Issues with NVIDIA drivers on HP 8540w

I have recently had many issues with my HP 8540W and NVIDIA drivers both on Windows 7 and Windows 8 – the issues varied from having black outs to getting blue screens with errors such as WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR.

I think (yes – only think) I was able to overcome this issue. All you have to do is follow couple of simple steps – ever since I have done this all my issues are gone.

1. Before you install the drivers, go to power options and click on “Change plan settings” on any power plan
2. Click on “Change advanced power settings”
3. For each power option (in the dropdown list) disable the “Link State Power Management” options (on battery and plugged in) under PCI Express – make sure you change this for all power options in the dropdown list (balanced, high performance, power saver and any others that are available)
   
   
4. Install the latest NVIDIA Drivers
5. After installing the drivers and before rebooting, for each power option disable the “NVIDIA Display Power Saving technology” under Display for both “On battery” and “Plugged in” options – make sure you change this for all power options in the dropdown list (balanced, high performance, power saver and any others that are available)
6. Reboot and enjoy

Just a quick note – I was able to test these steps and the result was success both on my and couple of other systems.  Follow them at your own risk but before you do, make sure you have a good working image backup of your system just in case you want to undo the changes.

Comments

• Anonymous
  July 06, 2012
  Wonderful, i had the same problem with my 8540w and this solved my problems......thanks alot!!!!!

• Anonymous
  July 12, 2012
  I am also getting the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR on my 8540w and beleive it is due to the nvidia driver.  I'd be willing to try your fix but I get the error during the install of win8.  Since this is before I can configure anything I am not sure what to try next.

• Anonymous
  July 12, 2012
  Hi Jamesvac, In your case I'd try downloading and installing the 285.62 version from NVIDIA's web site.

• Anonymous
  July 12, 2012
  @HakOmaN - thanks but that wouldn't work as it happens during the install.  Once it occurs I cannot do anything as it is stuck in the "repair loop". I will keep trying the install and see if I can get past the initial error to give it a try.

• Anonymous
  July 12, 2012
  The error happens either as part of the install (in which case you are hosed) or after the first reboot after a successful install.  Not sure how to control it or if it is just random, but if you can get that first clean install there is hope. After a few installs today I got a clean one and tried the above.  I also added to the instructions above: creating a restore point AND a custom driver install vs. Express and turned off everything but the video driver. I am happy to report that I am back to running Windows 8 on my HP 8540w!  :)

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2012
  installing 304.79 beta-driver solved the problem for me : www.nvidia.com/.../win8-win7-winvista-32bit-304.79-beta-driver.html

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2012
  Thanks for the update @marc I have also tried the 304.79 version and it works like a charm

• Anonymous
  July 28, 2012
  Nah, doesn't work for me at all. Same WHEA errors.

• Anonymous
  August 09, 2012
  Doesn't work for me either.  Also, the 304.79 driver referenced above is the desktop driver and won't install on my 8540w.

• Anonymous
  August 09, 2012
  This link to 304.79 seems to point to the right driver, although I haven't tried installing it yet: www.nvidia.com/.../notebook-win8-win7-winvista-64bit-304.79-beta-driver.html

• Anonymous
  August 09, 2012
  @Sean You are right, the previous link is for 32bit drivers, I have been using the 64 bit one and so far it is all working fine.

• Anonymous
  October 15, 2012
  Worked for me too in RTM Build (9200) Nvidia driver 3.06.97 ( www.nvidia.com/.../win8-win7-winvista-64bit-306.97-whql-driver-all.html ) Windows 8 RTM + GA Patch

• Anonymous
  November 06, 2012
  Thanks for this post and thanks to the commenters. I was stuck in a blue-screen loop (WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR) and the minidump was pointing to the nvidia drivers.  I had 3.06.97 installed.  I reverted back to 3.04.97, and it is working for me...for now.