nv4_disp error

[Unabomber]

Has anyone else encountered the nv4_disp error? I'm coming close to the end of things to keep trying.

Basically, in some games, such as Rainbow Six Vegas 2, or Bioshock, my friend tries to load up the game. It gets to the menu, and then the system crashes with a BSOD, and a message of:

The error occurred with nv4_disp - The device driver got stuck in an inifinite loop.

The system was working just fine a few months ago. All drivers are current.

The system's guts:

Asus X38 motherboard
2 GB Corsair XMS DDR2-800 memory
eVGA 8800 GT video card, 512 MB memory
Corsair HX620 power supply

He's running Windows XP Pro, SP 3 installed.

 

[vick1000]

Uninstall the video drivers, run Driver Sweeper from safe mode, and reinstall the latest set (or a set you know were working).

 

[alg7_munif]

Tried the latest driver?

 

[Unabomber]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

He's rolled the drivers back to the ones that were working, but no avail.

Also, has tried the latest WHQL drivers, to no avail.

 

[evilsofa]

The trouble with an nv4_disp error is that it's kind of all-inclusive, telling you that something went wrong with the video card or its drivers but giving you no clue beyond that.

The card might be overheating. Get Precision 1.3.3 from eVGA.com (or rivatuner 2.21, google it) and see if you can find out what the video card temps are in those situations. You can make either of those programs display video card temps in the games you're playing.

 

[Ocean]

the driver can also be stored in corrupt ram during use.

there are hidden settings (use 3rd party app like "tuneup utilities") to change whether your drivers are paged or not.

and do a ram test. or underclock your ram, or try with 1 stick at a time, etc etc.

 

[Unabomber]

Rivatuner shows a temperature of 77 degrees C at idle, which seems too hot.

 

[Unabomber]

Thanks to y'all, especially evilsofa.

It turned out to be an overheating problem, since the cooling fan is working only sporadically.