HP PAVILION HDX (NVLDDMKM AND GRAPHICS CARD ISSUES)

[Guest wild willy]

Hello all-

Thanks to wook and dox for help and advice on this issue in another thread (nvlddmkm error-thread name) :)

I just wanted to start a fresh one as a last ditch effort to reach out before I give up.

I have a 3 month old HP HDX 9300, with a 512 8800 gts vid card, 4 gb of memory, 2.16 intel core duo processor and vista sp1 64 bit system.

THIS IS THE NICEST LAPTOP I'VE EVER SEEN OR OWNED!- 20.1" 1920x1200 screen is beautiful, and the design of the monitor with it's articulating arm is awesome. Dell had a similar machine, but did not support a 512 card when I bought this one. I ended up on this machine because i wanted two things- minimun 512 card, and big screen. I read blueprints all day and my eyes and neck kill me with a little monitor.

The problem- This is a work laptop- designed,marketed, and purchased as a portable desktop. As of now I play world of warcraft in my personal time, however this could be any high intensity graphics program (wow isn't even that intense either from my understanding) and I have the dreaded 'nvlddmkm had failed and recovered succesfully error'. This renders the game unplayable. I was planning on using this machine for running a $12,000 (not a typo) earthmoving, excavation, estimating and gps mapping software for our buisiness on this computer- so this isn't just a personal "gamers" problem- this was going to be a serious money machine for myself and our company, the software supports a $180,000 rig that attaches to our equipment. With a $250k machine and a $200k gps rig running around, errors like this could cost my company millions of dollars. Thankfully this issue came up now.

From all I have read on the net this issue does not go away- period. There are many temporary fixes and some sporatic repairs that get people moving again. I even pulled one off myself at one time, but the problem is back. This is not exclusive to this machine or even this graphics card- but I wanted to pass the word to anyone out there who might buy this machine or system setup. This was a $3000 purchase that worked beautifully for 2-3 months and went down hill from there. Maybe I am nieve and it is unrealistic to expect computers to work- but this one does not.

On the other thread we basically came to the point of a recovery to factory settings- I will try that one more time- but unfortunately I have done that once. Worked for a bit then the error is back. So I am not too optimistic.

SO NOW THAT I GOT TO VENT-

1) Does anyone, anywhere have a solution to this problem? Or even a remote hope that this is being SERIOUSLY worked on by microsoft or nvidia, or anyone? Saw that sp2 was coming out for vista- but too much of a noob to know if this would present any real hope. Also saw that many people on the web have had this issue since Vista came out, AND STILL DEAL WITH IT.

2)I do like vista- lots of good features, easiest OS for me to use once I learned it. Has anyone succesfully downgraded to 32 bit and eliminated this issue? Couldn't find anyone who did.

3)This laptop does have 2 hard drives- I have no idea how to do it, but I know many desktop users have partioned thier machines. One hd on vista, one on XP. Is this a viable solution? Does this cause more trouble than it's worth for a beginer like me? Sounds advanced, but may be easy enough. Maybe software or startup option to deceide which to load at startup?

4)Anyone running Vista on desktops avoiding this issue? If I do give up and go back to my desktop- and get a different card will I still be in the same boat?

5)Is downgrading to xp really the best , fail safe, alternative?

6) A few years ago I had the very silly and short lived windows millenium edition. How long till XP is unsupported? I hear they are working on Windows 7 to replace Vista. Sounds like they are giving up on Vista like they did on that ME- but where will that leave XP?

7)While my dream of having a portable desktop may be shot- any other advice for a replacement system. After this burn I will probably go to a nice desktop with a simple laptop for some portablility on the jobsite. I'm in construction so I work from office, field and home. But I can get away with just some basic features when mobile- email, and light graphics- basically WOW type demands. Even a basic laptop these days should be able to run ADOBE, and Autocad I believe. PLEASE- keep in mind that I will be locked into HP at this point, as I'm sure they will not issue a full refund- just a credit if I go that route.

IF ANYONE CAN TALK BE OFF THE CLIFF PLEASE FEEL FREE!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST- Thanks to all of you at this site, but in particular those of you who started and maintain this service. For any other noobs like me who find themselves stuck between a big company and a big company and nowhere to turn- this place is your only option. NVIDIA has released 50-60 drivers since my last update from HP. THIS FREE SERVICE PROVIDED ON THIS SITE is the only real option out there. I am not bashing tech support- my understanding is that most of you who run this site, and sites like it are in the industry somehow and I have run into many tech support people who want desperately to help, but are on tape and can only do so much. If you have also found yourself here please donate and show some appreachiation for the people here who provide help where none can be found.

THANKS!

[Guest jikson7]

Hello all-

Thanks to wook and dox for help and advice on this issue in another thread (nvlddmkm error-thread name) :)

I just wanted to start a fresh one as a last ditch effort to reach out before I give up.

I have a 3 month old HP HDX 9300, with a 512 8800 gts vid card, 4 gb of memory, 2.16 intel core duo processor and vista sp1 64 bit system.

THIS IS THE NICEST LAPTOP I'VE EVER SEEN OR OWNED!- 20.1" 1920x1200 screen is beautiful, and the design of the monitor with it's articulating arm is awesome. Dell had a similar machine, but did not support a 512 card when I bought this one. I ended up on this machine because i wanted two things- minimun 512 card, and big screen. I read blueprints all day and my eyes and neck kill me with a little monitor.

The problem- This is a work laptop- designed,marketed, and purchased as a portable desktop. As of now I play world of warcraft in my personal time, however this could be any high intensity graphics program (wow isn't even that intense either from my understanding) and I have the dreaded 'nvlddmkm had failed and recovered succesfully error'. This renders the game unplayable. I was planning on using this machine for running a $12,000 (not a typo) earthmoving, excavation, estimating and gps mapping software for our buisiness on this computer- so this isn't just a personal "gamers" problem- this was going to be a serious money machine for myself and our company, the software supports a $180,000 rig that attaches to our equipment. With a $250k machine and a $200k gps rig running around, errors like this could cost my company millions of dollars. Thankfully this issue came up now.

From all I have read on the net this issue does not go away- period. There are many temporary fixes and some sporatic repairs that get people moving again. I even pulled one off myself at one time, but the problem is back. This is not exclusive to this machine or even this graphics card- but I wanted to pass the word to anyone out there who might buy this machine or system setup. This was a $3000 purchase that worked beautifully for 2-3 months and went down hill from there. Maybe I am nieve and it is unrealistic to expect computers to work- but this one does not.

On the other thread we basically came to the point of a recovery to factory settings- I will try that one more time- but unfortunately I have done that once. Worked for a bit then the error is back. So I am not too optimistic.

SO NOW THAT I GOT TO VENT-

1) Does anyone, anywhere have a solution to this problem? Or even a remote hope that this is being SERIOUSLY worked on by microsoft or nvidia, or anyone? Saw that sp2 was coming out for vista- but too much of a noob to know if this would present any real hope. Also saw that many people on the web have had this issue since Vista came out, AND STILL DEAL WITH IT.

2)I do like vista- lots of good features, easiest OS for me to use once I learned it. Has anyone succesfully downgraded to 32 bit and eliminated this issue? Couldn't find anyone who did.

3)This laptop does have 2 hard drives- I have no idea how to do it, but I know many desktop users have partioned thier machines. One hd on vista, one on XP. Is this a viable solution? Does this cause more trouble than it's worth for a beginer like me? Sounds advanced, but may be easy enough. Maybe software or startup option to deceide which to load at startup?

4)Anyone running Vista on desktops avoiding this issue? If I do give up and go back to my desktop- and get a different card will I still be in the same boat?

5)Is downgrading to xp really the best , fail safe, alternative?

6) A few years ago I had the very silly and short lived windows millenium edition. How long till XP is unsupported? I hear they are working on Windows 7 to replace Vista. Sounds like they are giving up on Vista like they did on that ME- but where will that leave XP?

7)While my dream of having a portable desktop may be shot- any other advice for a replacement system. After this burn I will probably go to a nice desktop with a simple laptop for some portablility on the jobsite. I'm in construction so I work from office, field and home. But I can get away with just some basic features when mobile- email, and light graphics- basically WOW type demands. Even a basic laptop these days should be able to run ADOBE, and Autocad I believe. PLEASE- keep in mind that I will be locked into HP at this point, as I'm sure they will not issue a full refund- just a credit if I go that route.

IF ANYONE CAN TALK BE OFF THE CLIFF PLEASE FEEL FREE!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST- Thanks to all of you at this site, but in particular those of you who started and maintain this service. For any other noobs like me who find themselves stuck between a big company and a big company and nowhere to turn- this place is your only option. NVIDIA has released 50-60 drivers since my last update from HP. THIS FREE SERVICE PROVIDED ON THIS SITE is the only real option out there. I am not bashing tech support- my understanding is that most of you who run this site, and sites like it are in the industry somehow and I have run into many tech support people who want desperately to help, but are on tape and can only do so much. If you have also found yourself here please donate and show some appreachiation for the people here who provide help where none can be found.

THANKS!

Did you ever tried a different OS ? Such as XP, or HP won`t offer any support for that. For me Vista sucks, I had it installed on my laptop and ate about 1 Gb of Ramm. With x64 XP I have around 400 Mb eaten of Ramm ... So try that one because, I think you`ll find drivers faster and more realiable ....

Anyway about my problem, can anyone recommend any driver from this site for my 8600m GS for x64 XP ???, that would be a lot to me .... Thanks !!

[Guest wild willy]

Did you ever tried a different OS ? Such as XP, or HP won`t offer any support for that. For me Vista sucks, I had it installed on my laptop and ate about 1 Gb of Ramm. With x64 XP I have around 400 Mb eaten of Ramm ... So try that one because, I think you`ll find drivers faster and more realiable ....

Anyway about my problem, can anyone recommend any driver from this site for my 8600m GS for x64 XP ???, that would be a lot to me .... Thanks !!

I'm returning my computer- my understanding is that these graphic cards are bad- something to do with the polymers/resins they are made from. when you start getting hot/cold cycling they start to break down. That fits with this problem- i had it a month ago- fixed it with restore and new driver- but now it's back and won't go away for anything. Many of the fixes and temp drivers do work- but eventually the card craps out. RETURN IT BEFORE YOUR WARANTEE EXPIRES. HP verbally acknowledged the problem to be last night on the phone- no arguments for full return and refund of the system- no offer for a replacement pc- just a refund. I think the reason it works better on XP is that you do not have a TDR timeout feature like vista does. So no tdr- no problem- until it gets so bad you can't run anything.

Not vista, not xp, not OEM, not driver, simple deffective card- just happens to be a slow burn failure over a few months time that can be worked with some- that's why it's so confusing. Starting to happen in apple, dell, and others too. look at the board today- now new 8600 error posts. I think s*** is hitting the fan, get out while you can. NOT EVERY CARD WILL FAIL- BUT IF YOURS STARTS GOING IT IS ONE OF THE BAD ONES.