Thursday, September 10, 2009

The nv4_disp problem and fix

The nv4_disp problem
When a Dell Dimension greets you with a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) your computer will not boot up.

After booting into Safe Mode first and then rebooting the computer, I was able to get an error on boot that gave me some idea of the problem. The error message said that the “nv4_disp” driver was apparently caught in an infinite loop.

The nv4_disp fix
Here are 5 easy steps to fix the problem.

1) Boot your computer into Safe Mode w/ Networking. For Windows XP users, this is accomplished by pressing F8 repeatedly when your computer is booting up. You will be presented with several options. Choose “Safe Mode w/ Networking.” This will boot Windows XP into Safe Mode, but you will be able to connect to the Internet and browse the Web.

2) Go to NVIDIA’s Web site and download the latest display drivers for Windows XP. Save the 20MB file to your desktop for easy locating later on.

3) Remove the NVIDIA display drivers currently installed on your machine. To do this, right click on “My Computer,” then select Properties. Click the “Hardware” tab, then click “Device Manager.” You now see a list of hardware devices installed on your computer. Double click “Display Adapters.” You should now see your NVIDIA card listed. Click it once to highlight it, then click the “Uninstall” icon in the upper right of Device Manager menu. The NVIDIA drivers are removed from your machine.

4) Install the updated NVIDIA display drivers. Double-click the NVIDIA setup file you saved to the desktop earlier. The installation will run its course.

5) Reboot your computer.

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