[SOLVED] nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing

gerrtt06 · 11-15-2007, 04:57 PM

Greetings. Two days ago I came home from work to a blue screen saying my computer had done a memory dump due to system failure around the file nv4_disp.dll. The blue screen also had strange green lines running all over my screen vertically. I powered down and rebooted unhappy to find the green lines still there and after my computer had gone through the usual boot-up, at the point where I would be able to select my account and log into windows the screen was black. Glowing, as in still powered on, but nothing was displayed.

I went into safe mode to check things out and decided to uninstall and re-install my video card. This solved the problem very temporarily, and after a few minutes I had a NMI: Parity/Memory Parity Error. Upon rebooting the lines were back and I re-installed the card again, but this time used the Dell drivers as opposed to the nVidia site drivers. This seemed to work for a longer period of time but then something else strange began to happen.

Now every once in a while the screen shuts off completely (not glowing at all like it was before) and while it does the system locks up completely. Turning off the computer at this time causes the green lines to come back. Today I had a couple black screens but they went away after a few seconds which is how I learned that the system was locked during the black screen.

It seems to me like a hardware rather than software problem. I posted over on the memory forums a few minutes ago but then realized I had necromancied a thread from a few months ago so I decided to start a new one over here, since it seems to be a graphics card problem for me.

I'm at work currently but I'll try to post what I'm running from memory:

Dell Inspiron e1705 w/ Windows XP Pro SP2
1 Gig ram (not sure what type offhand)
Intel Solo Processor (under 2 mhz...I want to say 1.8)
nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS (can't remember memory on it)

When I get home tonight I'm planning on running a memory test to see if the memory is a problem, but I've never taken that part of my laptop apart before and I have no idea where to even begin. I'm comfortable doing that sort of thing, I've worked on desktops for years, but I've never done the laptop disect before. Any tips would be welcomed. Thanks in advance.

gerrtt06 · 11-16-2007, 07:16 AM

In case anyone had wondered I made some "progress" working with my problem last night. I ran the windows memory diagnostic and the Dell system diagnostic and the memory came back functional.\

The Dell system diagnostic came back though that my video memory failed on all tests run for it. Stupid me I forgot the card I wrote all the problem codes on, but it seems pretty conclusive to me.

So I guess my questions are:

1) should I take it somewhere that will charge me money to run a diagnostic to check it out for me? Will GeekSquad or Dell be able to simply verify my ideas or will they do something more for me by nature of having been paid 50 bucks to run a test?

2) If video memory is corrupted/shot is there anything I can do other than just replace the graphics card?

2a) If I do need to replace the graphics card, is this something I can do on my own easily?

fireproof4118 · 12-06-2007, 09:51 PM

I had the exact same thing happen to me last Sunday. The only difference is that I have Core 2 Duo processor, but I dont think that would make a difference. The OS also makes no difference, as I am running both Vista and XP Media Center. I know of two others with the exact same problem, and have read about many with geforce problems, either 7900 GO or the 8800 GT. Did your post on the other forum yield any useful results? Or have you solved the problem yourself? I am currently struggling with temptations of using my laptop as target practice. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

gerrtt06 · 12-07-2007, 08:46 AM

More or less. What I ended up doing was running the Dell Diagnostic that comes on the machine and it told me that my video memory was corrupted on all tests. Only thing you can do about that is replace the unit from what I understand, and hope that your video card isn't hardwired to your motherboard.

If you're still under warranty just give Dell a call. Good luck!

ToshibaMike · 02-27-2008, 10:22 AM

I am having the same problems as you two. Although my computer is a toshiba it uses the same graphics card. I got the problems after using the video drivers from the nVidia website (which are not supported by toshiba). Now my computer has the green lines and if I uninstall and reinstall the drivers from toshiba the computer will start up and run untill I play a game using the 3D graphics. Were you able to fix this problem? Do I have to replace the graphics card? I feel like throwing my laptop out a window. Please help!

gerrtt06 · 02-27-2008, 10:27 AM

I ended up replacing the unit. It was actually a lot easier to do than I thought and after getting the new graphics card (I got it off eBay for about 1/3 of the price Dell was going to charge me) it took about 45 minutes to take the whole thing apart and get it back together again. I can't say that I know anything about how Toshibas are put together though. I'd check out their website and see if they have any maintenance manuals available for download. See if your video card is hardwired to the motherboard, if not you can just replace the video card.

Whether you do it yourself or not is up to you. If you are still under warranty you are better off letting them do it for you. My warranty was already over when I took mine apart, plus I'm pretty good with stuff like that, so I just did it myself rather than pay someone to do something I could handle.

dai · 02-27-2008, 12:00 PM

you are lucky most video on l/tops are part of the m/board

ToshibaMike · 03-02-2008, 02:24 PM

By the way, I have used the recovery disc to reformat the hard drive and install the software/drivers from Toshiba. I have done this twice and the both times the green lines went away and the graphics card worked for three days. I was able to play games on my laptop. Then all of a sudden the screen would go black and the green lines came back. Every time my computer does this no error comes up, the computer just locks up. I am able to start in safe mode and uninstall the video drivers and start up my computer then reinstall them, but it does not fix the problem.

So, I'm guessing it must be a hardware problem. But why would the laptop work for a few days with no problems then out of the blue not work? Is this from corrupted video memory?

Today I found a disassembly guide online and took my laptop apart. The nVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS card is a seperate part from the motherboard. However the replacement part costs $505.00 from toshiba. I looked on Ebay and all of the 7900 GS cards came from Dell laptops and are not the same. Each graphics card must be different for every computer.

What do you think I should do? Buy the new card? Wait untill I can find one on Ebay? or just replace the entire laptop? I paid $1800 for the Toshiba Satellite P105-S9312 laptop back in Aug. 2006 and no longer have a warrenty on it.

There was some dust all over the graphics card when I took it apart. I don't know if any of the problems could be from that but I will clean it and put the computer back together and try again. Thanks for your help.

dai · 03-03-2008, 10:34 AM

dust can cause all kinds of problems see how you go with the dust removed

slim724 · 03-24-2008, 07:27 PM

I too am running the same video - NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS on my Dell LT. Where did you find the diagnostic that tested the video memory? I found tge Dell Support Center but the diagnostics there didn't find any issues with memory or 2D/3D video.

sahidb · 12-01-2008, 04:46 PM

my test didnt find any errors too.. and i have the same Dell E1705 with Geforce Go 7900 GS. 256Mb. Does anybody know a cheaper card I can put in thie laptop... I don't care if I cant no longer play decent games on it but i just want it to be use full instead of sitting there in my closet... unless someone wants to buy it off of me and fix it them selves.
Plese help..!!! i still owe dell for it... :(

ToshibaMike · 12-01-2008, 10:07 PM

@sahidb - I would check dell's website and see if the E1705 was available with any other configurations when you purchased it. Most likely the only cards that will fit in your laptop are the 256mb GeForce Go 7900 GS or 512mb Geforce Go 7900 GTX. An older model such as the 7800 or 7800 GTX may fit but I am unsure of this because the graphics card is made to fit a specific motherboard. The only other alternative is to purchase a new motherboard with integrated graphics that will fit in your case. Check Ebay for Dell parts. Usually you can find parts for a fraction of the cost of new ones from Dell. I hope this helps you out.

*Update on my laptop - I went ahead and purchased a new graphics card and installed it myself. I have not had any more problems so far. It is running great.

I also purchased the NZXT Cryo Aluminum notebook cooler and it prevents my computer from getting too hot. My graphics card may have fried from the dust buildup and overheating problems, I really don't know. My suggestion for anyone with an expensive laptop is to purchase a good cooler. It will save you lots of money in the long run. Unlike me who spent $500 to buy a new graphics card.

11-15-2007, 04:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
gerrtt06 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 46 OS: XP Pro SP2	[SOLVED] nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing Greetings. Two days ago I came home from work to a blue screen saying my computer had done a memory dump due to system failure around the file nv4_disp.dll. The blue screen also had strange green lines running all over my screen vertically. I powered down and rebooted unhappy to find the green lines still there and after my computer had gone through the usual boot-up, at the point where I would be able to select my account and log into windows the screen was black. Glowing, as in still powered on, but nothing was displayed. I went into safe mode to check things out and decided to uninstall and re-install my video card. This solved the problem very temporarily, and after a few minutes I had a NMI: Parity/Memory Parity Error. Upon rebooting the lines were back and I re-installed the card again, but this time used the Dell drivers as opposed to the nVidia site drivers. This seemed to work for a longer period of time but then something else strange began to happen. Now every once in a while the screen shuts off completely (not glowing at all like it was before) and while it does the system locks up completely. Turning off the computer at this time causes the green lines to come back. Today I had a couple black screens but they went away after a few seconds which is how I learned that the system was locked during the black screen. It seems to me like a hardware rather than software problem. I posted over on the memory forums a few minutes ago but then realized I had necromancied a thread from a few months ago so I decided to start a new one over here, since it seems to be a graphics card problem for me. I'm at work currently but I'll try to post what I'm running from memory: Dell Inspiron e1705 w/ Windows XP Pro SP2 1 Gig ram (not sure what type offhand) Intel Solo Processor (under 2 mhz...I want to say 1.8) nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS (can't remember memory on it) When I get home tonight I'm planning on running a memory test to see if the memory is a problem, but I've never taken that part of my laptop apart before and I have no idea where to even begin. I'm comfortable doing that sort of thing, I've worked on desktops for years, but I've never done the laptop disect before. Any tips would be welcomed. Thanks in advance.

11-16-2007, 07:16 AM	#2 (permalink)
gerrtt06 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 46 OS: XP Pro SP2	Re: nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing In case anyone had wondered I made some "progress" working with my problem last night. I ran the windows memory diagnostic and the Dell system diagnostic and the memory came back functional.\ The Dell system diagnostic came back though that my video memory failed on all tests run for it. Stupid me I forgot the card I wrote all the problem codes on, but it seems pretty conclusive to me. So I guess my questions are: 1) should I take it somewhere that will charge me money to run a diagnostic to check it out for me? Will GeekSquad or Dell be able to simply verify my ideas or will they do something more for me by nature of having been paid 50 bucks to run a test? 2) If video memory is corrupted/shot is there anything I can do other than just replace the graphics card? 2a) If I do need to replace the graphics card, is this something I can do on my own easily?

12-06-2007, 09:51 PM	#3 (permalink)
fireproof4118 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 3 OS: xp	Re: nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing I had the exact same thing happen to me last Sunday. The only difference is that I have Core 2 Duo processor, but I dont think that would make a difference. The OS also makes no difference, as I am running both Vista and XP Media Center. I know of two others with the exact same problem, and have read about many with geforce problems, either 7900 GO or the 8800 GT. Did your post on the other forum yield any useful results? Or have you solved the problem yourself? I am currently struggling with temptations of using my laptop as target practice. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

12-07-2007, 08:46 AM	#4 (permalink)
gerrtt06 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 46 OS: XP Pro SP2	Re: nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing More or less. What I ended up doing was running the Dell Diagnostic that comes on the machine and it told me that my video memory was corrupted on all tests. Only thing you can do about that is replace the unit from what I understand, and hope that your video card isn't hardwired to your motherboard. If you're still under warranty just give Dell a call. Good luck!

02-27-2008, 10:22 AM	#5 (permalink)
ToshibaMike Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 3 OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 & Ubuntu 8.10	Re: nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing I am having the same problems as you two. Although my computer is a toshiba it uses the same graphics card. I got the problems after using the video drivers from the nVidia website (which are not supported by toshiba). Now my computer has the green lines and if I uninstall and reinstall the drivers from toshiba the computer will start up and run untill I play a game using the 3D graphics. Were you able to fix this problem? Do I have to replace the graphics card? I feel like throwing my laptop out a window. Please help!

02-27-2008, 10:27 AM	#6 (permalink)
gerrtt06 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 46 OS: XP Pro SP2	Re: nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing I ended up replacing the unit. It was actually a lot easier to do than I thought and after getting the new graphics card (I got it off eBay for about 1/3 of the price Dell was going to charge me) it took about 45 minutes to take the whole thing apart and get it back together again. I can't say that I know anything about how Toshibas are put together though. I'd check out their website and see if they have any maintenance manuals available for download. See if your video card is hardwired to the motherboard, if not you can just replace the video card. Whether you do it yourself or not is up to you. If you are still under warranty you are better off letting them do it for you. My warranty was already over when I took mine apart, plus I'm pretty good with stuff like that, so I just did it myself rather than pay someone to do something I could handle.

02-27-2008, 12:00 PM	#7 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,775 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing you are lucky most video on l/tops are part of the m/board __________________

03-02-2008, 02:24 PM	#8 (permalink)
ToshibaMike Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 3 OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 & Ubuntu 8.10	Re: [SOLVED] nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing By the way, I have used the recovery disc to reformat the hard drive and install the software/drivers from Toshiba. I have done this twice and the both times the green lines went away and the graphics card worked for three days. I was able to play games on my laptop. Then all of a sudden the screen would go black and the green lines came back. Every time my computer does this no error comes up, the computer just locks up. I am able to start in safe mode and uninstall the video drivers and start up my computer then reinstall them, but it does not fix the problem. So, I'm guessing it must be a hardware problem. But why would the laptop work for a few days with no problems then out of the blue not work? Is this from corrupted video memory? Today I found a disassembly guide online and took my laptop apart. The nVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS card is a seperate part from the motherboard. However the replacement part costs $505.00 from toshiba. I looked on Ebay and all of the 7900 GS cards came from Dell laptops and are not the same. Each graphics card must be different for every computer. What do you think I should do? Buy the new card? Wait untill I can find one on Ebay? or just replace the entire laptop? I paid $1800 for the Toshiba Satellite P105-S9312 laptop back in Aug. 2006 and no longer have a warrenty on it. There was some dust all over the graphics card when I took it apart. I don't know if any of the problems could be from that but I will clean it and put the computer back together and try again. Thanks for your help.

03-03-2008, 10:34 AM	#9 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,775 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: [SOLVED] nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing dust can cause all kinds of problems see how you go with the dust removed __________________

03-24-2008, 07:27 PM	#10 (permalink)
slim724 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 1 OS: Win XP	Re: [SOLVED] nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing I too am running the same video - NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS on my Dell LT. Where did you find the diagnostic that tested the video memory? I found tge Dell Support Center but the diagnostics there didn't find any issues with memory or 2D/3D video. Last edited by slim724; 03-24-2008 at 07:55 PM.

12-01-2008, 04:46 PM	#11 (permalink)
sahidb Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 1 OS: Windows Vista Business	Re: [SOLVED] nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing my test didnt find any errors too.. and i have the same Dell E1705 with Geforce Go 7900 GS. 256Mb. Does anybody know a cheaper card I can put in thie laptop... I don't care if I cant no longer play decent games on it but i just want it to be use full instead of sitting there in my closet... unless someone wants to buy it off of me and fix it them selves. Plese help..!!! i still owe dell for it... :(

12-01-2008, 10:07 PM	#12 (permalink)
ToshibaMike Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 3 OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 & Ubuntu 8.10	Re: [SOLVED] nVidia GeForce GO 7900 GS failing @sahidb - I would check dell's website and see if the E1705 was available with any other configurations when you purchased it. Most likely the only cards that will fit in your laptop are the 256mb GeForce Go 7900 GS or 512mb Geforce Go 7900 GTX. An older model such as the 7800 or 7800 GTX may fit but I am unsure of this because the graphics card is made to fit a specific motherboard. The only other alternative is to purchase a new motherboard with integrated graphics that will fit in your case. Check Ebay for Dell parts. Usually you can find parts for a fraction of the cost of new ones from Dell. I hope this helps you out. *Update on my laptop - I went ahead and purchased a new graphics card and installed it myself. I have not had any more problems so far. It is running great. I also purchased the NZXT Cryo Aluminum notebook cooler and it prevents my computer from getting too hot. My graphics card may have fried from the dust buildup and overheating problems, I really don't know. My suggestion for anyone with an expensive laptop is to purchase a good cooler. It will save you lots of money in the long run. Unlike me who spent $500 to buy a new graphics card.