Video_tdr_failure bsod and memory dumps and screenshot

This BSOD issue has been happening for the past 5 days. When I play a game (FIFA 13, Deadspace 3, bioshock infinite) that uses my GPU ( i have a laptop that uses optimus with 550M gpu), I get a blue screen in windows 8 that reads "VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (nvlddmkm.sys). I have installed all the last seven graphics updates and done clean installs but the issue keeps happening. All my games worked 5 days before these BSODS started happening; I did a reinstall of windows 8 last night and the issue is still happening. I'm hoping someone can help me figure the issue out. Thank you and have a great day.

here is the memory dump of the crash...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hu4iv008ezalldq/BSOD reading VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (nvlddmkm.sys) Part 2.zip


View attachment 24630
p.s. The dumps are posted on the dropbox (108 MB)and screenshot of the Blue screen. Please help

Specs of Laptop
Lenovo Ideapad Y470
Nvidia GT 550m (Optimus)
Intel Core i5 cpu

Was there any triggering event that may have caused this issue (eg, graphics driver update). You say you have completed 7 graphics driver updates; yes? Did it ever work with the original graphic drivers? If so, go back to the original graphic drivers and see what happens. Good luck.

I went back to the very first graphic update that came with the laptop. The BSOD still happens and only BSODs if I play a game that uses the Nvidia gpu. I can play movies, use the computer for everything else but as soon I play a game, the BSOD happens after a few minutes. I am scared it is a hardware issue but I want to be sure before sending it to LENOVO for repair (They take forever to return a laptop when I send it in for a fix). I have owned the laptop for a year and half now ( I play a lot of games but my temps are still the same as the first time I bought the laptop) and the issue just happened a week ago. I haven't installed any new software in the last few weeks. Thanks for the response and I hope you can help.

OK, if you are now back to the original driver (that previously worked I assume), you might want to try this next step (since it only started a week ago):

Uninstall all Windows updates that have been applied to a point where your updates are only current to a timeframe "before" this problem started. My machine is on 8.1 so my view will not match yours:

Go to Add/Remove Programs, click View Installed Updates, uninstall all updates applied in the past week
(or so):

View attachment 24646

JustATest said:

OK, if you are now back to the original driver (that previously worked I assume), you might want to try this next step (since it only started a week ago):

Uninstall all Windows updates that have been applied to a point where your updates are only current to a timeframe "before" this problem started. My machine is on 8.1 so my view will not match yours:

Go to Add/Remove Programs, click View Installed Updates, uninstall all updates applied in the past week
(or so):

View attachment 24646

Click to expand...

I have gone through a couple of Graphic updates and uninstalled all windows updates and the problem seemed to go away for a hour or two..I was playing FIFA 13 for an hour and two and all of sudden the BSOD happened again..My CPU and GPU temps were normal btw.

here is the minidump.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bf3b7vtjgbq5ua5/Latest%20BSOD%20dump%20VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE%20%287-14-13%29.zip

OK, I looked at your dump and, in a nutshell, your driver stopped responding and failed to recover within the TDR timeout limit. At this point, if you are doing any overclocking or have a special gaming profile setup in CCC for FIFA, I would turn all that off and see what happens. Here are some common causes for your issue that I extracted from a NVIDIA forum post:

Common issues that can cause a TDR:

• Incorrect memory timings or voltages
• Insufficient/problematic PSU
• Corrupt driver install
• Overheating
• Unstable overclocks (GPU or CPU)
• Incorrect MB voltages (generally NB/SB)
• Faulty graphics card
• A badly written driver or piece of software, but this is an unlikely cause in most cases
• Driver conflicts
• Another possibility that people tend not to like to hear, is that you are simply asking too much of your graphics card. What I mean by this, is that if you have your settings too high and the graphics card struggles and falls to very low FPS, then something graphically complex occurs, the GPU may not be able to respond and a TDR error may occur
• Some users have found that changing the power management mode to 'Prefer Maximum Performance' has helped

In summary, I think we have done much to eliminate Windows 8 as the possible root cause and I think you would be better served (at this point) to take your issue to the NVIDIA forums and join the others who are having a similar TDR timeout issue. Good luck.