ID: 5149
This knowledgebase article discusses how to collect logs to share with NVIDIA in order diagnose a display issue under Microsoft Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Types of symptoms:
- Random desktop display flicker
- Black screen
- No signal from one of connected displays following a driver update
- Display properties missing resolution/refresh rate
- Incorrect desktop color levels following a driver update
Required logs:
- Full kernel memory dump - You will be required to manually force a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) crash which will save a kernel memory dump file to your hard drive. For more information about kernel memory dump files, click here
- Dispdiag - Logs display information to a file. For more information, click here.
Steps:
1. First, Back up the Windows Registry manually as described in the Microsoft FAQ below: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/322756/how-to-back-up-and-restore-the-registry-in-windows
2. Download the registry file force-kernel-dump.reg from the Attachments section at the bottom of this page
3. Import the registry file force-kernel-dump.reg into Windows by double-clicking on it and accepting when prompted for confirmation.
4. You must reboot your PC for these changes to take effect.
5. Please note: The next step will initiate a manual crash. If you are working on a project/game/etc, you will lose any unsaved progress.
6. Reproduce the display issue. As soon as you reproduce/see the issue, you can use your keyboard to initiate a manual crash dump by holding down the left CTRL (Control) and the right CTRL (Control) keys on your keyboard and while holding these keys, press the D key twice. This will force a crash and reboot of your PC.
7. Once your PC reboots, check if Windows was able to record the kernel memory dump file. You will find the file memory.dmp in the location %SystemRoot%\. For most users, the file will be located at:
c:\windows\memory.dmp
8. The memory.dmp file will be quite larger (depending on the amount of system ram on your PC). We recommend compressing it to reduce the file size. Right-click over the memory.dmp file and in the context pop-up menu, select Send to -> Compresed (zipped folder).
Please note: If the bug is monitor specific, we may also need you to capture a second Windows manual crash dump file by rolling back to a previous working NVIDIA Game Ready Driver/Studio Driver to compare how the monitor behaves with a working driver and non-working driver. You may find previous drivers from our Software Downloads Archive page. Once you have rolled back to the previous working driver and can confirm you are no longer able to reproduce the bug, proceed to manually capture a new Windows crash dump file using the hotkey outlined in step 6. Windows manual crash dump files with working and non-working drivers are useful for the following types of monitor specific issues:
-Native monitor resolution or refresh rate of monitor is missing after a driver update
-Brightness controls cannot be adjusted on notebook display
-No signal from the monitor after a driver update
9. Upload the compressed zip file to a file sharing service such as Google Drive, Micrososoft OneDrive, etc..
10. To restore your PC crash dump settings, import the backup registry file you created in step 1. If you did not back up your registry, you can restore your crash dump settings to the Windows 10 default values by importing the registry file default-dump.reg from the Attachments section at the bottom of this page.
11. Next we will collect a dispdiag log file. Press the Windows key and the letter "R" on your keyboard at the same time to bring up the Run window.
12. In the Open field, type the following command:
dispdiag -out %userprofile%\Desktop\dispdiag-nvidia.dat
13. Press the OK button to proceed
14. On your Windows Desktop, you should see a new file labeled dispdiag-nvidia.dat.
Submitting the log files to NVIDIA:
To share the log files, create a a new email addressed to driverfeedback@nvidia.com and include the following:
- Graphics card make and model:
- PC desktop or notebook make and model (ignore if using a custom built PC:
- Monitor(s) make and model connected to your graphics card. Include how each of the displays are connected and if there are any devices in between (eg. HDMI/DisplayPort/USB-C to HDMI dongle/audio video receiver):
- URL to download the kernel memory dump file uploaded to a file sharing site in step 9. Please verify permissions for the file to permit us to download the file.
- Attach the dispdiag log file created in step 14 to the email:
- Description of the issue:
- Regression info (eg. did issue start after updating the display driver/for G-SYNC monitor, do you see the issue if G-SYNC is disabled/does issue occur with HDR on/off):
- Windows 10/Windows 11 version:
If you require technical support, you may reach our NVIDIA Customer Care team via email or chat at:
Attachments
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File Type regforce-kernel-dump.reg (1.43 KB)
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File Type regdefault-dump.reg (1.17 KB)