Nvidia Driver Issues

Troubleshooting Windows GPU Drivers

Event Viewer reports Event ID 153 from source nvlddmkm — Nvidia’s kernel-mode display driver. This usually means the GPU driver crashed or encountered a recoverable error, causing brief screen flicker or black screen.

🟢 Junior

What the Error Means

The error message in Event Viewer says:

The description for Event ID 153 from source nvlddmkm cannot be found.

\Device\Video3
Error occurred on GPUID: 100

nvlddmkm.sys is the Nvidia kernel display miniport driver. Event ID 153 indicates a Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) event — Windows detected the GPU stopped responding and forced a reset.

Common causes: driver version mismatch, corrupted driver files, overheating, or insufficient power delivery.

Quick Fixes

Try these first before anything more involved.

Update or clean-install the driver: Download the latest Game Ready or Studio driver from nvidia.com and use the “Custom Install → Clean Installation” option to wipe old driver files.

Disable hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling: Go to Settings → System → Display → Graphics Settings and turn off “Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling.” This feature causes TDR issues on some configurations.

Check temperatures: Use HWiNFO64 or GPU-Z to monitor GPU temperatures under load. Sustained temps above 85 °C can trigger TDR events.

🟡 Medior

Fix File Permissions on nvlddmkm.sys

Sometimes the driver file gets locked with wrong ownership, preventing Windows from accessing it cleanly. Run this PowerShell script as Administrator:

$files = (Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\' -Include '*nvlddmkm*' -File -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
$currentUser = $env:USERNAME

foreach ($file in $files) {
    takeown /F "$file"
    icacls "$file" /grant Administrators:F /C
    icacls "$file" /grant "$currentUser`:F" /T /C
    icacls "$file" /setowner 'NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller' /C
}

This takes ownership of all nvlddmkm files, grants you and Administrators full control, then restores the original TrustedInstaller owner so Windows Update can still manage the files.

After running, reboot and check if Event ID 153 still appears.

Disable Windows Automatic Driver Updates

Windows Update can silently replace your manually installed driver with a Microsoft-certified version that may be older or buggy for your specific GPU.

Go to: System → Advanced system settings → Hardware → Device installation settings → No (your device might not work as expected)

This prevents Windows from automatically replacing your Nvidia driver.

🔴 Senior

TDR Registry Tuning

Timeout Detection and Recovery has a configurable timeout. If your GPU legitimately needs more than 2 seconds for compute-heavy operations (ML inference, video encoding), increase the TDR delay:

$path = 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers'
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name TdrDelay -Value 8 -Type DWord
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name TdrDdiDelay -Value 8 -Type DWord

TdrDelay is the timeout in seconds before Windows considers the GPU hung (default: 2). TdrDdiDelay controls the DDI call timeout. Set both to the same value.

Reboot after changing registry values.

DDU — Display Driver Uninstaller

For persistent issues, a full clean removal with DDU is more thorough than the installer’s clean-install option.

Boot into Safe Mode, run DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller), select “Clean and restart,” then install the driver fresh from the Nvidia installer.

DDU removes all leftover registry entries, INF files, and driver store entries that the normal uninstaller misses.

When to RMA

If TDR events persist after a fresh DDU clean-install, correct permissions, and proper cooling, the GPU hardware itself may be failing. Indicators:

Artifacts appear on screen before the TDR
The GPU reports memory errors in nvidia-smi --query output
Undervolting (MSI Afterburner) does not reduce TDR frequency
Event ID 153 occurs at idle temperatures

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