Kevin2400 -- you are amazing for piecing this together! It has been driving me crazy since the DisplayLink driver was included in the updates on July 9th. I am running Eset NOD32 6.0.308.0 and have been experiencing the same Blue Screens with BCCode 18. It happens mainly when I close programs by clicking the "X" button to the upper right of the program's window. I really like having my DisplayLink and Eset! I hope a fix is possible so they play nicely together!

I found that I don't have any problem when using ESET NOD32 4.2.76.

It appears that reverting DisplayLink (for those that actually need it) to Ver 6.1.3 is working in my environment with ESET 5.0.2126 and 2214. Have to make sure DisplayLink doesn't autoupdate though!

I have been having the same problem for the last week and reached the same conclusion as you this evening. I had been tearing my hair out today after losing count of the number of crashes. I have changed memory modules, drives, worked through recent Windows updates etc and then started looking at what I use that is "out of the ordinary" given the lack of reports online. That was when I remembered having similar issues when ESET first introduced HIPS in Version 5 (change log here: http://www.eset.co.uk/Download/ChangeLog/EAVB).

Now, if what you have said is stable (DisplayLink 6.1.3 with ESET 5.0.2126) then it has got to be more than a coincidence that the version of DisplayLink was the last version released before ESET introduced HIPS (DisplayLink releases: http://www.displaylink.com/support/downloads.php).

I noticed that ESET picks up the three active DisplayLink executables as unknown and only discovered them within the last week (guessing due to the revised version number), and as such they do not have a "green light". I tried to create some sort of HIPS rule to account for this, but really don't understand it. Instead, I have now disabled HIPS and HIPS Self Defence again (as I did when the first introduced it).

Now to see if the problem goes away and stays away.

I will post back tomorrow and let you know if the system is stable.

HTH,

iecuk

Analysing the BSODs in the log, the BSOD is caused by atikmdag.sys. This is an ATI graphics file. The graphics driver version is almost as old as Windows 7 itself:

Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 3450 - Dell Optiplex (ATI Technologies Inc.)
Graphics Driver: 8.680.0.0 Dated 2009/11/18

I suspect that the DisplayLink software is exposing a bug in the ATI graphics driver causing the Blue screen. I would check for and update the ATI graphics driver for Windows 7 for this graphics card, reboot and see if that solves the issue.

I think the ESET virus checker is not directly responsible for this.

Wim

Up and running for two and half hours now, same usage as yesterday and no BSOD so far with HIPS disabled. A very different story to the last week.

I did try updating the drivers using the Catalyst package, but it did not help matters so I reverted to the original drivers (ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series - 8.632.1.2000 - 17/08/2009) rather than leave another unknown in the mix.

If the system stays stable for a day or two with HIPS disabled, then I will try newer drivers again and if that stays stable will re-enable HIPS and see where that takes me.

I will post anything significant.

HTH,

iecuk