Blue screen or hang playing StarCraft 2

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eoinzy

Active member
Hi,

I bought my laptop almost 5 years to the day! Its an Optimus IV. It's currently running Windows 10 Pro.

I started playing StarCraft 2 this week. I can launch the game, but when it starts loading the first level, the laptop will either blue screen or hang completely, forcing me to hold the power button to reboot. I have tried with both the Nvidia GPU and the built in Intel HD4000. I get the same problem with both, although I get about 60 seconds longer with the Intel.

When it blue screens, it gives an error stating the following:
Video_TDR_Failure (nvlddmkm.sys)

The "nvlddmkm.sys" file is an Nvidia driver file, as far as I know.
When it Blue screens on the Intel IGP, it gives the same error, except with the corresponding Intel driver.

The worst part...it also gives the same problems when I play the original StarCraft!! BSOD's and hanging!! :(
It works fine on Asphalt 8 though... :sleeping:

I tried to reinstall the drivers for both GPUs. Same.
I then reinstalled Windows. Same.
I then flashed the BIOS and EC firmware for the motherboard, reinstalled Windows, and then reinstalled the drivers. Same.

I then looked at the sticky on here about cleaning the insides. When I opened it, it was clean as as whistle! Very little dust!

Since I've cleaned the laptop, freshly installed Windows, flashed the BIOS etc, is there anything else I can do? Can I flash the firmware on the Graphics card(s)?
Or am I just destined to never play StarCraft again?

Below are most of the specs:
Chassis & Display Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card NONE
1st Hard Disk 120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD10JPVT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
RAID NONE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive SONY BC-5550H 4x BLURAY COMBO DRIVE & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Power Cable 1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Optimus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
 
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eoinzy

Active member
I tried the built in Windows ones.
Then I went to the nvidia website and just got the latest from there.
No difference between either.

EDIT: I tried FurMark to do a GPU stress test and it reacts the same. The temperature the GPU is hitting is between 65 and 75 degrees.
This is on the Nvidia one. I can't get it to test the Intel one.

So despite the fact that I've barely used it, I'm thinking the GPU may be fried, and effectively useless for anything other than playing Solitaire?
Or is Windows 10 designed in some way to just crash if temps hit 70 degrees or so?

I suppose I could try reinstalling Windows 7 and testing, but that's a lot of hassle just for the sake of playing a game.
 
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eoinzy

Active member
So I made some progress.
After reinstalling Windows and reinstalling all drivers, and not seeing any change, I decided to switch to Linux.
I installed Ubuntu and installed Wine. I then ran StarCraft 2 via Wine and got to play it no problems. I only tried the first level but considering it was previously crashing on the menu before I even started the game, this is a lot of progress, and I'd be confident enough that it should work without issues (touch wood).

So, my GPU isn't friend, my IGP isn't fried. The problem is actually Windows is a steaming pile....

At some stage, I might test installing Windows 7 and see if its Windows in general, or just Windows 10, but considering TDR was introduced in Vista, I'm not hopeful.
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
It's unlikely that 'Windows is a steaming pile...' because there would be thousands reporting this issue. It sounds very much like a Windows driver issue, I wonder what graphics driver you're using in Wine?

With Windows 10 it's generally far safer to allow Windows Update to install all the drivers it can and only manually install drivers for devices that Windows Update doesn't source. If you're installing all drivers manually it's entirely possible that you're unknowingly introducing some conflict.

I would be tempted to a a completely clean install of Windows 10 and let Windows Update find all drivers and then see how it goes....
 
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eoinzy

Active member
I already did a complete reinstall of Windows, and let it install the drivers, as you said. Same issue.

Also, there are literally thousands of people across the internet complaining of the same issue, as I discovered after I posted here.
Nvidia even made a public statement on it:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/...-tdr-errors-display-driver-nvlddmkm-stopped-/

If you Google some combination of "Video_TDR_Failure" and "nvlddmkm.sys" you'll see lots of people with the same issue, a lot with Blizzard games (among others). So maybe its Blizzards bad coding, or maybe its Windows.

You're right about the graphics driver in Wine though. It was getting late last night so I only played the first level and didn't give it a proper run out. I also think it was using the Intel IGP instead of the Nvidia GPU so further testing and config is required. But it's positive I got so far in the game without even the fans coming on too much.
 
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