YIKES - video driver just self destructed?

There is something rotten in the state of Dreamy.

Had quite a happy day working on Photoshop yesterday and then doing COH for about four hours.

This morning I was playing for about an hour, when my sound card started looping and the system stopped responding.

Hard booted, everything came back as normal, went back into game.
About five minutes later, same thing happened again. Uh-oh.

Rebooted and this time got weird green lines across the screen as soon as Vista tried to render my sidebar apps, screen held and went to black and... BSOD. Damn.

The fault appears to be related to my NVIDIA drivers, but I haven't changed them lately and this is the first time this has happened. Fans are working fine, I use a laptop cooler, and there's no visible sign or smell of an overheat. (Believe me, having worked in a TV station were I've seen people walk past with video cards that are not merely dead but on fire, I know that smell.)

Only other thing unusual this morning was tried to watch a Windows video and stopped it halfway through - but it wouldn't stop and locked Firefox. In fact, when I rebooted Firefox and pulled it back up, the video tab had gone but I could hear it playing in the background.

I've tried updating the drivers, but either that's not working in Safe Mode or I've got the right ones already.

I've tried running COH Helper - both normally and as Admin - but it can't find my settings, apparently. Any suggestions?

MACHINE:
Vaio VGN-AR31S
Intel Dual Core T7200
2GB memory
NVIDIA Go7600 GT GPU

i hate to say it but, you may need a fresh install of the operating system. sounds like a bad virus. before doing this though, see if someone can look at it for you.

Try running HiJackThis and post the log from running it. Perhaps we can see something that may be causing your problems.

Make sure your Anti-Virus definitions are up to date and run a full scan.

OK. Tried taking it to Tech Guys at PC World - sadly, the guy on the desk today was (as we say round here) less use than a wet fart in a thunderstorm.

I've tried patching in the VAIO-specific NVIDIA drivers from the VAIO support site using their specified procedure. So far all that's done is cause a STOP error during loading. Trying using the proper NVIDIA setup.

My AV is Norton and I scan regularly - also have SpyBotS&D running in background. Could be a zero day infection but I'm quite paranoid about cleanliness these days and try not to wander off the beaten track.

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 21:37:54, on 20/03/2010
Platform: Windows Vista SP1 (WinNT 6.00.1905)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.6001.18882)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Windows\system32\taskeng.exe
C:\Windows\system32\Dwm.exe
C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Apoint\Apoint.exe
C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Camera Utility\VCUServe.exe
C:\Program Files\Sony\ISB Utility\ISBMgr.exe
C:\Program Files\Sony\AppMonUtil\AppMonUtility.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\PIF\{B8E1DD85-8582-4c61-B58F-2F227FCA9A08}\PIFSvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\IAAnotif.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\HP Software Update\hpwuschd2.exe
C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe
C:\Windows\ehome\ehtray.exe
C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmpnscfg.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\TosBtMng.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqtra08.exe
C:\Program Files\NETGEAR\WG511v2\WG511v2.exe
C:\Program Files\NETGEAR\WPN111\wpn111.exe
C:\Windows\ehome\ehmsas.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\TosA2dp.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\TosBtHid.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\TosBtHsp.exe
C:\Program Files\Apoint\Apntex.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqSTE08.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqbam08.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqgpc01.exe
C:\Windows\system32\wuauclt.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Users\Lance\Downloads\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.google.co.uk/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.club-vaio.com
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Int ernet Settings,ProxyOverride = *.local
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
R3 - URLSearchHook: Yahoo! Toolbar - {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn0\yt.dll
O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost
O2 - BHO: &Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - {02478D38-C3F9-4efb-9B51-7695ECA05670} - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn0\yt.dll
O2 - BHO: HP Print Enhancer - {0347C33E-8762-4905-BF09-768834316C61} - C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\Smart Web Printing\hpswp_printenhancer.dll
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: Spybot-S&D IE Protection - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {5C255C8A-E604-49b4-9D64-90988571CECB} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: Symantec NCO BHO - {602ADB0E-4AFF-4217-8AA1-95DAC4DFA408} - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Engine\16.8.0.41\coIEPlg.dll
O2 - BHO: Symantec Intrusion Prevention - {6D53EC84-6AAE-4787-AEEE-F4628F01010C} - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Engine\16.8.0.41\IPSBHO.DLL
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: Windows Live Sign-in Helper - {9030D464-4C02-4ABF-8ECC-5164760863C6} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live\WindowsLiveLogin.dll
O2 - BHO: Browser Address Error Redirector - {CA6319C0-31B7-401E-A518-A07C3DB8F777} - C:\PROGRA~1\GOOGLE~1\BAE.dll
O2 - BHO: SingleInstance Class - {FDAD4DA1-61A2-4FD8-9C17-86F7AC245081} - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn0\YTSingleInsta nce.dll
O2 - BHO: HP Smart BHO Class - {FFFFFFFF-CF4E-4F2B-BDC2-0E72E116A856} - C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\Smart Web Printing\hpswp_BHO.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Norton Toolbar - {7FEBEFE3-6B19-4349-98D2-FFB09D4B49CA} - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Engine\16.8.0.41\coIEPlg.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Yahoo! Toolbar - {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn0\yt.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Defender] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe -hide
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Apoint] C:\Program Files\Apoint\Apoint.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VAIOCameraUtility] "C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Camera Utility\VCUServe.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ISBMgr.exe] "C:\Program Files\Sony\ISB Utility\ISBMgr.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AppMon Utility] "C:\Program Files\Sony\AppMonUtil\AppMonUtility.exe" @@@Start
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Symantec PIF AlertEng] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\PIF\{B8E1DD85-8582-4c61-B58F-2F227FCA9A08}\PIFSvc.exe" /a /m "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\PIF\{B8E1DD85-8582-4c61-B58F-2F227FCA9A08}\AlertEng.dll"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IAAnotif] "C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Iaanotif.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [hpqSRMon] C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqSRMon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Software Update] C:\Program Files\HP\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Sidebar] C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe /autoRun
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ehTray.exe] C:\Windows\ehome\ehTray.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SpybotSD TeaTimer] C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [msnmsgr] "C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger\msnmsgr.exe" /background
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [WMPNSCFG] C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\WMPNSCFG.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Bluetooth Manager.lnk = ?
O4 - Global Startup: HP Digital Imaging Monitor.lnk = C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqtra08.exe
O4 - Global Startup: NETGEAR WG511v2 Smart Wizard.lnk = C:\Program Files\NETGEAR\WG511v2\WG511v2.exe
O4 - Global Startup: NETGEAR WPN111 Smart Wizard.lnk = ?
O8 - Extra context menu item: Add RSS Support Site to VAIO Information FLOW - C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Information FLOW\aiesc.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Append Link Target to Existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppendSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\npjpi160.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\npjpi160.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: Show or hide HP Smart Web Printing - {DDE87865-83C5-48c4-8357-2F5B1AA84522} - C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\Smart Web Printing\hpswp_BHO.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Spybot - Search & Destroy Configuration - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O13 - Gopher Prefix:
O18 - Protocol: symres - {AA1061FE-6C41-421F-9344-69640C9732AB} - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Engine\16.8.0.41\coIEPlg.dll
O23 - Service: Adobe Active File Monitor V5 (AdobeActiveFileMonitor5.0) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 5.0\PhotoshopElementsFileAgent.exe
O23 - Service: Apple Mobile Device - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
O23 - Service: Automatic LiveUpdate Scheduler - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec\LiveUpdate\ALUSchedulerSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Bonjour Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Lic NetConnect service (CLTNetCnService) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSvcHst.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: FlipShare Service - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Flip Video\FlipShare\FlipShareService.exe
O23 - Service: Intel(R) Matrix Storage Event Monitor (IAANTMON) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Iaantmon.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\1150\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: IviRegMgr - InterVideo - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InterVideo\RegMgr\iviRegMgr.exe
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate - Symantec Corporation - C:\PROGRA~1\Symantec\LIVEUP~1\LUCOMS~1.EXE
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate Notice Service Ex (LiveUpdate Notice Ex) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSvcHst.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate Notice Service - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\PIF\{B8E1DD85-8582-4c61-B58F-2F227FCA9A08}\PIFSvc.exe
O23 - Service: MSCSPTISRV - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\AvLib\MSCSPTISRV.exe
O23 - Service: Norton Internet Security - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Engine\16.8.0.41\ccSvcHst.exe
O23 - Service: PACSPTISVR - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\AvLib\PACSPTISVR.exe
O23 - Service: Sony SPTI Service (SPTISRV) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\AvLib\SPTISRV.exe
O23 - Service: SonicStage SCSI Service (SSScsiSV) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\AvLib\SSScsiSV.exe
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA Bluetooth Service - TOSHIBA CORPORATION - C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\TosBtSrv.exe
O23 - Service: Ulead Burning Helper (UleadBurningHelper) - Ulead Systems, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ulead Systems\DVD\ULCDRSvr.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Entertainment TV Device Arbitration Service - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\VAIO Entertainment Platform\VzCs\VzHardwareResourceManager\VzHardware ResourceManager.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Event Service - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Event Service\VESMgr.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Media Integrated Server (VAIOMediaPlatform-IntegratedServer-AppServer) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Media Integrated Server\VMISrv.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Media Integrated Server (HTTP) (VAIOMediaPlatform-IntegratedServer-HTTP) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Media Integrated Server\Platform\SV_Httpd.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Media Integrated Server (UPnP) (VAIOMediaPlatform-IntegratedServer-UPnP) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Media Integrated Server\Platform\UPnPFramework.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Media Gateway Server (VAIOMediaPlatform-Mobile-Gateway) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Media Integrated Server\Platform\VmGateway.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Media Content Collection (VAIOMediaPlatform-UCLS-AppServer) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Media Integrated Server\UCLS.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Media Content Collection (HTTP) (VAIOMediaPlatform-UCLS-HTTP) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Media Integrated Server\Platform\SV_Httpd.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Media Content Collection (UPnP) (VAIOMediaPlatform-UCLS-UPnP) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Media Integrated Server\Platform\UPnPFramework.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Entertainment UPnP Client Adapter (Vcsw) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\VAIO Entertainment Platform\VCSW\VCSW.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Entertainment Database Service (VzCdbSvc) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\VAIO Entertainment Platform\VzCdb\VzCdbSvc.exe
O23 - Service: VAIO Entertainment File Import Service (VzFw) - Sony Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\VAIO Entertainment Platform\VzCdb\VzFw.exe
O23 - Service: XAudioService - Conexant Systems, Inc. - C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\xaudio.exe
O23 - Service: Yahoo! Updater (YahooAUService) - Yahoo! Inc. - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\SoftwareUpdate\YahooAUService.exe

STOP code is 0x0000007F (might be more zeroes in the middle but it rebooted faster than I could type in the netbook)

The Vaio driver patcher thingy cleans off old drivers automatically before putting new ones on, although for some reason until you complete 2nd part of the process it claims you've got a standard VGA (hey, no school like the old school).

The original errors this morning pointed to a fail in nvlddmkdm.sys, which I tracked down and replaced from the stock packages in the DRIVERS folder.