Steam Overlay causes entire PC to freeze and black screen when used while gaming

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Tea Garden 22 May @ 5:44pm

Workaround provided by Valve

Launch Steam with the -disable-overlay-gpu-pri option. If you do not know how to launch Steam with options, then visit this guide

As the title of the topic suggests, this is a critical issue that appeared less than a week ago. I initially noticed this while playing CS2, I always look through my teammates' profiles when preparing for a match, and during this I got a complete system freeze, no any key combination worked and even the mouse cursor froze, after which the entire image disappeared and the screen turned black without the possibility of recovery, but at the same time I can hear all the sounds. And only rebooting via the button on the PC case helps.

I created a topic on the CS2 forum where I received answers from several people with different hardware about the same issue: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/app/730/discussions/0/594023708174121698/

What I have managed to understand during this time:

1. This does not happen always. For example it may not happen during the preparation for the match, but if you use the overlay during the game, you can still encounter a complete freeze of the computer and a subsequent black screen

2. The Discord overlay for some reason can save from this, I was not able to reproduce this with the Discord overlay enabled (most likely the Nvidia overlay can also "fix" this)

3. Probably this is not related to the Nvidia drivers, because I am not using the latest driver version (576.02), and I did not update the drivers before this started. And also people with a different driver version wrote about same issue.

4. According to the answer of a person from the forum, this happens not only with CS2, but also with other games

5. After rebooting the computer, I see a lot of "nvlddmkm" errors in the Event Log, which directly indicate the loss of image and a driver failure

6. This is due to Steam update and possibly some conflict with Windows 11 24H2

Initially, I did not understand that this issue was widespread and tried to exclude the problem with my computer: all my games work fine, the temperatures of the GPU/CPU are good, tests in OCCT also passed without any errors, and I was also able to easily reproduce this on another computer in the same game (CS2).

I just hope this issue will be noticed and fixed as soon as possible, because it seems to me that this is a rather critical bug.

Update

For those who installed the update KB5058499 for Windows 11 24H2, please let me know if this issue is fixed after the update

Several people confirmed that the KB5058499 update did not solve this issue, also using Windows 10 instead of Windows 11 24H2 also does not solve it. Therefore, this is the fault of the Steam Client, Valve needs to notice all of us.

Update 2:

I received a new response from Steam support, where they told me that they forwarded my report to the developers and that we all should follow the updates. However, for some reason they will reproduce this issue in CS2, probably because I said that I initially noticed this issue in this game, I don't know but ok.

Brief info for those who are new here so that people don't have to reread a lot of pages

It is the Steam Overlay that crashes the driver, which is why the screen freezes and then there is a black screen without losing the monitor signal, this is what "nvlddmkm" errors means in this case.
If it was the driver's fault, people with a driver that came out in 2022 wouldn't write that they have the same issue. If it was on the Windows side, people wouldn't be writing that they have Windows 10 and the same issue started happening at the same time as users of the latest Windows 11 24H2 (And I want to remind that Windows 10 hasn't received any updates other than security updates for a long time). Therefore, this is the fault of the Steam client update for May 20 (or most likely the previous update before May 20).

Last edited by Tea Garden; 20 Jun @ 2:02pm

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Originally posted by mikela:

Hi, this nVidia driver issue may be triggered by a workaround that runs in the Steam client while the overlay is active that increases the graphics priority of the overlay renderer. This is required in some configurations where the Windows Hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling setting is enabled.

Please try launching Steam with the -disable-overlay-gpu-pri option and see if this still occurs.

If that seems to resolve it for most of you we'll try to work with nVidia to get their driver fixed, as this is ultimately a driver bug.

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Showing 1-15 of 617 comments

Nikusui 😗 22 May @ 9:10pm

I have the same issue as you regarding the steam overlay, which happened recently as well.
Mine was after some amount of time of using the steam browser, it would freezes the system.
Sound (from video) would continue to run normally, but none of the keys would work. Ctrl+alt+delete would also fail to work and bring you to the task manager prompt.
I am updated on Nvidia driver version 576.40, and on Win 11.

Last edited by Nikusui 😗; 22 May @ 9:11pm

Wertysd 22 May @ 11:01pm

Also facing the same issue, for now I have just disabled in-game overlay to prevent myself from opening it as a force of habit.

Not related to a specific game, as I have experienced the issue with multiple different games.

Also seeing loads of nvlddmkm errors in Event viewer. Ran DDU and installed older version of Nvidia drivers to no avail.

Last edited by Wertysd; 22 May @ 11:05pm

󠁳⁧⁧vip4r 23 May @ 12:34am

I think the problem is not caused by Nvidia or the processor but by Steam itself. I am using an AMD processor and I have the same problem. I am using the latest version of Nvidia, but the person in the title stated that the error occurs when using the old version. Disabling Overlay seems to be the only solution for now.

Also, I deleted the graphics driver with DDU and reinstalled the latest version but the problem persists.

Last edited by 󠁳⁧⁧vip4r; 23 May @ 12:35am

󠁳⁧⁧vip4r 23 May @ 1:09am

Originally posted by Iceira:
Yes but above user mention alot of "nvlddmkm errors in Event viewer. " and that might be other issue or part of the problem.

Also turn it off have other issue, with steam service, some games use that to achivements, so NO not possible for many to turn it off.

And we are back at contact steam support. or try steam bete if they made a hot fix , and flip out of beta if they have not. ( you are only in steam beta if you have a problem they have fixed as hot fix. ) imo.

We have seen stay in beta later can give other issue.

My steam client is in the normal version, not beta, and the problem persists.
I have the error "nvlddmkm" in event viewer.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/app/730/discussions/0/594023708174121698/ And in this thread I can see people who have had this problem for the last week.

Tea Garden 23 May @ 2:26am

Originally posted by 󠁳⁧⁧vip4r:
I think the problem is not caused by Nvidia or the processor but by Steam itself. I am using an AMD processor and I have the same problem. I am using the latest version of Nvidia, but the person in the title stated that the error occurs when using the old version. Disabling Overlay seems to be the only solution for now.

Also, I deleted the graphics driver with DDU and reinstalled the latest version but the problem persists.

Hello, there is no need to do DDU, this issue is not related to drivers as I said in the post, because people with different driver versions also talked about it. This issue is related to the latest Steam update on May 20, after that something broke. My thoughts are that something conflicts with Windows 11, because in the latest stable versions of Windows 11 there are some problems with MPO (MultiPlane Overlay). I have already reported this issue to Steam support.

We need to wait for a fix from Valve.

Tea Garden 23 May @ 2:30am

Originally posted by Wertysd:
Also facing the same issue, for now I have just disabled in-game overlay to prevent myself from opening it as a force of habit.

Not related to a specific game, as I have experienced the issue with multiple different games.

Also seeing loads of nvlddmkm errors in Event viewer. Ran DDU and installed older version of Nvidia drivers to no avail.

Yes, disabling the overlay is a necessary thing now, I also sometimes open it out of habit

And yes, you don't need to do DDU, as I explained in the answer above.

SweatyFeetGirl 23 May @ 2:35am

I crashed with multiple nvidia driver versions and every time i check the memory dump its the same error. Its nvidia related specifically something with the steam overlay. I only got a generic response from the steam support about contacting microsoft..

Syle 23 May @ 2:50am

Same issue today

Kharnath 23 May @ 3:07am

having the same issues.

citizen.empire 23 May @ 3:26am

I just had a similar issue. Posted shortly before seeing your post. Nothing I change in my AMD or NVidia settings will change that either, saw some folks recommend that. Was playing just fine for about an hour in before it started. Now it will only open games in a window on the corner of the screen. Can't even change the window size.

#10

Tea Garden 23 May @ 4:49am

Originally posted by Iceira:
Try past nvidia driver, only thing i can say here there was a nvidia driver update yesterday for me. maybe its that driver you have issue with.

As fare as i know steam has not had a update or maintaence day in tuesday as the always do

but gl with it. if that even a help here.

Learn to read the topic and messages, and not generate random messages. I have suspicions that you are just an AI for the forum.

#11

Tea Garden 23 May @ 5:34am

Originally posted by Iceira:
Originally posted by Tea Garden:
Learn to read the topic and messages, and not generate random messages. I have suspicions that you are just an AI for the forum.

Learn to read post is not reply to you.its another user, and if you notice steam did not made update, nvidia did , you got this after tuesday maintaence day and not all team user has this.
and maybe even not related other then steam server glitch, according to you.

But go ahead OP talk with the other user, because you cant fix it. ( you hope for steam fix this , so you can brag fix by steam and i did nothing, someday that will bite you in the butt.

You made post a day before in CS that still fare away from tuesday steam server maintaence, what will you do if steam say sorry the error is not steam. then you are in trouble. tuesday to thusday thats 24-48 hour past, most steam own server glitch is fixed with 24 hours.

but hey gl with it.

Okay, now I understand that you are not an AI for the forum, but just some weirdo boy who was offended because you were asked not to flood about drivers and not to introduce misinformation. And now you switched to me and started blaming me for something, as if I created the current issue, and not the Steam update on the 20th, although I just shared all the information I managed to understand so that people would not worry that something was wrong with their PCs.
I understand you, chill and drink some hot tea, you do not need to be so negative about random people if something upset you.
Btw thanks for awards.

#12

SweatyFeetGirl 23 May @ 5:47am

Originally posted by Iceira:
Steam is not going to fix your overlay issue with other overlay app, but this is not the case according to you, its steam that cause this, and yet it work for millions of other steam users, this is what you dont get. and i swiatch this to you, no you did that to yourself with last reply, because you only want help and actual have no clue or try with other ideas that can cause this. ( we other can see you are much more happy with let us jsut bliam steam for current overlay issue. ) and atm who know what cause this.

do you realize its not a coincidence that thousands of people are having this issue since 2-3 days? this isnt the place to give a generic tech support ai bot ahh reply .

#13

SweatyFeetGirl 23 May @ 6:57am

Originally posted by Iceira:
Originally posted by SweatyFeetGirl:
do you realize its not a coincidence that thousands of people are having this issue since 2-3 days? this isnt the place to give a generic tech support ai bot ahh reply .

make steam ticket, all we can say here, byebye.

i did and they gave a generic reply.

#14

Booty-Scooty 23 May @ 12:49pm

I have been having this issue as well, recently updated drivers and thought that might've been the issue, but then I rolled back the driver updates a couple times and it keeps happening on any steam game I play when I shift-tab. Not all the time but sometimes.

#15

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Date Posted: 22 May @ 5:44pm

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