'Infamous' nv4_disp.dll problem

Anodyne · Post by **Anodyne** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 5:53 am

This post doesn't really have any bearing on 'silence', but this is the only website forum I belong to, and I know there are lots of smart folks here

...

Recently I began experiencing some strange bootup problems; occasionally my computer would boot to the Windows splash screen but when actually loading the desktop it would reboot. Following some advice from a helpful SPCR'r, I changed my settings so I could read the bluescreen. This told me that the problem was caused by an 'infinite loop' related to 'nv4_disp.dll'. A little Googling told me that this is an infamous problem with nVidia drivers, although I have never experienced it before. I have been using nVidia cards for about 6 years now and never seen it until now. In fact I have been using my current card for over 2 years and not seen it before.

Well, I have followed some of the advice I found using Google but the problem still occurs (intermittently). Things I tried included uinstalling nVidia drivers, installing the latest drivers, installing older drivers, and adjusting the video BIOS settings. The problem does not occur all the time - I haven't been able to see a pattern. I am now seeing another problem as well; occasionally the mouse cursor 'freezes' on screen...the mouse still works, but I have to 'guess' where the actual pointer is at because the arrow stops moving.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Hints? Advice? Should I just buy an ATI card to sidestep the issue?

Thanks!

mentawl · Post by **mentawl** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 5:56 am

It's possible your card is just dying - my 6800GT followed a similar pattern of random crashing, random weird artifacts (it liked to blow the picture up into lots of little pixels before crashing) and so on shortly before it went kaput entirely =/. It seems to happen more with older cards, and generally only happens when overclocking newer ones.

Might be time to buy a new graphics card, of whatever pedigree =/.

Arvo · Post by **Arvo** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:39 am

The most common causes for nv4_disp.dll bluescreens:

1. Weak PSU. Many users have reported this error gone off after replacing cheap 400W PSU with quality 350W+ CPU. Cheap brands used here in Estonia are usually Codegen and ColorsIt.

2. RAM incompatibilty. Some users have reported this error popping up after adding RAM to their system. Currently tehere's no clear solution; tinkering with RAM timings and frequency MAY help.

3. Motherboard/PSU/videocard aging problems (this is related to p1). On older motherboards and PSUs sometimes capacitories go bad - they start leak and/or look bulged. If that's the case, you need either buy new mobo/PSU/videocard or change capacitories. The latest is not so hard, if you have some experience. Of course there can be other components dying too - like videocard RAM.

4. Cooling problems (indirectly related to previous paragraphs). Just clean your PC, using canned air; check all fans and so on.

5. Driver error - can occur only after upgrading drivers or starting playing some new game. I don't think that this is related to your problem.

Anodyne · Post by **Anodyne** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 1:19 pm

Thanks for the suggestions, Arvo...however...

1) The PSU is a new Antec NeoHE550. It replaced a Zalman 400w PSU, and the card ran fine on that for over two years...
2) The RAM is the same RAM that I've used for over three years (although I guess it could be going bad)...
3) The motherboard/CPU are brand new. This problem first appeared when I was using a previous mobo/CPU combo, though. This problem wasn't the reason I upgraded, but I did have hopes it would go away when I reloaded Windows XP onto the new build.
4) Since I just rebuilt the system, it's clean...and my new cased is an Antec Solo, with the 120mm and two 92mm fans running, so I think my cooling is OK...it's a passive card and one of the 92mm fans blows right at it...
5) Driver error - this is what I thought the issue was, but I have uninstalled and reloaded different driver versions three times...

I have to admit that mentawl's suggestion has crossed my mind...it may be that my card is just dying. But when it's working, it works fine...but when I shut down/restart my machine, I have the bluescreen upon bootup about 50% of the time now.

Does anyone know if ATI cards have any issues similar to this 'nv4_disp.dll' problem? I had always understood that nVidia had better drivers than ATI but now I wonder.

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:08 pm

As far as drivers go, it would seem that around the time of the Radeon 9xxx series is when ATI really turned the corner on those. I have had no problems with my ATI cards (X800 for me and 9700 for my wife) and of course, ATITool is a fantastic piece of software for any ATI user.

As a side note, did you make sure to do whatever was needed to *completely* remove the old drivers (I know sometimes people end up with problems because little bits hang around, or registry entries don't get fully wiped)?

I would say reseat the card, but since you switched mobos already that is probably not a problem.

Might just be the card dying I guess

Towermax · Post by **Towermax** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:44 pm

Have you tried Driver Cleaner Pro?

You uninstall your nVidia drivers, reboot in safe mode, and then run Driver Cleaner Pro. It searches for every possible nVidia display driver (works with ATI, Creative, etc. also), and deletes them. Then re-boot and re-install.

It has worked for me with recalcitrant ATI drivers.

The latest version costs $9.99, but you can still find the free version floating around, for example, here:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Unin ... onal.shtml

Anodyne · Post by **Anodyne** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:21 pm

I uninstalled the nVidia drivers using Control Panel, I didn't use a dedicated driver uninstaller like Driver Cleaner. A couple days ago I rolled back to an older driver set, and so far (knock on wood) I haven't had another blue screen or weird mouse cursor behavior.

If it happens again though, my next step will be to purchase/download Driver Cleaner Pro to clean out my system, and then roll back to an even older driver version. If that doesn't help, it may be time for a trip to the ATI store at NewEgg.

I've been amazed at how many hits I get when I Google 'nv4_disp.dll'!

Anodyne · Post by **Anodyne** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:25 pm

BTW, Towermax, thanks for the link! I didn't know a free download of Driver Cleaner Pro was still available.

Arvo · Post by **Arvo** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:16 pm

About ATI vs NVidia error hits on Google:

ati3duag.dll - 31,500
nv4_disp.dll - 115,000

Apparently NVidia is three times more error-prone than ATI

What I mean actually - both drivers have errors, mostly these pop up on unstable systems or with specific games or often (like your case) exact error cause remains unsolved. You cannot prefer one manufacturer to other on driver stabiltiy basis - both are usually enough stable.

Anodyne · Post by **Anodyne** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 5:19 pm

This saga is over for me, at least for now. I gave up on my passive 6800 card and bought a Gigabyte X1950Pro (with the Zalman cooler). I was never able to figure out whether the problem was the drivers or the hardware, although now I suspect the card was just going bad.

Uninstalled the nVidia drivers and ran Driver Cleaner Pro, installed the new card and had it running in 10 minutes flat - so far no problems, no blue screens, etc. (knock on wood). This card seems to run great, and I don't notice the sound of the extra fan has made by system noticeably louder...it makes me somewhat sad not to be running passive VGA any longer, but the 6800 ran kind of hot so maybe that was why it only lived 2 years.