Display Driver atikmdag / nvlddmkm Stopped Responding

atikmdag stopped responding screenshot

Atikmdag / nvlddmkm fix update

I would just like to say thanks to all those who have posted their fixes in the comments section below!

16.12.2009 - There have many more solutions suggested below
3.12.2008 - More and more solutions have been posted below
24.12.2007 - Seems some are having success using a variety of methods see the comments below
1.11.2007 - If you have found a solution please leave a comment below - click here

Is the atikmdag / nvlddmkm caused by Hardware or Software? ( polls)

Purpose of this article

This error has been a constant problem on my new PC for the last 8 months. This particular error exists on both ATI and Nvidia cards and on a whole range of different PC builds.

The error you receive on the cards is different because obviously the driver that stops has a different name, but the symptom is the same, the screen will go blank and then sometimes the game/application will recover or it may crash. A small message will appear on the bottom right hand side of your screen if you are using Vista.

ATI Cards: Atikmdag has stopped responding and has successfully recovered

Nvidia Cards: nvlddmkm has stopped responding and has successfully recovered

This page contains all the information I have collected and possible fixes and puts them in one place.

This page will be constantly updated until a 100% Fix is found - the fixes that are listed work for some but not for others - so you might have to experiment a little until a solution is found

I will point Nvidia users to the best solutions for them and then list possible fixes for ATI users - I am a ATI card user myself and have found a few fixes which increase the stability of my system - this has reduced the frequency of the error but has not eliminated it entirely.

Best Forum Discussions about the atikmdag / nvlddmkm error

ATI atikmdag Discussions

Nvidia nvlddmkm Discussions

Fix 1 - Vista Users - ATI and Nvidia Users

Windows Hot fixes

Some users have solved the problem by actually uninstalling a windows hot fix, the "KB952287" patch. (Vista Users)

Matthew Utah (Popular Fix)

Posted at 6:14pm on August 25th, 2008

I had this problem and found it quite annoying. Due to other circumstances, I reinstalled Windows Vista, and found that I did not have this problem before installing updates. In fact, installing update KB952287 caused this problem to start, and when I un-installed this update, it went away.

I looked up the update, and it deals with some very specific SQL server issues that I will likely never deal with, so it will stay gone on my machine.

Karen Texas

Thank you Matthew from Utah!
Your solution worked for me.

I un-installed "update KB952287" and the problem is gone.

I also use the AMD 780G chip set.

Possible Helpful Patches

KB938194 - An update is available that improves the compatibility and reliability of Windows Vista
KB938979 - An update is available that improves the performance and reliability of Windows Vista

You may have these fixes installed already, write them down then check if you have them installed.

To check if you have them : start menu / control panel / system and maintenance / Windows updates / View update history

Fix 2 - Only using one stick of Ram - All Users

According to several posts I have read over the internet a sure-fire way to rid yourself of this problem is to only have one stick of ram in your PC. I personally have not tried this method as I only have 2gb of ram, reducing it to 1gb would not be enough for me as I am using Vista and have to run several applications.

quote from ocforums:

'Drivers, software, vista driver structure and sub-level timings, etc...simplest way to get rid of the problem is to run one single RAM stick...I kid u not. 1 ram stick and u will see the issue vanish almost instantly!'

If you are so sick of this problem and can reduce your PC to only one stick of ram then give it a go.

*Warning* Only remove ram if you know what you are doing - you can quite easily damage your components if you are not use to repairing computers.

Fix 3 - Cleaning the Registry

Some people report cleaning the registry and removing unecessary files using a registry cleaner has solved the problem for them.

Registry Cleaners with Free Registry Scans

Fix 4 - ATI users XP and Vista - Total Fix of the atikmdag error on my System

*Warning* You do all of this at your own risk - I am not responsible if anything goes wrong

Update 30.9.2007: I managed to totally remove my atikmdag error now following the information below

My PC Build:

P5W DH Deluxe
Intel Core 2 Duo 6300
2gb Geil Ram 800 mhz
Radeon HIS IceQ3 Turbo 1950 Pro

Tools you need:

Stage 1

Disable UAC - Vista Users (see below) - reboot
Disable any Antivirus software
Remove Current drivers
Reboot into safe mode - to do this you wait until after the bios screen has disappeared (bios is the start-up screen) then tap the F8 key until the windows booting options come up - select safe mode
Run Driver cleaner - select the following options below and then click start
Empty your recycle bin
Reboot into normal mode
Install Catalyst 7.9
Turn Antivirus and UAC back on
Reboot your PC

Stage 2

This stage is what removed the error for me. My ATI card is a HIS Ice3q 1950 Pro which is an overclocked video card. Doing some research I found that it wasn't very stable running at the speeds it is set at, so I made one small change to the VPU clock speed. Obviously I don't know what card you have and weather this will make any difference for you, but I can say that before most games had this error every 5 minutes of game play and after I haven't had the error since.

On the ATI tool main menu you will have your graphics card clock speeds. My core speed was 621 I reduced this to 600 and pressed set clock - the tool set it to 594 - I saved the profile and that was it - that little adjustment removed the error. Your graphics card will run at different speeds to mine, but it might be worth dropping the core speed by 20 points to test if this works - also make sure you go to stage 3 as well.

Stage 3

In ATI tool select the setting button - bottom right of the main panel
At the top - open the menu and scroll down and choose 'Fan control'
Tick the box 'Override Fan Speeds'

Select dynamic based on GPU temperature and set it up like the screenshot above - save this profile so you can load it the next time you need it - then press apply - *Warning* - Some say that fix the percentage at 100% and that's it, but I wouldn't advise that as you may wear out your fan much faster than normal.

I'm hoping the above has also fixed your error - if it has or hasn't leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

Fix 5- Various methods that work for some - Vista Users

Reading through all the hundreds of posts I took down notes and kept a record of what worked for some people, some responded saying that it worked, some say it made no difference. So give some of these a try and see if it makes a change.

Turning off Aero: Start / control panel / under appearance and personalization / change the color scheme / Select Windows classic theme and apply.

Turning off UAC (User Account Control) - *Warning* UAC is designed to help keep your PC more secure - try this if nothing else works, turn it back on if it doesn't help.

Type msconfig into the search bar (pic below) - run the program

Select tools and scroll down to disable UAC and click launch (see pic) - reboot your PC

system config

Fix 6 - More Possible solutions to the atikmdag / nvlddmkm error

This is basically as far as it goes for now, but these are few other fixes that you could try:

Fixes from comments below:

Robb from Canada:

Had the same problem until I set my bios setting to auto! Now everything is good to go!

Steve from Australia:

If you are using EXTENDED DESKTOP WITH DUAL MONITORS then disable it and revert back to using one monitor.Ta Da! no more crashes!

Greg from UK:

I have got the system stable by uninstalling the ati driver and using the standard vista vga driver, aero and window transparency don't work, nor do any of the screen savers but no more BSOD..

Possible fix - worth a try - Vista Users
Another possible fix for Vista users from the Hard Forum

Repair crashes, fix errors and improve PC performance

Still Isn't Fixed? - if you still have problems or can offer a solution to the atikmdag or nvlddmkm error please post a comment below - Thanks!

Comments to date: 198. Page 1 of 6. Article Rating:

Simon Vrhnika	Posted at 8:42pm on February 23rd, 2010
well in my case Sapphire Radeon HD 4670, nothing helps. Made short movie in MPEG2-DVD format and playing it in WMP crashes the whole PC. I can only recover it by hard reset. All fresh drivers. Please help
Juan Argentina	Posted at 3:18pm on February 11th, 2010
Hi people..,most of the problems you have experienced are because a defective power supply..don´t trust your power supply spec..have it measure by a technician, then start thinking something else..
Dave UK	Posted at 7:35pm on February 10th, 2010
My problems started with a motherboard replacement. Having researched everything I could on the web (this is the best source) I have come to the conclusion that any system has a level of hardware and software instability depending on the compatibility of the various hardware components and the software used. If that instability gets to a certain level, you get this issue. This would explain why there are so many possible solutions and levels of issue (irritation to BSOD). The answer depends on what is causing the instability. In my case I think that the new Motherboard (it was a different make & model) was less compatible with the rest of my system. I found that a Registry clean and deletion of KB952287 only improved performance a little. I needed to slightly reduce the factory overclock of my XFX 9600GT Alpha Dog card which I did using the Nvidia tool to get a full fix. With a little tuning to maximise performance my system has now been running without any problems for a couple of months
Derek Reid Glasgow	Posted at 4:27pm on February 10th, 2010
Ah I cant post the links.. It is the DNA drivers or the nuncleic drivers I got to work. Search DNA ATI drivers in google, you'll get there.
Derek Reid Glasgow	Posted at 4:24pm on February 10th, 2010
DNA drivers / Nucleic. I have found alternative drivers which fixed my problem of the atikmdag.sys BSOD on startup. Go here for links and more info since its not letting me post them here. (too long). This is a driver fix.
CMP Germany	Posted at 1:47pm on February 5th, 2010
I think the problem comes from faulty hardware.. I currently am experiencing this problem. I formatted the whole computer, installed ONLY the display driver (not CCC) and 1 game (Mass Effect 1). The problem still shows up. I didn't install the windows updates, extra drivers, or anything that could have any software conflict. I ordered a new video card yesterday, which I'm sure will solve this problems. Editor: I am sure it will. If you can post another message if it has solved the problem that would be great, thanks.
cypherscout USA	Posted at 10:42pm on January 31st, 2010
Long term solution: Underclocking my RAM caused this issue when configured in Dual-Channel setup. I purchased RAM with timing of 8-8-8-24 @ 1.65 volts. My motherboard (ASUS) auto-detected it and placed it into a 7-7-7-20 @ 1.5v mode. Overriding this auto-detected timing/voltage with the specifications for the DIMMs cured the issue for me. Also, I'm running a 650 watt power supply - more than enough juice for my system.
yodalr Croatia	Posted at 3:20pm on January 31st, 2010
I tried many solutions offered here. The problem went totally away after I installed the latest ATI drivers.
E Foster jersey	Posted at 4:56am on January 30th, 2010
I just ran into this problem a few days,I'm not into computers but do know some basics, I tried some of the suggestions but none worked. I play guild wars and I could only play for 10 mins and then BSOD, I was about to install a different driver but decided to just delete the nvlddmkm.sym file and tried the game again and I played for 5hrs , it blinked slightly 2 or 3 times but didn't go off or crash so wish me luck!
Misha The Netherlands	Posted at 5:03am on January 24th, 2010
@ MAtthew: I uninstalled hotfix KB952287 and the problem got less! But sometimes I still have it. Since I installed software which uses PostgreSQL I assume this is still the cause of the problem. Unless I uninstall PostgreSQL, I cant tell for sure although it might help others. Note that I had this problem while using PostgreSQL before a format C and after the format C when the hotfix and PostgreSQL where installed again.
Reza Iran	Posted at 10:07pm on January 20th, 2010
I tried another graphic card , Asus 4890 instead 4670 , but nothing change. One temporary solution works : Limit CPU Core from 4 to 1, I`m very confused , everything is ok in XP, this problem appears in 7 & vista .
Chris L London	Posted at 4:49pm on January 19th, 2010
I found cutting 4 sticks of RAM to 2 worked, then turned memory frequency down to 1066Mhz from 1333 did the trick with the full 8GB. Turning off Aero, underclocking, driver updating all made the problem less frequent but did not solve it.
Roar Norway	Posted at 9:30pm on January 15th, 2010
Got this error at the prewievscreen before trying to print anything. I basically made my comp showing the no "signal input" most of the times... BUT changing them to BASIC instead of AERO-theme seem to correct this problem.
Jim France	Posted at 9:30pm on January 14th, 2010
I use Vista on a Toshiba Satellite laptop with 3GB of ram and Nvidia Go 7300 graphics. I cured the black screen problem by installing the latest [2009] update from Nvidia plus a BIOS upgrade from the Toshiba website. Deleting KB952287 made no difference.
Reza IRAN	Posted at 8:59pm on January 13th, 2010
I had this problem too, about a years ago, on both XP & Vista. I updated my vga driver and problem fixed in xp , not vista. Now I installed win 7 ul and problem is back , I tried every thing : 1. 1 stick of RAM 2. tried every available driver version 3. disable aero 4. unistall CCC 5. underclock vga . They didn`t work for me , but I found a temporary solution : I have Q6600 cpu (quad core) , the problem will solve if I limit CPU from 4 to 1 core (by msconfig). one more thing : win 7 & vista using HyperMemory(AMD)and TurboCache(Nvidia) Technologies to share system memory with graphic card. I think this is not compatible with 2 or more core CPUs. Please give a solution.
Jack Oakland, CA	Posted at 5:53am on January 6th, 2010
I believe this crash is being caused by insufficient power flow to the graphics card! Many of the solutions that have worked for several people, such as reducing gpu clock speeds or removing a stick of memory, could point to a common problem-- Not enough juice to go around! I first started experiencing this error when I knowingly installed a graphics card with a minimum system requirement of 350W power supply in a computer that puts out only 305W. I have a new power supply on the way, and in the meantime I've under-clocked my graphics card as a temporary fix, and its working. Id love to explain in greater detail, but earlier today my several attempts to post longer comments were inexplicably blocked by a profanity filter; if this one actually posts Ill be back to comment again soon! Editor: Sorry about the blocking, not sure why that is, going to check it out.
cypherscout USA	Posted at 7:21pm on January 1st, 2010
I confirmed that removing a stick of memory (dual channel to single now) works around the issue. Interestingly enough, I was also having an issue with print jobs on my HP 1020 laserjet. Removing a DIMM corrected this issue as well. What is interesting about the HP driver is that it is not a standard PostScript (PS) or PCL driver. It has a proprietary piece of software that interfaces with the printer in what I understand to be a DMA (direct memory address) manner. Could this issue be a Vista/Win7 memory management issue?
hoockhand Edmonton, Canada	Posted at 7:07am on January 1st, 2010
Thank you for all of your help I wish I knew about this page before this summer because I sent my laptop in to get this fixed and it showed up again. I am currently trying some of the solutions... I really hope this works... Also the other nvidia thread has been closed Editor: Thanks for the info
Navid Thisted	Posted at 12:22am on December 28th, 2009
I fixed the Nvidia crash by down clocking the card a little bit.. After that - No crashes at all
justawolf Florida	Posted at 9:54pm on December 22nd, 2009
I tried a lot of the fixes: memory, uac, power supply and finally shut off Aero. Shutting off Aero did it for me. Win7-Ult, HIS HD4670 AGP 1 Gig.. Bad part is I Like Aero.. sigh...
Michael Australia	Posted at 11:09pm on December 20th, 2009
Hey guys I'mm having the same problem, its only just started to happen and I have no idea why.. It happens when i try to play Modern Warfare 2 sometimes the game starts and gets to the menu, other times it does'nt even start without the nvlddmkm.sys error thing coming up. I have uninstalled the KB952287 and this seems to be working for the meantime. Here's my specs if anyone thinks they can help. Intel Quad CPU Q9400 @2.67GHz 8.0Gb RAM NVIDIA Geforce GTX260 (Overclocked) Vista 64Bit Ultimate
Sam USA	Posted at 12:31pm on December 20th, 2009
Hello, I have a windows 7 ultimate running 2 HD2900XT ati 1 gig graphic cards. I can't hardly even boot into my computer because of the Graphic driver has stopped responding and has recovered error I get BSOD almost every time unless I completely uninstall the drivers and run generic VGA drivers but as soon as I reboot my darn computer reinstall the drivers. Please help me I don't need to play the games I just want to use my machine. I have tried everything here it started when I upgraded to windows 7 U from Vista U. It never happened in vista just with windows 7 I'm trying disabling the WDM and everything else here but nothing is working . Please help
Rei158 Tallinn	Posted at 7:55pm on December 16th, 2009
I found a solution with other helps, at least it was my problem. Many months ago my power supply bloke and the warranty seemed to replace it with a lousy one. Now my computer gets little power and that is the problem for the atikmdag- the graphic card gets too less power and other computer components too.
Nathan Australia	Posted at 7:55am on December 16th, 2009
Wooo hoo! Fingers crossed I've finally fixed it!! After a year roughly of the dreaded atikmdag and trying EVERYTHING under the sun I think something has worked.. I was getting freezes during games only.. tried upgrading to windows 7, ram, aero, basically every little trick out there.. was just about to buy a new video card when I got a massive crash.. (blue screen of death - BSOD) local pc repair could suggest nothing more than a complete hard drive format and fresh install of win 7.. I did this not expecting it to fix atikmdag, just fix BSOD.. had already done this twice but this time decided to steer completely clear of ATI patches and especially CCC.. so essentially I have only the driver updates that win 7 auto finds... and whatdya know... seems "touchwood" prob has been solved... maybe I'll work up the courage to do the latest video card driver update WITHOUT CCC (driver only patch) but for now after so much frustration, I am not touching a thing.... Hope this helps some people.. btw. I have a 3870 card, quad core, running only 1 monitor, 4gb ram..
Bettesone Yvan Diest	Posted at 7:55pm on November 25th, 2009
I use windows 7 ultimate with I7 processor. I deactivated the aero theme in use and replace it with a classic one. My problem was, when I activated a print job, the computer froze. Since then everything has worked well.
TearDust Norway	Posted at 7:07pm on November 22nd, 2009
Fix 3 didn't work for me either >.
TearDust Norway	Posted at 11:09pm on November 21st, 2009
got the problem to. atikmdag not responding. Always get this when I am playing games. Tried the suggestions in fix 1 but no luck, still have it. Fix 2 is not an option yet, I'm not sacrificing my ram for this, not that desperate yet. Haven't tried fix 3 yet... I'll try this now.. I'll come back with the results. Fix 4 scares me :(. Fix 5 no luck either If you have any suggestion that I can try out it would be very much appreciated. This problem is getting Very frustrating. Cheers :)
Ässä Finland	Posted at 3:21pm on November 16th, 2009
Thank you for this great forum, It have gave me lots of hope, and help me at least a little!!!! I have the same problem with my card. I have Asus P5B Deluxe, Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.00 GHz 4 GB RAM ATI Radeon 3870 TOP 512 and my OS is Windows 7(build 7100). I should be able to play my games smoothly with this hardware, and it has been really nice experience to play with 1680x1050, resolution, at least for the 15 mins I have been able to play. This is really strange error, because everything goes smoothly, until suddenly the drivers stops working. This is very annoying when playing online. I have tired to : -reduce resolution from 1680x1050 to 1280x800 - I removed memory 3gb sticks - disabled aero effects and UAC - installed newer/older drivers again It seems that I have had the best playing uptime is (in my computer ) with 3gb ram, 1280x800 resolution, Aero and UAC disabled. It still crashes, but I can play longer times, 15-45mins. I have one side of my case open, so it can´t be temperature issue. ( (the temp is around 40-45 celsius) Oh, and the games that does this: Left 4 dead & Left 4 dead 2(demo) Call of Duty : Modern Warface Call of Duty : Modern Warface 2 Crysis
Steen Lemvig	Posted at 8:23pm on November 15th, 2009
I am having the problem too. Disabling any other monitors seems like working, but with am I supposed to do with that screen then?
superchad indiana	Posted at 3:45am on November 13th, 2009
I have a gateway NV56 and recently got this error when playing SimCity 4, every time I right click and and move the cursor the screen goes black and I minimize to see this message, nothing here works can anyone help?
Turtle bolt Florida	Posted at 9:46pm on November 12th, 2009
I get "Display driver Atikmdag stopped responding and has successfully recovered" and a screen with vertical lines based on the colour the games are displaying after playing games for a period of time. More often than not I get stuck with vertical lines screen or a black screen and i have to manually reboot. The higher I make the settings, the sooner I get Atikmdag. There are also flashing distortion lines occasionally while playing as well as during the initial windows loading start up screen. I hope the problem is just that ati has yet to make stable drivers because I have tried many things. Any help with this would be appreciated. What I have tried and did not work: memcheck RAM, and physically checked each stick Uninstalled KB952287 hotfix Underclocking my GPU turned off UAC and Aero Uninstalled Ati drivers and CCC Checked cards running temperatures (they were within official functioning range) My computer: Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (64 bit) Service Pack 2 Motherboard: M2p61pm (Nettle3-GL8E) System Model: a6700y Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) X4 9150e Processor (4 CPUs), ~1.8GHz (65w) Memory: 4gb RAM ( 240 pin DDR2 SDRAM, 4 x hynix 1gb IRX8 pc2 - 64ou-666-12) antec 740 w PSU radeon HD 5770 (Plugged into a PCI-e 1.0) (108w) 500gb Hardrive Single DVI monitor
kelvinc norway	Posted at 7:32am on November 6th, 2009
I have this issue on Windows 7 RC too.
Discipline Rotterdam	Posted at 8:33am on November 5th, 2009
Had this for 2 years, almost bought new memory, switched of Aero running stable now for 5 hours, which is a record. GA-P35-DS3R 2GB OCZ Platinum DDR2 Revision 2 800 Mhz kit (2x 1 GB) Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4850 Coolermaster Extreme Power 460W Windows Vista Ultimate 32 Bit fully updated
Boris UK	Posted at 12:41am on November 1st, 2009
I got the same problem that is shown on the picture: 64 bit vista ram 4 gb nvidia gt 220
Misiek Koko	Posted at 6:52am on October 19th, 2009
My problem disappeared when I turn up clock memory on VGA. I have Radeon 4850 with GPU 625 MHz and Memory 2000 MHz(Default 625/1980).