POL crash on startup - Faulting Module nvumdshim.dll

[kutekiddee]

So I got this Dell XPS 15 laptop with this new fangled Nvidia Geforce GT 540M w/Optimus in it ... its actually really nice when it works. But anyways, I did a fresh install of FFXI onto it, and everything worked just peachy ... until I updated the video drivers. Now, FFXI won't run at all. PoL starts up, and then immediately crashes. Info in the error log shows that the faulting module is nvumdshim.dll, which is part of the Nvidia driver package for their new Optimus technology. I've tried reinstalling the drivers, several times. I even *shudders* tried reinstalling the game ... which is not fun because I have the original CDROM version of the game lol.

Faulting application name: pol.exe, version: 1.18.13.0, time stamp: 0x4b552e15
Faulting module name: nvumdshim.dll, version: 8.17.12.7527, time stamp: 0x4dcdf845
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00003ba0
Faulting process id: 0x7cc
Faulting application start time: 0x01cc180f0f79ca5e
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\pol.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\nvumdshim.dll
Report Id: 548abb38-8402-11e0-9af7-e5faa7a91aaa

Faulting application name: pol.exe, version: 1.18.0.0, time stamp: 0x45b0171b
Faulting module name: nvumdshim.dll, version: 8.17.12.7061, time stamp: 0x4d9e7b66
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00003bb0
Faulting process id: 0x1920
Faulting application start time: 0x01cc0e7e8e3df2ba
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\pol.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\nvumdshim.dll
Report Id: cfbf348b-7a71-11e0-9728-d2703162d0b6

Faulting application name: pol.exe, version: 1.18.0.0, time stamp: 0x45b0171b
Faulting module name: nvumdshim.dll, version: 8.17.12.7051, time stamp: 0x4d8d89c2
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00003bb0
Faulting process id: 0x1078
Faulting application start time: 0x01cc0e8a031cb063
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\pol.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\nvumdshim.dll
Report Id: 468aaf0d-7a7d-11e0-8f0a-d79b69a96cae

Each error log basically says the same thing, but it shows the progression of the video drivers from 270.51 to 270.61 to 275.27 (most recent), and its still crashing.

FFXI DOES run when I use the 266.xx drivers, but other things don't run or crash a lot, so leaving them on isn't an option, and switching between them takes too long.

I'm honestly guessing its a problem on Nvidia's end, but on the off chance someone has an idea of something to try I'm posting it here.

Steps
Uhh ... Start POL, watch it explode.

Date / Time
Any!

Frequency
Always since the 27x. drivers

Platform
PC, Windows 7 Home

Graphics Card
Nvidia GeForce GT 540M w/Optimus & Intel HD Graphics 3000

ISP
Comcast Communications (Cable)