NVIDIA Drivers causing computer restarts

[SXViper03]

Hi All,
I hope I can get some help here. I reloaded Windows XP home on my friends computer because he was having problems with it not booting up. When I installed the NVIDIA drivers for the video card, everytime I would click on internet explorer the home page would start to load and then the computer would restart. I have tried loading the video drivers from the CDRom that came with the card...I have also tried loading the latest drivers from the card manufacturers website along with downloading the drivers from Nvidia's website. (I did uninstall the old video drivers between each load). I have updated the BIOS of the motherboard, installed DirectX 9.0c, re-installed the Via chipset drivers, reseated the video card, ran memtest to test the memory. Basically I have tried everything and am still getting the same result. If I don't install the video drivers I can access the internet no problem but of course viewing webpages without drivers is a little choppy when you scroll not to mention games cannot be played on it. I have even tried another video card and got the same results. Is it possible the AGP slot on the motherboard has gone bad?
Here are the system specs : AMD Athlon XP 1700+, 1GB Ram (2-512 sticks), BFG 256mb GeForce 6200 OC, Abit KD7 m/b, Western Digital 80 GB HD.
The only thing I have noticed is the fan for the bios on the motherboard is no longer working, however, my old computer which is an Abit m/b hasn't had the Bios fan working in over a year and it runs perferctly. I am thinking it may be time to retire this system as it has been 7-years since I built it for him. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
One more thing....I turned off the shutdown when problems arise feature so I could see the blue screen of death....here's the Stop Error message : 0x0000008E (0XC0000005, 0X0BC91A12, 0XF3B2C7D8, 0X00000000)

 

[Tmagic650]

Install a PCI video card and see if the problem disappears. The motherboard isn't shorting to the metal case is it? The bad chipset fan should be removed and make sure any dust and dirt is removed from the remaining heatsink. It should run fine without the fan.

If you are running XP, are all the critical updates installed? SP2 installed?

 

[SXViper03]

Hi TMagic, unfortunately I don't have a PCI Video Card to try, just a PCI Express Card in my own computer which of course wouldn't work. The motherboard isn't shorting to the case. I will take the chipset fan off though in the next day or two (gotta remove the m/b from the case to do it). The computer is running SP2 with all updates installed. I actually reformatted and installed XP Home twice. The first time I loaded XP and updated everything (DirectX 9.0c, SP2 included) BEFORE I loaded the video drivers.....the 2nd time I loaded XP and loaded the video drivers BEFORE updating XP (DirectX 9.0c, SP2) and got the same results. I just booted the system up (it was sitting for a couple days unused) and got the Blue Screen of Death. A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. Here's the tech info :
*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0xc0000005, 0xBFAQFA09, 0xF385c7D80x00000000)
*** nv4_disp.dll - Address BFA0FAO9 base at BF9D5000, Datestamp 40a53ad9
Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
nv4a_disp.dll is obviously a Nvidia driver file of some type causing the issue correct?

 

[SXViper03]

Thanks James for the info. So either way the m/b or the AGP slot would be the problem and since he uses his computer to play games a PCI slot card wouldn't be fast enough (BF2 and BF2142 require an AGP or PCI Express video card). So I would be left with trying to find another motherboard (discontinued back in 2003) or building him a new system.
P.S. I would NEVER mix up PCI and PCI-E cards.....I only own one PCI-E card and it stays in my computer!!! :giddy: