XPS 1530 8600GT driver error

I have searched around for this error and have found quite a number of threads concerning it on other laptops, but I couldn't find any that were in the end resolved...they all were suggestions, but they either didn't work, or there was no response.

The error is while playing a certain game, it freezes and the screen goes black. I have to control+alt+delete to get out of it, and the error bubble comes up saying "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." The game is Lord of the Rings Online, but I've only played Call of Duty 4 (on the lowest settings in order to get a good FPS) and that game, so it may be other games as well, I do not know.

I have a Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz processor with 3GB of RAM running on Vista. The best response I've found to this was for a Sager and it was because of an SLI problem with 4GB of RAM that was causing an issue with the driver on Vista. His solution was:

Of course I would skip the SLI part, but that's the only solution I can think of trying as of right now...does anyone else know what the problem could be?

 

What version of the driver are you running? Are you using the modded driver from laptopvideo2go?

 

I just got this for Christmas so no modded drivers or anything from me yet. DXdiag is reporting it as version 7.15.0011.5663

 

I would try upgrading to the newest driver on laptopvideo2go, you never know what kind of bugs they may have fixed

 

you SHOULD NOT be having problems with Call of Duty 4. Sounds like a driver problem. Did you update your directx?

 

I'm not having any problems with CoD4, it runs perfectly fine. The problem is LOTRO freezing and then crashing. I looked on laptopvideo2go and I'm about to install the 169.09 driver. No, I haven't updated DirectX, could you direct me?

That also reminds me, playing LOTRO on directx10 causes it to go black and never return to its original state. With directx9 it goes black and in about 7 seconds resumes the game. Eventually, though, it would go black, come back, and then repeat itself without pause, so I just shut the computer down.

Should I install the 169.09 driver?

 

Ok, well I installed the 169.09 and to see some instant effects I turned on CoD4 to see how the new version affected my FPS. I actually got a 5-15 FPS boost from the update...so there's a nice bonus

It's late, but I'm going to turn on LOTRO for a little while on directx10 and see if it freezes. Sometimes it took 3 minutes of gameplay to freeze, sometimes it took 2 hours, so I may or may not get results from the driver tonight...I'll let you guys know if it freezes again. If it doesn't within a few days, I'll assume it's fixed and let you guys know


EDIT: Well, within 5 minutes of playing, it froze again. Suggestions?

 

did u uninstall the drivers or just install the new ones over the old ones

 

the initial problem is what i had when i got my machine, 169.09 wasnt good for me, i put on 169.04 and that was fine and worked great for weeks without that prob happening once

i updated to the 169.28 drivers yesterday and have not had any probs yet and i got an extra 80 points in 3d mark , so try them 1st, then the 169.04 if not

follow this guide and completly uninstall , when its uninstalled, run all and any cleaners you have got !! and dont skip steps !

nVidia:
1. Unplug nic card or modem from net or disconnect
2. Remove nvidia from add/remove programs
3. Reboot into safe mode (F8 during boot up)
4. On reboot into safe mode WinXP SP1/SP2 will auto detect and install drivers. Just let it do its thing. If you can cancel out of the auto install hardware wizard then skip the rest and run Driver Cleaner! If you can NOT cancel out of auto detect wizard then...
5. Navigate to device manager->display adapters->highlight nVidia and click uninstall or remove but don't reboot
6. Disable any AntiVirus Software (If you don't disable is than it could give trouble)
7. Run Cab Cleaner (not needed, but recommended)
8. Run Driver Cleaner
9. Empty recycle bin and reboot
10. Install the new drivers


also....follow this guide to install...

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11997

 

I would try a fresh driver install but this sounds more like a hardware issue.
Have you tried it with xp on your system?

 

Just play LOTR in Direct X 9 mode.

 

sly: I installed them over the old ones, so I am going to try to uninstall the old ones and install the new ones now.

Ok, I will try this, but I have vista, not XP...it will still work, correct?

It may be a hardware issue as I've read sometimes the problem was with the RAM, but a lot of the time it was with the driver as well. I'm not changing to XP because the drivers haven't been released by Dell yet, so it's a lot of work to make sure I have all of the right drivers found when installing, and it also voids my 3 year warranty I bought with Dell.

That doesn't fix the problem, as the game still freezes in dx9, it just resumes after 7 seconds. I was fine with that at first, a bit annoyed, but at least it worked. Then after an hour of play it would freeze, resume, and then instantly freeze after it resumed in a continuous cycle; I couldn't play the game or quit it without shutting down the computer.




EDIT: Driver Cleaner is $10 to download. Am I looking at the right thing, and should I pay the $10 for it? http://www.drivercleaner.net/

 

i think its drivercleanerpro

 

Well when googling that, I also find this: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745

It's free but it looks like an old version, as it's for 2000/XP.

Which should I download, the paid version or the free version?...or something else?