mean VirtualBox?

Anyway, I had never uninstalled VM or Sandboxie, I just messed with those drivers listed and things were going ok until that bsod. Afterwards, I did uninstall VirtualBox and Sandboxie, as well as Daemon Tools Lite. 

After doing that, casual use of my computer was working fine, but I started up a game and I just got another bsod after about a half hour of playing. Like last time, I couldn't log back into Windows, so I had to remove my card and change back to onboard graphics. Also, as my pc was restarting from the bsod, everything on the screen was tinted heavily red. Don't know what that was about.

I'm going to put this video card into another computer and see if I can get it to crash there as well. If it does, it must be a hardware problem with the card. If it doesn't, then maybe I could reinstall my Windows installation and be rid of the problem. I'm also going to see how far I can stress my onboard graphics and see what happens.


----------



## mryumyum

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

I have DX11 installed, and my card is overclocked. It's the MSI version of the GTS 450 and it comes with a factory overclock that I haven't changed. It has been working very well this way and has only recently been having these bsod problems, so I didn't expect it to be something like that. 

I will try reinstalling DirectX, though. But I'll do that after I test this card in another computer. Maybe it is actually a hardware problem.

I've tried the latest Nvidia drivers, and the drivers that Windows finds on its own, and nothing has made a difference. 

I'll report back on my findings sometime tomorrow when I test all these things out.


----------



## mryumyum

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

Well, I've given up on trying to determine the exact problem.

I'm well within my 3 year warranty, so I'm going to chalk it up as a hardware problem and get a replacement card. If that doesn't work, it must be a software problem, so I'll probably sell this card and get something else to try to avoid the problem altogether.

If I ever figure out exactly what went wrong, I'll come back with a final post so anyone else looking at this forum in the future will know what to do. But at the moment, I'd say it seems like a hardware problem.


----------



## aciid

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

At this point I agree, with the warranty still being valid I would definately hand it in. Keep in mind though that it might not be the card, it could be the card-slot or the motherboard connectors active within that bridge. So if the GPU doesn't cover it, it's most likely the motherboard.

Either way, use the warranty, and let us know if they find the exact cause!


----------



## mryumyum

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

UPDATE

So, I finally got my video card RMA'd, but that didn't seem to do the trick. At this point, the problem is either with my mobo or my installation of Windows. I'll try to figure out which one it is and I'll post here when I figure it out.


----------



## mryumyum

*Re: BSOD Due to dxgkrnl.sys*

Alright, so I think I got it fixed. I was using another install of Windows 7, but I got the same bsod's, so I decided to just bite the bullet and spend some money on a new mobo. After a couple sessions of some stress test gaming, I've managed to evade all bsod's, even in activites that almost always guaranteed bsod's in the past.

So, if you're getting similar bsod's, due to the same errors, then it may be a hardware problem. In my case, it was my motherboard, so you should go buy one, test it out, and return it if that doesn't fix it. For me, it's fixed, so I'm keeping it.


----------



## aciid

So it was the motherboard, glad to hear you got it sorted!


----------

