Hey everyone! I'm having a super frustrating issue with my laptop where it crashes unexpectedly during heavy performance tasks, like gaming or training machine learning models. The crashes seem random, almost like the laptop is just doing its own thing. Each time it crashes, my minidump file points to nvlddmkm.sys, which suggests a problem with my GPU drivers. I can usually sense when a crash is about to happen, as the laptop starts to lag for about 30 seconds before the BSOD hits.
Here are some of the fixes I've already tried:
* I did a clean driver uninstall using DDU and then reinstalled drivers, even making sure Windows doesn't auto-update them.
* Updated my BIOS and drivers through other methods as well.
* Checked the system power, memory, and integrity with various tests – everything seemed stable.
* Disabled Hyper-V, virtualization, and related features.
* Ran multiple OCCT checks, all showing stability.
* I even spoke with Nvidia support, but that didn't help either.
* Turned off Windows fast startup and disabled background apps and antivirus.
My laptop model is an Acer Nitro ANV15-51, equipped with 16GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, and an Intel i7-13620H, running Windows 11 Home. If anyone has any ideas or has faced similar issues, I'd really appreciate the help!
2 Answers
Updating your BIOS through Device Manager is risky and not usually recommended. The best bet is to grab the latest version from Acer's official site and install it from there. Also, have you checked if the GPU is overheating? Sometimes, thermal issues might be misdiagnosed as software problems. If you feel comfortable, repasting the GPU might help, although I get it – that could void your warranty.
It sounds like you've done your homework trying to resolve this. A consistent 0x133 bugcheck typically does point to GPU issues, especially with the nvlddmkm.sys file. Have you thought about doing a full wipe and reinstall of Windows? Sometimes corrupted system files can cause these crashes as well. If that doesn't help, you might have to consider hardware inspections.
I’d second the full reinstall. It seems extreme, but it has fixed issues for other users in the past. Just be sure to back up everything!
I did check and the laptop isn't overheating. I updated the BIOS directly from Acer’s site though, so I think I'm good there.