GA-MA770T-UD3P possible chipset/video drivers problem

[bigtex79]

GA-MA770T-UD3P
AMD Phenom II X2 550
G.Skill F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK (4GB)
EVGA Geforce GTS 250 1GB
Thermaltake W0116RU 750W PSU

I built the following system and ever since building it I have had some problems when playing either MW2 or Aion or any high graphics game causing the drivers to stop responding and restarting.  Also occasionally a BSOD will pop up with the 0x116 error and stating the nvlddmkm.sys caused it.  I have reloaded the video drivers multiple times and in multiple ways.  Each time after uninstalling the drivers I would use DriveSweeper to remove any and all instances of the video drivers before loading new ones.  I have also updated the bios to F5 as well as the chipset drivers form the Gigabyte website.  That's when I noticed that the chipset drivers were made by ATI.  I used to have the BFG Geforce 8800 GTS video card in this system but it had the same problem and I thought it might be the video card so I purchased this EVGA Geforce GTS 250 but the problem persisted.  I guess I should have purchased an ATI card instead, LOL.

I have 2 questions...

1) Could this issue be related to an incompatibility issue with the Nvidia video card drivers and the ATI chipset drivers?

2) The memory I have isn't on the list of memory that Gigabyte recommends, however, there is no difference between the F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK that I have and the F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK that Gigabyte recommends.  So could that be an issue?

P.S. - Just in case anyone wants to see the crash dump, here it is:

Microsoft (R) Windows Debugger Version 6.11.0001.404 AMD64
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


Loading Dump File [C:\Windows\Minidump\022310-18314-01.dmp]
Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available

Symbol search path is: C:\Symbols
Executable search path is:
Windows 7 Kernel Version 7600 MP (2 procs) Free x64
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS
Built by: 7600.16385.amd64fre.win7_rtm.090713-1255
Machine Name:
Kernel base = 0xfffff800`02c65000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0xfffff800`02ea2e50
Debug session time: Tue Feb 23 16:37:08.894 2010 (GMT-6)
System Uptime: 0 days 0:29:05.362
Loading Kernel Symbols
...............................................................
................................................................
........................
Loading User Symbols
Loading unloaded module list
.......
Unable to load image \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\dxgkrnl.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for dxgkrnl.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for dxgkrnl.sys
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck 116, {fffffa80046a34e0, fffff88013d85a20, 0, 2}

Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nvlddmkm.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** 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+112a20 )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

[absic]

Hi there, not sure if this helps but I had similar issues with my ATI 4850x2 card with constant BSOD's and always the finger of suspicion was pointed at the Graphics driver. (obviously ATI driver not Nvidia)

After a lot of swearing and searching for the problem I finally discovered that neither the hardware or the drivers were causing the fault but the error was caused by my using Ultramon. (I have a 3 monitor setup).

Sometimes these problems are harder to trace than just updating drivers, bios etc., there is a lot of software out there and not all programmes are fully compatable. Although it is a bind, going back to basics i.e. installing the OS and hardware drivers then installing one programme at a time and testing the system can be the only way to find the real cause of these problems. The problem can also be further complicated by running cracks.

I really doubt that your problem is hardware/driver based but more within the software environment of your PC and if you have the time and patience I would suggest following the basic path I have outlined above to resolve this issue.

[bigtex79]

Thank you for that suggestion, however, I have done that before.  I wiped my system clean w/ just windows and the updated drivers then installed just Aion (this is one of the games the issue occurs) and the same thing happened.  I've even tried using just one stick of memory in each of the memory slots and the other memory stick by itself in each memory slot, still the same issue occurred.  I'm leading to believe that this issue is caused by the incompatibility between the video card and the chipset.  I can't see it being anything else, the crash dump that I debug when I get the BSOD is always pointing to the video card driver.  I have talked w/ both AMD and Gigabyte, both have said they do not think it could be that because looking at it from a business perspective it would not be in the best interest of AMD to build a board that would only accept an ATI video card and not allow the customer to choose what video card they want.  However, I do understand that business is business and in my opinion a business will do anything to get a jump on their competition.  Even if that means building a product that will only accept a specific piece of equipment.  But that's just my opinion.

I've been considering sending the board into Gigabyte to have it tested before purchasing an ATI card, however, on the other hand if I'm correct then purchasing an ATI card would resolve this issue.  Yet on the flip side of that hand, if I get the ATI card and that is not the issue and it is in fact the motherboard then I waste $130 on a new video card that I didn't need....ARGH!!!

[absic]

It might be best to have the Mobo tested as I did have similar issues whilst using an ATI graphics card, as I mentioned in my earlier reply.

[bigtex79]

I was thinking the same thing....have the mobo tested....I think that's what I'm going to have to do.  That way I can find out if the mobo is the issue or not.  If the mobo isn't the issue then I'm thinking of getting an ATI card to replace the Nvidia card.  But thanks for the reply.

[bigtex79]

Well instead of sending the mobo in for testing I purchased an Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1GB and got it yesterday.  I put it in today, removed all Nvidia drivers and ran DriverSweeper, loaded the latest Catalyst drivers (10.2).  After getting into Aion, 5 minutes in, the screen blinked and that fated message saying the video card drivers stopped responding and were restarted came up 2x back to back but then it was fine.  Even after 1 hour of playing time no problem.  I am leaning toward the issue being the mobo, but it maybe either denial or just being stubborn, I want to wipe the system then load Vista Ultimate x64 to see if this issue has anything to do with Windows 7 Pro.  So I might try that out but I have a sneaky suspicion that this is the mobo chipset or something else.

Anyone's opinion or suggestions would GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you

[j2o]

hi bigtec79  how did you get on useing vista 64 ?

i know nvdia are realy slow at up dateing drivers the latest cards  for new o/s ie windows 7

had this problem on a few ocasions normaly its nvdia that aint up to date ,normal they come good in the next up date or2

have you got physics instaled ? that was olso a nother 1 to uninsall

had this problem with my old M2N-SLI DELUXE board  when vista 64 just came out with 9600gt cards along time a go

hope that helps
 please post how you get on

[brit_orc]

Your close bit not bang on with theorys, I had exactly same problem, running gigabyte MA785GMT-US2H Gigabyte Nvidia 9800 GTX + with 1 gig DDR3 on board WIN XP ETC ETC

Problem first showed its face when trying to run certain games, GRID and Silent hunter 5,but it gradually got worse until any game i  ran was at the mercy of hangin.
It was only by chance that i stumbled on the culprit, my vid card came with HUD a utilty to control Vid card GPU and Memory overclocking, its standard generic  preset was running my memeory speed at 1000mhz, so I dropped it to 800 and i havnt had a single problem since
Hope this helps