Display driver keeps crashing on the computer and receive error message "Display driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver Version 306.97 has stopped working and recovered".

Anonymous

Original Title: Display driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver Version 306.97 has stopped working and recovered.

Hiya,

I recently installed Windows 8 Pro, installed all my usual apps etc.

The problem I've encountered is the display driver keeps crashing. Or having time outs. The exact error message reads;

"Display driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver Version 306.97 has stopped working and recovered."

So far it randomly times out even when the computer is idle, and more frequently when I'm watching videos online. Also, viewing videos fullscreen on certain sites like YouTube is ok, but on others it's very laggy (image updates maybe once a second) and the audio is out of sync.

I can't find a way to properly uninstall the graphics driver.

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Anonymous

At least yours is semi working.. I have the GTS 450 ( uses the same drivers ) and mine doesn't work at all.. Stuck with the regular on-board driver atm and cant play any games... Microsoft tells me to wait a couple of weeks and to call back and Nvida says 10 ways to uninstall and re-install the same drivers. Hopefully someone with get a fix for this soon.

Hi guys,

Seems like it's not just me.

Just an update, I can't confirm it as a fix, but I haven't run into any problems (apart from a little screenlag) since installing the beta drivers. For me, the beta driver version is 310.33, R130. The only other change made to my system is updating the Adobe Flash version packaged with Google Chrome from 11.4.31X to 11.4.402 to eliminate severe problems when watching video in fullscreen.

System Info;

**Operating System:**Windows 8 Pro with Media Center 64-bit, Build 9200

CPU: AMD FX-8150 Eight physical cores

GPU: ASUS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 TI

Primary hard disk: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB

Hope it helps

Edit: Still no crashes, 02/11/12, 4 days

Further edit;

If you still receive the error message, try the following steps;

A. Try performing a clean install of the driver.

Download the latest drivers for your graphics card. Run the downloaded file and select 'Custom Installation'. On the next screen you'll see a tick box or similar labelled 'Clean Install'.

You can do this by visiting nVidia Driver Downloads (www.nvidia.com/Drivers). Either automatically detect the correct driver or download using the form. The best way in my opinion is to use GeForce Experience, which will do everything for you with two clicks and a restart.

B. Close all other programs

It's possible that the error was caused by too many programs needing to use the resources provided by the graphics card/chip. It is also possible that a certain program caused a conflict which crashed the drivers.

You can either try closing some currently open programs one by one and see if the error persists or reboot your system with startup programs disabled and enable them one by one to find the culprit. If the error is too persistent to do the above, an easier option would be to boot into safe mode.

More information can be found below

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2665946/en-us

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58 additional answers

Anonymous

2012-11-14T08:41:54+00:00

Tried installing the driver in Windows 7 compatibility mode. Blackouts now more frequent. Same message.
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Anonymous

2012-11-19T02:53:55+00:00

Hi, I am having this same problem! Mine crashes usually when I am watching videos on youtube or hulu. It seems everyone so far has had a NVIDIA driver. Mine is an Intel Core2. So it isn't just one CPU type. I am running Windows 8 Pro on a HP Pavilion dv6 laptop.
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Anonymous

2012-11-26T15:20:47+00:00

I am experiencing a similar error, with the "display driver has stopped working but recovered" message. So far I have only encountered it in World of Warcraft, but I have had Windows 8 pro installed on my system for less than a week. The graphics card I am using is an Nvidia 210, also with the latest Windows 8 drivers (306.97). As I understand it, that driver is both the latest Nvidia driver, and also the driver that came prepackaged with Windows 8 Pro (the 64 bit version).
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Anonymous

2012-12-12T04:24:06+00:00
Same issue. That driver is pure evil. The worst part is I have a brand new build:

**Operating System:**Windows 8 Pro 64-bit, Build 9200

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHzGPU: MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660Ti

Primary hard disk: Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD

RAM: 2x8GB DD3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Driver: GeForce 310.54 Driver

I've been fighting this for a week now. For the longest time I had no idea what the problem was because it just froze. Very rarely did it actually recover. I've tried everything suggested by various forums. I've done 3 clean-installs now, and finally using this newer BETA driver I've had some luck. It's crashed only twice. One freeze hours ago and one recovery. If it crashes again I'm going to have to give up and downgrade to Win7. Not something I want to do....but I'm deathly afraid of hurting my hardware at this point.

Symptoms:
- Random freezing, no specific cue.
- Temporary black out and message indicating Driver Crash in the Kernel
- CPU and GPU Temperatures are fine
- No other lagging issues or symptoms
I've tested my Graphics card on a friend's computer and it works fine. It also works fine until I actually install the drivers. So this is definitely not a hardware issue.
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