Screen corrupted: Nvidia Quadro NVS 110M problem on Dell Latitude d620

Hi,

Recently I've run into a weird problem with my Nvidia Quadro NVS 110M graphics chip on Dell Latitude d620 laptop.

A few weeks ago my motherboard died. So I got a new one and installed it. I also reformatted my hard drive and installed Windows XP from the original Dell cd.

The next step was installing drivers. I downloaded the needed drivers from Dell's site but once I got the Nvidia driver installed, the screen turned corrupted. The pixels went off and looked like they were in the wrong places. The icons seemed as if the pixels were diagonally stretched or something. Text became unreadable.

This happened DURING the installation of the drive. So it wanted to restart after the installation (the screen still looking really awful) and I allowed it. After the reboot the screen turned black instead of opening the log-on screen. So I reloaded last good configuration and all was well again. (It took me back to the state where the Nvidia driver had yet not been installed.)

So I messed around and googled about it and found no answers. I tried deleting all the remaining traces of the previous driver and tried again but it ended the same way. So I booted into safe mode and again removed all traces of the previous drivers. (Using Driver Sweeper and regedit via instructions from forums.)

Then I booted normally and let windows find the VGA controller (uninstalled graphics chip). It ended up installing it as Nvidia GeForce Go 7300. (?)

The weirdest thing was that nothing happened to the screen. So I rebooted and to my astonishment it used the 1440x900 resolution and the screen was clear. But to my great disappointment it turned corrupt again in one to two minutes. A bit later the screen went black.

The next restart the screen stayed clear for longer. I waited a bit and it turned corrupt again. This time though, the screen never blacked out and I was able to navigate to Control Panel where I started the Nvidia control center/panel. But then the screen blacked out again.

After restarting a few times I found out the problem was caused by the Nvidia software. So I ran msconfig and disabled the Nvidia startup processes so that the Nvidia control panel woudn't start at start up. (I disabled NvCpl and NvMcTray, assuming that these indeed were Nvidia processes.)

Next time I restarted nothing happened, the screen was clear and in high resolution. So i decided to check the Nvidia control panel and the screen went corrupt and soon blacked out.

So the last time I restarted I did not run Nvidia control panel and nothing happened. Then I decided to check if everything else works and it does. I tried running some videos in Youtube to make sure it's using the driver version and it managed to do it without problems. Everything indicates that the display adapter is actually working.

So my problem is the driver. Why can't I install my NVS 110m driver? (It corrupted the screen 5 time in a row.)
What's wrong with the Nvidia control panel?

If anyone knows a solution or has run into anything similar, pleas let me know. I'm really trying to get rid of this annoyance that Nvidia has created, so all help is really appreciated.

Till then I'll just try to manage with the current setup.

PS. Just to let you know, I've also checked my laptop screen. My sister has a d630 and I swapped the monitors without any effect. Mine worked on the d630 and the other one became corrupt on mine. So the problem can't be with the screen itslef.


Notebook: Dell Latitude d620
OS: Windows XP 32bit
GPU: Nvidia NVS 110M / installed as Nvidia GeForce Go 7300


Regards,
Van R

A small update since the original post.

My Dell worked fine all the time during yesterday. It also worked this morning. Later though the screen went corrupt again when I started Windows. I didn't change anything during this time. So it seems the problem wasn't with the Nvidia processes.

What puzzles me is the fact that my screen displays the picture correctly during the start up. The display is fine even when desktop is loaded and my wireless adapter starts looking for networks. Hearing the processor it sounds as if the computer is still loading some start-up processes. Then suddenly, after being about 30 seconds in the desktop screen, the screen becomes corrupt again.

This time I didn't manage to do anything else but to uninstall the driver. Re-installing the driver didn't change anything. So I'm stuck with the driverless gpu.

Now it seems to me that the GPU itself or its video RAM are faulty. The thing is that the new motherboard I installed was not brand new, but a refurbished one from ebay. (7 times cheaper than the new one.) Since I've been changing my motherboards once a year, this being the fifth one, I decided that even if the refurbished dies out soon, it will be still cheaper to replace my motherboard with a new one so often. I suspect that the board was previously with a faulty gpu and they used some quick fix on it, without actually fixing it. (Like the heating tip that's so popular with the notebook gpus.) I knew it was bound to disintegrate but I didn't think it would happen so soon.

The thing is, that I have only theories about what may be wrong. Firstly, my monitor is fine. Secondly, the GPU works at some times meaning that it still has some life in it. Some sites suggested that the problem may be caused by overheating. (The text in the image under GPU artifacts is most similar to what I see: http://www.playtool.com/pages/artifacts/artifacts.html)
But then again I've run the laptop with the keypad removed from the main body so that the GPU is open to the room temperature, but the artifacts still appear soon after start-up. It logically can't be overheating, unless it overheats in half a minute. The fan is working alright, maybe even too much..



I'd really appreciate some help in knowing if I'm on the right track.

Regards,
VanR

I just got it working, try the dell driver labeled R181148. So far it booted fine, nvidia control panel worked and resolution set to 1440 and youtube plays.
http://www.dell.com/support/driver [...] Id=R181148

I've been having similar problems--did some searching recently and saw that the 620s/Nvida 110s lost a class action lawsuit for selling such crap! Unfortunately the period to apply for damages expired several months ago. Bummer!

Mine has finally worsened to the point that workarounds and new drivers won't work at all. I'm now going to try to find an older driver and keep my fingers crossed. If anyone knows of one let me know--but I fear that the hardware has finally fried itself.

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey