[PestoPosta]

Ok so here is where I am. I have an anlienware M17x. I have had it for quite a while and it has always run a little hot.
So the people over at Dell upgraded me to shinny new Nividia GTX280M from my old ati radeon 4850 (pretty sure that is the one)

Now it runs cool as a cucumber, but the problem is the card crashes and I get
"Display driver nividia windows kernel mode driver version 257.38 has stopped responding and has successfully recovered"
on the little recovery window, and in the event viewer I get,
"The atksgt service failed to start due to the following error: This driver has been blocked from loading"
and
"Driver atksgt.sys has been blocked from loading."

I've done all I can think of to fix this so now I turn to you for help.

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PestoPosta

Have you tried rolling back to an earlier version of the drivers, please see Here

[phillpower2]

PestoPosta

Have you tried rolling back to an earlier version of the drivers, please see Here

[PestoPosta]

Thanks for the welcome.

No I have not I was under the impression that alienware had proprietary drivers for their machines.
Nor am I using the most up to date. At least I am fairly sure it is not it is version 8.17.12.5738
That is actually something that has always bugged me about this system is I cannot update my drivers. >_<

Thanks for the quick response by the way.

[phillpower2]

You are welcome and thanks for the update PestoPosta

You are correct in that Dell are choosy about their drivers and primarily the order of installation http://www.dell.com/...0401E0A55174744 the present driver 257.38 is around 3 years old (I now know) and so it is worth checking if a newer Nvidea provided one is available/resolves the issue.

Check for a Dell one seeHere if no joy try see what the Nvidea auto search suggests, be sure to always create a new restore point before installing any new drivers/software.

[PestoPosta]

So I do have a question if I install the driver from Navidia will that cause issues on the comp,
and 2 if it does would a system restore fix the problem?
The Tech people are recommending I do a clean install which I would like to avoid since I lack the ability or possibly
the know how to make an easy means of restoring the comp after the clean install.

I will check to see if there is a shine new driver for the card in the mean time
The newest version seems to be "320.49 - WHQL" that is off the navidia sight.

Edited by PestoPosta, 01 September 2013 - 09:44 PM.

[phillpower2]

Hello PestoPosta

So I do have a question if I install the driver from Navidia will that cause issues on the comp,

This cannot be answered 100% yes or no and that is why creating a new restore point before you start is always recommended.
What you do is create your restore point, download and save to somewhere that you will remember the latest drivers for the video device from both Nvidea and Dell, uninstall the present drivers in the device manager, restart the computer, install the Nvidea drivers and see how it goes, if you are still having issues you uninstall the Nvidea drivers, restart the computer and then install the fresh Dell drivers and again see how it goes.

GTG will only recommend a fresh install if all other options have not resolved the issue or if it is blindingly obvious that it is what is required, IMO it is too early to recommend a fresh installation of the OS.

The newest version seems to be "320.49 - WHQL" that is off the navidia sight.

Was this a manual or an Nvidea automatic search.

[PestoPosta]

Ok cool
The restore point will save the day if things go airy.
Forgive my paranoia, but these crashes are really bad timing for me. >_<

Ok as it happens I already have the "current" driver from Dell.
I did the auto detect on Nividia sight and it tells me to go to Dell.

The earliest driver on a manual search is Geforce 296.10 (which I am downloading as I type)

Yeah I totally agree it is too early to do a system wipe that is why I am talking to you folks.

Well wish me luck I am going for the to install the Nividia driver, right after I post this.

Also I have done some digging around and it would seem that this atksgt.sys is attached to this
http://en.wikipedia....org/wiki/Tagès
Don't know if that helps anything or not

[PestoPosta]

Ok so the two drivers I grabbed from Nvidia would not even let me install them.

So uninstalled and reinstalled the Dell driver. (Hoping that will help)

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update PestoPosta

Yes I am aware of where the atksgt.sys should be found but unfortunately some unscrupulous people have apparently also exploited it, please see Here for what I refer to, this is just a FYI and I am in no way suggesting that your computer is infected

Good work on the drivers as at least you know that the Dell drivers are the correct ones as old as they are, perhaps the techs didn`t do a good job on reinstalling them, only time will tell but good luck and keep us posted please.

[PestoPosta]

Yeah I am aware of that two, I am on the tech savvy side, but paranoid side of things,
but no where near as savvy as I'd like to be. XD
I would be fairly surprised if something slipped in, as I run a fairly tight ship...

I am pretty sure there is something conflicting between the old ati
driver and the new nvidia. (Yes the ati drivers have been uninstalled )
The tech people did to a uninstall and reinstall, but did not do a driver sweep when it was done, which I did this time, so lets hope my sacrifices to Cthulhu work this time.

And again thanks for the help.
Oh they do have a couple of older drivers available, not sure if that will help of not.

On an unrelated... or possibly related note do you know how, or know of how to get the latest drivers installed?

Edited by PestoPosta, 03 September 2013 - 01:44 PM.

[phillpower2]

I would see how it goes with the clean install as that be all that was needed (it may have been rushed by the techs).

Installing Alienware video drivers

[PestoPosta]

Here is hoping

I am sure you will hear from me if it was not. XD

[phillpower2]

Best of luck

[PestoPosta]

Well it has been around two days now, and no crashes so far, and I have done what I normally do, so *fingers crossed*

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update