NVidia display driver stopped responding

[JimmyB76]

this is a peculiar issue i have just started encountering...

yesterday, this happened and it happened just now...  i'll be online and then my screen turns black and turns back on and i get this error message:
Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.
(i was able to find it in the Event Viewer)

i do have the latest drivers, at least i am pretty sure i do; in fact, yesterday i had a windows update about my nvidia card (which came up after it did this)...  i cant be 100% sure my drivers are up to date but i think they are... also yesterday, i tried running the Hardware Diagnostic Tools that is built into the computer, i tried running a full test (stress test, etc) for my gfx card and halfway through the test the monitor turned off and went into Power Save mode (which has never happened before) and after waiting a long time, i shut down the power to my computer to reboot and turn everything back on...  and it seems like the fan inside my tower wont turn off...
even just a second ago, as i was typing this post, my screen again went black and then my monitor went into Power Save mode again and i had to force-reboot...
there are alot of results when i google this error message so it seems like a problem that happens to many people...  however, i am not sure exactly where to begin to troubleshoot this...
does anyone have any ideas?  i am becoming nervous - this computer is not even a year and a half old yet and this has never happened until yesterday...

my specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8300 @ 2.5GHZ
6 GB Ram
640GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 1GB
(i can list other specs if needed)


edit - ok i think my driver was out of date for my NVidia card, and i think i just updated them...
i just installed Version 266.58
PhysX System Software 9.10.0514
HD Audio Driver 1.1.13.1
Graphics Driver 266.58
3D Vision Driver 266.58

[flarespire]

it was most likeley the driver being out of date or corrupted, ive had this issue many a time, though if you do one day get this and a driver update doesnt fix it, you may have to get a new Gfx card...

[Joshmaul]

It could also be that the card is overheating, especially if said card is the piece-of-crap integrated chipset nonsense. (An unfortunate piece of junk I am forced to contend with, lol.) nVidia, I notice, will run the graphic intensive games like WoW, STO, and the later Sims games - such as the recently-released Medieval, which I am enjoying immensely, but I digress - just fine, but they heat up real quick. Best bet, if it's happening in games and what not, find a place to save it (if you can) and exit out. Give your GFX card a break.

[Nebula]

or get more fans/cooling XD

ALSO HERE IS THE THING.... NEVER LET WINDOWS UPDATE YOUR GFX DRIVERS!!!!! ALWAYS GET THEM FROM NVIDIA OR AMD'S WEB SITE!!
WINDOWS DRIVERS AREN'T ALWAYS UP TO DATE OR COMPATIBLE WITH WHAT YOU HAVE AND COULD CAUSE ISSUES. 

[metalnick]

^^ Neb is Good and Neb is wise. You should listen to him.   

[majormagna]

I've had a similar issue for the past few months (Strangely, Ioo have a 1GB GeForce GT220)

My screen goes blank for a second, and then back up, not a pressing issue, it never happens while playing games though... Getting a new card soon anyhow.

[JimmyB76]

as far as i know, i do have the latest drivers (tho i must admit im not entirely sure how to be certain of that)...  it doesnt happen when i play games, tho i havent played anything on that computer in a long while; it's an issue that just started happening very recently and only when i'm just browsing online...
the card did come built into the pc when i bought it and is less than a year and a half old, i would find it hard to believe it is already breaking down or whatever...  i would be rather upset if that were the case...
how can i determine that my drivers are in fact up to date?  i did install the latest one from NVidia's site (i think it was the latest, i hope i didnt accidentally install the wrong driver lol) and is there a way i can determine what could be the problem that is going on?
hopefully it was just a weird fluke, but it makes me very nervous...

[metalnick]

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Scan.aspx?lang=en-us

I always let it do the auto scan and download that one. Haven't had any problems so far.

Only other thing I could think of that would be an easy fix is to check what kind of power plan your pc is using. I know on my Toshiba laptop I have 3 options: Power Saver, Balanced and High Performance. Pretty self explanatory.

 Might also be something to do with Flash and or your browser being out of date maybe. I just had to do a bunch of updates on my system since my internet seemed to be acting really wonky and nowhere near as fast as it should be.

[JimmyB76]

ya ive tried the auto-scan but it never seems to finish...
the power plan shouldnt matter i would think, it is a PC...  flash, browser, and everything else on the PC is up to date...

[Bones]

had same issue on my GTX 275 before it died horribly  card was a foulty model that was overheating all the time and eventually it burned to death it is possible that cooling is not efficient enough (typical for NVIDIA)

[JimmyB76]

im not sure if you guys are aware of the game Napoleon Total War (my bf played it all the time), but some months back while he would play with all settings on medium to high, the game would shut off and the monitor would go into Power Save mode...  before, he used to play it for hours on end with no problems but now every time he plays, it does this...   

[Nebula]

I'd get more fans also I'd possibly look for the chip on the motherboard and see if you can replace the heatsink.