BleepingComputer.com: Nvidia Geforce Fx5200 Graphics Card Driver

Hi - My display is flickering and it goes off quite frequently. It also causes the computer the hang up when trying to do other tasks. Is there something wrong with my graphics card or driver? I attempted to update the driver and no change.

I have a Dell 8200 that was purchased in 2003. The graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce FX5200. Any recommendations on where to start troubleshooting, or should I just go get another graphics card?

Thanks!

Check for error messages in your event viewer. Event viewer Tutorial. look for Errors around the time the computer freezes.

Have you cleaned out the case recently? You should really open it up and clean the dust out, especially in and around the graphics card.

Thanks for the two tips. I'll do the cleaning in the morning first thing. I did a check in the Event Viewer and found a few Errors in the "System" folder. I'll list them below. I appreciate any help/advice if you think any of these are affecting my system.

Here's one that appears about 5 times in the past 24 hours with the computer running.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7000
Date: 8/2/2007
Time: 7:26:39 PM
User: N/A
Computer: MAIN
Description:
The Panda Process Protection Driver service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


Here's one that occurred earlier today and we had to re-start the computer.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: nv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 108
Date: 8/2/2007
Time: 7:33:46 PM
User: N/A
Computer: MAIN
Description:
The driver nv4_disp for the display device \Device\Video0 got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00 00 00 00 03 00 46 00 ......F.
0008: 00 00 00 00 6c 00 04 c0 ....l..À
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........


Here's one that occurred after a reboot, I think.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 8/2/2007
Time: 8:19:37 PM
User: N/A
Computer: MAIN
Description:
Error code 100000ea, parameter1 82c1cda8, parameter2 82a65ce0, parameter3 f799ccbc, parameter4 00000001.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 65 100000e
0020: 61 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d a Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 38 32 eters 82
0030: 63 31 63 64 61 38 2c 20 c1cda8,
0038: 38 32 61 36 35 63 65 30 82a65ce0
0040: 2c 20 66 37 39 39 63 63 , f799cc
0048: 62 63 2c 20 30 30 30 30 bc, 0000
0050: 30 30 30 31 0001


And here's a series of 4 that happened within a 45 minute period:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10010
Date: 8/2/2007
Time: 1:14:12 PM
User: MAIN\Brook
Computer: MAIN
Description:
The server {A02ED9E9-8D36-473A-98ED-C253A40765DE} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10010
Date: 8/2/2007
Time: 12:46:28 PM
User: MAIN\Brook
Computer: MAIN
Description:
The server {66B093B7-B5E3-4CFE-B32B-FEB55F172481} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10010
Date: 8/2/2007
Time: 12:42:46 PM
User: MAIN\Brook
Computer: MAIN
Description:
The server {A02ED9E9-8D36-473A-98ED-C253A40765DE} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10010
Date: 8/2/2007
Time: 12:35:42 PM
User: MAIN\Brook
Computer: MAIN
Description:
The server {66B093B7-B5E3-4CFE-B32B-FEB55F172481} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

The first thing to try is to uninstall the nVidia display drivers and download a new copy of the latest drivers available from the nVidia website. The disp_4 and nv4_disp stuff are parts of the nVidia display drivers.

I believe that the Error code 100000ea is the same thing, just from a different reporting source (here's the link: http://aumha.org/a/stop.php#0xea )

There also seems to be an issue with your Panda that could be contributing to it (but I'm not real sure) - try uninstalling it and then reinstalling the latest version also.

I'm not real familiar with the DCOM errors - I mostly ignore them when they happen on my system.

This post has been edited by usasma: 04 August 2007 - 06:53 AM

So...I've cleaned out the computer really good with a non-static brush on the end of a vacuum hose - it was quite dusty. That didn't change any of the graphics performance. It's still flickering and having trouble. I've uninstalled the NVIDIA driver and tried letting the computer do a reinstall, which it did. But again, no change. So I uninstalled it again and have been to NVIDIA's website a few times downloading various drivers, but when I go to install the new driver, I continue to get the message: "Setup detected that the operating system in use is not Windows XP x64edition/Vista (64-bit version). This setup program and its associated drivers are designed to only run on Windows XP x64 Edition. The installation will be terminated."

So, I've attempted to download and install all three of the drivers associated with Windows XP (Home, Server, Professional) and I end up with virtually the same message (as applicable to the Windows XP type). I have Windows XP Professional on my computer (a legal version, I might add, but not the original XP Home that was originally installed by Dell on the this desktop).

So...what's the deal with the drivers from NVIDIA? Any ideas?

Oh, and one other odd thing that perhaps someone can explain. When I'm in safe mode, my computer screen/graphics driver seems to work just fine...no flickering, no blinking on/off, etc. Does that indicate some other conflict problem going on?

And the last item, as it pertains to one of the recommendations to investigate "Panda" - I don't have Panda installed on my machine. I remember downloading it a few years back, but I immediately uninstalled it. I found a few "relics" that appear to be related to that old download, including an empty file folder. When I go to Install/Remove programs, it never shows up so I'm pretty sure it's nowhere to be found on my machine. Perhaps there something still in the registry? I don't know.

Thanks again for all the help!!

You can look for any traces for the panda in Search> search all files. Failing memory could also cause this type of problem, try downloading memtest 86 and let it run, the longer you allow it to run the better.

Here's the link to the download for the 32 bit nVidia FX5200 graphics drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_162.18.html The 32 bit thing refers to the Operating System (Windows) not to the ability/construction of your computer's processor (CPU). Most CPU's these days are capable of doing 64 bit processing - but the Operating Systems haven't caught up with it yet. The primary reason for this is the absence of hardware drivers that are compatible with 64 bit OS's.

Since it behaves nicely in Safe Mode, but not in normal mode - then it's likely your graphics drivers that are causing the problem (although it can be other things as dc3 mentioned).

Since you've removed Panda, the error is likely a "leftover" that's trying to find the Panda service to run it. It's not a big issue in and of itself, but it can be irritating. You can use this free program to try and track it down in the autostarting entries in your system: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysintern...s/Autoruns.mspx

This post has been edited by usasma: 05 August 2007 - 07:33 AM

I attempted to download the 32-bit driver from NVIDIA at the link provided and I'm still getting an error. The message I get is similar in that it says "Setup was not able to able to detected that the operating system in use is not Windows XP x64edition/Vista (64-bit version). "This setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware. Setup will now exit". I have confirmed on my computer in the hardware configuration that NVIDIA GeForce FX5200 is exactly what I have in my computer. Does this narrow the culprit down to the graphics card?

As a side note, I removed my graphics card out to see if I had another card in another older computer that might work. My other older (much older) Dell XPS had a graphics card without the DVI and the section of the card that plugs into the main board was not shaped exactly the same so it wouldn't work. When I put mine back in, the condition seems to be worse in normal mode - the display either goes to blue screen with the disp_4 error or the screen goes to inactive (like when the computer goes to hibernate). I'm back in safe mode and it works fine.

Any other thoughts? If I end up needing new graphics card, are there questions I need to ask or specific configurations that I need to ensure so that it fits my machine? Any recommendations on brand/cost? I'm looking to stay relatively inexpensive - nothing fancy.

Thanks again for all the help!!

The only other thing I can think of, is to run memtest86 overnight to see if your ram is bad. I had a similar problem while playing games, my display would sometimes go out, forcing me to restart the computer. It turned out my ram was bad. This program tests your memory, to see if there are any errors.

http://memtest86.com/ . Just go to the free download, and burn it to a disc. If you don't have a cd burner, you can use a floppy disk.

Once you burn it to a disc you have to restart your computer to use it (make sure its still in the cd drive/ floppy drive!). Your computer should boot off it unless your bios is set to boot off the hard drive first. In this case you'll need to change it so it boots off cd drive or floppy drive first.

Once you restart the computer, and it starts booting up, instead of loading windows your computer will open memtest. It's a blue screen and I think it starts running by itself. Let this run overnight (or any other long stretch of time), and see if it gives you any errors.

Here is a link to the 64 bit drivers - give them a whirl to see if they reject you also. If that's the case, then there's some major issues here that a driver update probably won't cure. http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp64_162.18.html

I ended up finding a new/refurbished graphics card for about 25 bucks. Decided to go ahead and install it and try it. Everything works great now. So...I think it ended up being the graphics card. The replacement that I bought was a NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200. It works significantly better than the original one. One of my son's legos star wars games definitely has better graphics, with some objects he's now able to see that he wasn't able to before.

Thanks for all the help! I think the problem is solved!! Whew...avoided a pricey replacement computer...at least for now.

All the best!!