Multiple BSOD errors started recently

Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Nvidia GTX 570
ASUS P8Z77-V-LK
Intel i7-3770k 3.50 GHz
PSU: OCZ 700W

Poking around the internet makes it seem like this is a rather common occurrence. Starting Monday (I think) I started getting artifacts all over my screen then my computer would crash and restart (sometimes the artifacts would persist during the boot screens, which would force multiple restarts before I could even log into Windows). I was not in any situation with heavy loads on either the CPU or GPU. This happened multiple times. Eventually, it started giving me a BSOD and one of these three codes: "DCP WATCHDOG VIOLATION", "TRD VIDEO FAILURE", or "DRIVER IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL". Of all the dumps I got, the consensus from WhoCrashed is that it's the Nvidia kernel driver nvlddmkm.sys (in some cases it was dxgmms2.sys). My drivers were up to date at that point.

Two days ago I was told by the Nvidia chat "support" to use Revouninstaller and roll back my drivers to those from December, which I did. It took a lot longer, and it didn't actually crash, but I got artifacts again, the screen froze then flickered and came back, and then an error message came up saying that my Nvidia kernel driver had stopped working and recovered. At that point, I turned off for the night and went to bed. Yesterday I was able to use my computer for several hours without any problems, but just as I was about to turn in, it artifacted and crashed with a BSOD and one of those three codes above (can't remember which).

One post about a similar error piqued my interest as it mentioned an infection, so I ran a full scan using Windows Defender. It got about halfway done, then stopped. I couldn't start it again (gave error 0x8007139f). After a restart it would scan, but I'm convinced it didn't finish again (I was working on my laptop while it was scanning so I wasn't paying complete attention, but what took 30 minutes to get halfway before, "finished" in less than 10 minutes). I'm not convinced it's an infection yet, but I guess it's another things to check for if it turns out WinDef isn't cutting it.

Attachment 67724

Daemon tools, Alcohol 120% and Power Archiver Pro uses SCSI Pass Through Direct (SPTD), which is a well known cause for BSOD's.
Please remove Daemon Tools and run the SPTD pass through remover.

1. Uninstall Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120%
2. Download the SPTD standalone installer and follow these steps:
   
   • Double click the executable to open it
   • Click on the button shown below

If the button is grayed out, like in the image, there is no more SPTD installation on your system, and you can close the window

Please update your BIOS to version 1402
P8Z77-V LK | Motherboards | ASUS Global


If this doesn't help, I would suggest to clean reinstall the display drivers
Please uninstall everything of Nvidia using Display Driver Uninstaller and install new drivers from Nvidia. Be sure the clean install box is checked and only install the Graphics driver and the PhysX driver.
Attachment 67923

Could you please check in C:\WINDOWS\system32\Drivers\ for the sptd2.sys file to ensure it is gone.
In the past there has been a lot of trouble removing this version of the driver.

The artifacts could be from the drivers, update/reinstall/downgrade could help.

What is your PSU?
If anything is OC'ed, revert back to stock while troubleshooting.

Regarding your BIOS, I can't tell if it is updated.

Code:

BIOS Version:              American Megatrends Inc. 1402, 3/21/2014

Attachment 68422

Please upload a new zip if you're still getting BSOD's.