Nv4_disp getting worse?

[Venture4]

Ok, so at first, my nvidia 6800 would occasionally boot me off Starcraft 2 and cause a black screen to flash every few seconds. I reboot my comp, then everything is fine. Could still play WoW, watch movies, ect. A week later, I really feel like playing sc2 so I go back to it. A few seconds into the game, the screen goes fuzzy and the black screens appear. Eventually I get a blue screen saying nv4_disp dll is stuck in an infinite loop. Something I've seen before. So I reboot and try again. Same thing happens. After 6 reboots, I give up and go off to play some WoW. The screen starts freezing and eventually a blue screen makes me reboot again. I uninstall my old drivers for my video card then reinstall the newest driver from the nvidia website, then reboot. Blue screen as soon as my comp starts. Try again and instant blue screen.

At this point, I system restore back 2 weeks. Now I can get passed the boot sequence, but I cant watch videos, or play any games, or pretty much anything outside looking at a few websites.

Please tell me someone has experienced this before? I desperately need help.

 

[Mark56]

Please indicate the make and model of PC and the OS. First follow this guide to test your memory.

Power off the PC and remove the mains connection, always touch the metal of the case with your hands to avoid any static electricity from causing component damage. Remove all your memory modules. Clean the contacts with a soft rubber (up and down not from end to end) then insert just one module and reboot to test for any change in performance. Repeat this for every module one at a time. Obviously if you only have one module this cannot be done, but you should still remove and clean the module and reseat it and test.

If you only have one stick download this to test it. http://www.memtest.org/

You need to scroll down the page until you see the three blue screenshots. Just below is the list of downloads for Memtest86+ V4.10. Click on Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)and save to your desktop, When the download is complete right click the file and select Extract Here and burn the image to a CD. In windows 7 right click the extracted file, select Open With, then select Windows Disc Image Burning Tool then follow the prompts. For all other versions of windows (if you do not have an ISO burner) download this free software. http://www.isoimageburner.com/

Boot the PC into the Bios setup and set the CD/DVD drive to 1st in the boot sequence. Insert the disk in the drive then reboot and the disc will load into dos. Leave the test to run through at least 5 cycles.

The memtest will not be 100% accurate but should easily detect any major faults.

 

[Venture4]

I use a Dell xps desktop that i received back in 2005. My OS is windows XP version 2002.

I did 3 memtest scans and each one said Pass complete without any errors. Next time I do another scan, I'll post 8megapixel phone pictures of the exact results if that helps.

My original problem is still present.

 

[Mark56]

OK, can you just confrim that you followed my instructions to clean and reseat the memory sticks. And, if you do have more than one memory stick that you tried to run the PC with just one stick in place and then swapped with the others, testing one at a time.

There is a good reason to use this method rather than rely on memtest. Memtest is good at spotting major faults, there are many ocassions that it will not pick up minor errors.

It seems your PC is going wrong when using higher levels of memory so it is necessary to be sure the memory is OK before moving on to other tests.

If you only have one memory module then please tell me.

Have you had a blue screen appear with an error message on it which dissapears before you have much time to read it. If so look under your OS drive and find the Windows folder, in that you should find a folder called minidump. That will contain records of the crashes, please attch the last four to your next post. Select "Go Advanced" below the message box and scroll down the page to see the facility to attach the files.

If your PC has onboard graphics please try running it using the onboard with the graphics card removed.

If there is no onboard graphics just remove the graphics card and clean the contacts, as with the memory, and reseat it.

 

[Venture4]

I've cleaned and reset the video card and ram. I've switched the two ram sticks around into different slots (both 512mb). I've tried running it with only 1 in, and then the other and the problem still exists. And i have no onboard graphics.

I system restored again and am now getting a slightly different error message seen here:

STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0xBFA280E0, 0xA5422268, 0x00000000)

nv4_disp.dll - Address BFA280E0 base at BF905000, DateStamp 46ee3ca


Does this explain the problem at all?

 

[Mark56]

That stop error has this description:

A kernel mode program generated an exception which the error handler didn’t catch. These are nearly always hardware compatibility issues (which sometimes means a driver issue or a need for a BIOS upgrade).

nv4_disp.dll, as you know, relates to your graphics card which you have already reinstalled and updated.

This would suggest that the graphics card is the route of the problem.

A bios upgrade may fix this so you would need to find the make and model number of your motherboard and go to the manufacturers site to see if there is a bios upgrade avilable.

When you go into the bios at boot up you will see the version of the bios at the top of the page. Check on the site to see if a newer version is available. Instructions to do a Bios upgrade may be avilable on the site.

I'll help the best I can if you need further assistance.

 

[Venture4]

Well I went to the dell website and they only had 1 bios update for my computer and it's the same exact one as I had now. Still, I followed the update instructions and rebooted my computer. Still no success so far. I'm about ready to throw in the towel. Thanks for all your help so far Mark56.

 

[Mark56]

Your welcome.

I think you have run out of options unless you can borrow a graphics card and driver to test the PC, or you take a gamble and buy a new card. Looking at all the symptoms I would say that gamble is fairly safe.

You could try the manufacturers diagnostics on the hard drive but I doubt if the hard drive would cause these faults, stranger things have happened though.