Vista Nvidia nvlddmkm.sys BSOD Boot

System: Windows Vista Ultimate fully updated, Intel E6600, Nvidia 7600GT,
4Gb Ram, one LCD VGA and one lcd via DVI etc, nothing is over clocked

Problem: I built this system 6 months ago and it has been running perfectly
since. On August 27th my system tried to automatically update the existing
Nvidia driver from Windows Update (groan, I know, I’ve changed it and will
never let this happen again). My previous driver had been working perfectly.
I was at work and came home, my system was unstable, I was getting TDR’s,
artefacts on screen and before I could really work out what was going on my
system crashed with BSOD on nvlddmkm.sys error 116.

Now it is in a loop. No matter what I do or what display drivers I try Vista
always crashes on reboot with the same BSOD nvlddmkm.sys error 116.

With an Nvidia driver loaded I get a BSOD nvlddmkm.sys at boot with error
116. Regardless of driver – 97.46, 100.64, 162.22, 162.44 etc

If I let my system update itself, ie with a Microsoft minimal driver, it
boots but all I get displayed is a blank black screen with a mouse cursor.
Microsoft Nvidia WDDM driver 25/01/2007 So it shows a mouse cursor that
actaully moves about but the desktop is not present, blank, black etc.

If I uninstall whatever driver is currently installed from safe mode,
removing all driver files, removing those in system32 and renaming
nvlddmkm.sys in system32/drivers, and then reboot, my system boots up with no
driver file loaded for the adaptor at all. This actually allows me to boot
into Vista and gives me a desktop but clearly this means I have no display
driver running and have no more than basic display functionality.

I really need help. My own view is Windows update partially installed a
driver or partially updated the driver that was on my system prior to August
27th. Somehow it never completed that operation and my system has residual
registry entries that point to incorrect driver files.

I have tried sweeping registry and I did find residual NVidia files but they
were minimal and when I installed driver again I had the same nvlddmkm.sts
BSOD error.

I have two monitors one a Sony 17” LCD VGA and an LG 22” DVI. They were both
working fine prior but now they don’t, obviously. I have seen messages about
dual displays and the drivers/registry becoming confused. So I tried various
configurations of monitor - VGA only, DVI only, connected to different ports
etc. Each time same error BSOD nvlddmkm.sys 116.

It's now three weeks since this happened and my system is still farquhared.
I need some serious help, I am way behind on some lucrative projects and I
might pay for help to get this resolved. Help!!!

I have two issues with NVIDIA BSODs.

1. The NVIDIA RAID controller failed on my Alienware laptop after an AWC
tech walked me through a BIOS update.

2. I get a BSOD nvlddmkm.sys often when I save a Photoshop file. Today this
one cost me money and reputation with my client. I got a BSOD nvlddmkm.sys
when I saved a file and this time when I reopened the file it was a single
layer garbled graphic -- NOT the 80+ layer PSD file I have been working on
for almost three months. I do back up a couple of times each week and now I
will be rebuilding the file from an out of date version - and I had to
postpone a meeting scheduled for tomorrow. Nice. Thanks NVidia and Microsoft
Vista people.

And Three Gripes:

1. Vista is NOT ready for prime time (big surpise, I should know I've been
with MS since DOS, paying for Bill's luxury life).

2. Shame on Nvidia. Vista is not new (it is Sep. 2007 right now). And before
it was new it was available to developers so MS could launch it with some
reliability. If Nvidia corp would Google "BSOD" and "nvlddmkm.sys" they'd
discover they have a lot of let down customers.

3. Shame on Alienware for selling me a laptop that isn't ready for prime
time! I gave Alienware $ 5,500.00 for this Aurora m9700 becaue I thought if
it could handle gaming it can handle my web and graphics production (I'm not
even doing video - or gaming). I made a BIG decision to move from the rough
combination of using and syncing a desktop (for power) and a laptop (for
portability) to a single Alienware nightmare.

Sidenote: I received my AWC Aurora *WITHOUT* a single PC Card slot. The slot
is there; and you can put a card into it - but there is NO connection! I
called AWC tech support and they let me know I didn't ask for this in my
order!!! Has anybody ever bought a laptop without a PC Card slot? I've had
many WITH them since 1993. But this damn thing cost over $ 5,000!!!!

And in my case I'm out of my deadlines with increased expenses because of
Nvidia, Vista and Alienware twice now.

Now that I've got all of my apps and my business on one machine I cannot
afford to be without it for even one day. And Alienware has never offered to
do anything to swap RAID or video hardware -- even if I could afford the down
time while my laptop languished on shipping docks "overnighted" both ways and
sat in a pile at the AWC shop until it got diagnosed. And I can't start over
because it takes almost three working days to re-install all of my apps -
which is why I bought this with a mirrored RAID to beign with (useless now).

There are also recent reports of BSOD 116 errors with ATI graphics cards.
The problem you are having is not unique to NVIDIA cards and its
nvlddmkm.sys file.