Struggling with NVLDDMKM.SYS TDR errors that cause your PC to freeze or restart when you're just browsing the web, watching videos, or doing nothing at all? This project aims to solve that problem with a small, lightweight tool that runs quietly in the background and helps keep your graphics card active enough to avoid problematic low-power states. It creates a tiny off-screen Direct3D 11 rendering workload once every 2 minutes.
✅CRASHING DURING IDLE & WATCHING VIDEOS
YES! This is exactly what the tool is designed for. Use it if your PC crashes while browsing, watching videos, or performing other lightweight tasks.
❌CRASHING DURING GAMING AND HIGH LOADS
NO! GPUKeepAlive will not help you in this scenario. This tool is unlikely to help if your crashes happen mainly during gaming or high GPU loads.
GPUKeepAlive is a small Windows background utility. It creates a tiny off-screen Direct3D 11 rendering workload once every 2 minutes. There is no visible render window. The intention is to discourage some GPUs/drivers from entering their lowest idle states.
Download GPUKeepAlive from GitHub: https://github.com/cafali/GPUKeepAlive/releases
Note
This is an experiment/workaround, NOT a repair for a faulty GPU, power supply, motherboard, driver, firmware, or PCIe connection. It cannot promise to prevent TDRs, freezes, or restarts. It may increase idle power use. Stop it if temperatures, power use, noise, or stability get worse. Do not use this tool instead of diagnosing a recurring hardware fault.
This software was created to address a frustrating and difficult-to-diagnose NVIDIA GPU stability issue, commonly associated with NVLDDMKM.SYS TDR errors. After extensive hardware replacements, driver changes, BIOS updates, and software troubleshooting failed to resolve random system freezes during low-power scenarios, a different approach was needed. The core idea is to develop a lightweight background application that keeps the GPU in a more stable power state by maintaining minimal GPU activity through a virtually invisible DirectX 3D workload. The application is designed to run automatically in the background, consume as few system resources as possible, and require virtually no user interaction. Ultimately, the goal is to provide a simple, portable, open-source solution that may prevent GPU driver resets caused by problematic low-power state transitions.
Caution
This solution is not guaranteed to work for everyone, as NVLDDMKM.SYS TDR errors can have different causes and occur under different conditions, including gaming and high GPU loads. This approach is specifically designed for users experiencing the opposite scenario: GPU crashes during low-power states, idle usage, or lightweight tasks such as watching videos, browsing the web, or using the desktop normally. The software aims to address this particular behavior by preventing the GPU from entering potentially problematic lowest-power states.
- Download or build the application yourself
- Right-click Setup.bat and choose Run as administrator
- Choose 1 for tray icon or 0 for hidden background operation
- Setup copies the app to %ProgramData%\GPUKeepAlive and creates a Task Scheduler logon task using the interactive logged-in user (not SYSTEM)
- setup.log records installation path, time, and tray selection
Run Uninstall.bat as administrator to remove the scheduled task and installed folder.
Note
The portable executable can also be run directly without setup. (NOT RECOMMENDED)
LOGOUT or RESTART your PC, GPUKeepAlive.exe should start automatically via Task Scheduler. It starts in the background. If tray.ini says Tray=1, a notification-area icon is shown.
Right-click it for Info or Exit. Info opens the README file. If Tray=0, it runs without a tray icon; use Task Manager to exit it.
[General] Tray=1
Set Tray=1 to show the icon, or Tray=0 to hide it. Restart the app after edits.
- NVIDIA GPU (GTX, RTX, ...)
- Windows 10/11 x64, a working Direct3D 11-capable graphics driver.
My problems started after upgrading to a newer GPU. Since then, I've been experiencing random system freezes and restarts related to NVLDDMKM.SYS TDR errors. What makes this issue particularly strange is that it almost never happens while gaming or running GPU-intensive applications. Instead, it happens during everyday activities such as watching YouTube or Twitch, browsing the internet, or simply leaving the PC idle.
I've spent countless hours troubleshooting, replacing hardware, testing different GPUs and power supplies, reinstalling Windows, changing drivers, updating BIOS versions, and trying various software-based fixes. Nothing has permanently solved the problem.
Based on my personal observations and my NVLDDMKM.SYS scenario, I suspect the problem might be related to how NVIDIA GPUs handle certain low-power states on my particular hardware configuration. The system appears to be stable under higher GPU loads but becomes unpredictable when the GPU is barely being used.
This observation became the starting point for this project: instead of continuing to troubleshoot drivers and hardware endlessly, I wanted to try a different approach – keeping the GPU slightly active in the background to potentially avoid problematic low-power transitions.
My hope is that this project can help others experiencing the same frustrating issue. If you're dealing with similar crashes, I hope this little tool makes a difference in your case and saves you some of the time, frustration, and endless troubleshooting I've been through.
This software is fully open source and does not connect to the internet, communicate with external servers, or collect, store, or transmit any personal information or user data. Everything runs locally on your computer. No tracking, no telemetry, no analytics, and no hidden background communication.