VGN-AR21S - Problems with Geforce 7600 GT & NV4_Mini.sys

[FAILED TO SET UP GRAPHICS SYSTEM]

Hi.

I hope this email reaches the forum in good health. The subject line pretty much says what the problem is. Out of no where, when i turn my laptop on I get a blue screen (after windows XP logo) saying something about NV4_mini.sys being a problem and PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA.

To describe further, as i turn on my laptop, i get pinkish/blueish dotted vertical lines running the full length of the screen. This only appears on the XP Screen. When the XP screen disappears, the lines remain, and then the blue screen comes up.

It loops and loops until i run safe mode. I can then run windows using the standard VGA graphics thingy, which is terrible (even out of safe mode).

So, the next step was to check the Device Manager. A yellow ! was by the display adaptor. I tried to re-install the driver but the screen goes black and i have to hold down the power button to switch off because nothing happens. If i download the latest drivers from the Nvidia website and run setup.exe it tells me there are no drivers compatible with the hardware that i have, despite the fact i am downloading the correct drivers.

Either way, it all ends up coming back to the same thing.

Any ideas? A mate of mine said it had to be a software problem because of the vertical lines on the XP screen, whilst i'm tempted to think its a hardware problem. I have tried system restore to a date when i know everything worked fine but its the same problem. I have also manually replaced NV4_mini.sys to see if that worked but again the same problem.

I have searched the net long and hard and i just cannot find a solution (or at least one i understand. Can anyone help please?

Other Comments:

- If i try to run FM10 i get a message saying "failed to set up graphics system".

- If i do a DXDIAG i am informed that the system is using the generic video driver. Please install video driver provided by the hardware manufacturer. No device is listed in the Device section.

- No idea why but Hibernate and Standby modes no longer available.

Thanks.

You might want to ask this in the PC support forum, perhaps a nice mod will move it.

PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA is normally memory related.

Considering your Graphics Card has several memory chips aboard, it may suggest that this is the problem, but you'd need to rule out pwer supply first.

Lets see what the SI techies think.

That sounds like the blue screen of death...if you get a load of tex aand it wont load windows im afraid to say your in trouble. I use to work for HP so I got a lot of issues with this

I have a few suggestions...

increase your page file .. too low can cause these problems nv4 is indeed the nvidia graphics

but the main thing is that if its an nv4.sys error.. its not hardhare related but driver related... if it was the hardware it would be a completely different issue.

so uninstall all nvidia drivers... and i mean all... including nvidia firewall if you have it..

and then download the latest stable non beta drivers from the manufacturer... this should solve it

You might want to ask this in the PC support forum, perhaps a nice mod will move it.

PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA is normally memory related.

Considering your Graphics Card has several memory chips aboard, it may suggest that this is the problem, but you'd need to rule out pwer supply first.

Lets see what the SI techies think.

Thanks Indi. If a mod could move this, would greatly appreciate it.

That sounds like the blue screen of death...if you get a load of tex aand it wont load windows im afraid to say your in trouble. I use to work for HP so I got a lot of issues with this

The screen does indeed go blue. However, if i run in safe mode and disable the graphics drivers that run the card (integrated i believe), i can at least load windows normally. The problem is that no games work. FM Live will just about run, but i have to turn off the news ticker, and watch a 2D match at about 2 frames a second. FM10 won't even load.

As an example of how crap the VGA graphics driver is, page scrolling doesnt even work smoothly in Windows.

yeah... its a page file problem.. increase it and it should help the issue.. but still download the newest drivers mate...

I have a few suggestions...

increase your page file .. too low can cause these problems nv4 is indeed the nvidia graphics

but the main thing is that if its an nv4.sys error.. its not hardhare related but driver related... if it was the hardware it would be a completely different issue.

so uninstall all nvidia drivers... and i mean all... including nvidia firewall if you have it..

and then download the latest stable non beta drivers from the manufacturer... this should solve it

Thanks for the suggestions Welshace.

I have increased the page file to the max amount XP allows (4092 for each drive).

All Nvidia drivers have been totally removed, so now when i restart i get a "found new hardware" windows message. Automatic search for drivers comes up with nothing, so i have to manually point it to the correct Nvidia folder (having downloaded the latest drivers). The driver is found, but upon installation the whole screen goes bright white, and appears to remain as so until i have forcefully shut down and restarted, to which Windows reverts back to the crappy VGA driver!!!