Dell XPS M1210
Core 2 Duo 1.86
Geforce Go 7400
2 Gig Memory (from Crucial)
Vista Home Premium
A week or so ago, my laptop started crashing at random. All of the errors were related to the display driver. I was using the most current one available from Dell. Things have now progressed to the point that Vista will not boot at all. When you get to the point where the Vista orb should flash on the screen just before login it hangs and then I get a BSOD with the error
"nvlddmkm.sys attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed"
It dumps the memory and then reboots. This is an endless cycle.
I can boot into safe mode. While in safe mode, there are no problems with the display.
What's interesting is that the startup screen while its still going through the bios is all messed up. When the initial Dell logo comes up, there is an evenly spaced set of 3 vertical lines all across the screen. When it moves to the DOS-like screen, it's just a bunch of gibberish characters. I've been unable to start the Dell Diagnostics CD because I can't read the startup options at that point and I suppose I just keep guessing wrong. Safe mode works with no problems at all.
The laptop had been running rather hot, so I took it apart, cleaned the fan and heatsink and replaced the stock thermal paste with AS5. This made the laptop significantly cooler, but the display problem remains.
Any suggestions as to what I should do? The warranty expired on this machine 2 months ago, so I'm on my own here.
Thanks.
Core 2 Duo 1.86
Geforce Go 7400
2 Gig Memory (from Crucial)
Vista Home Premium
A week or so ago, my laptop started crashing at random. All of the errors were related to the display driver. I was using the most current one available from Dell. Things have now progressed to the point that Vista will not boot at all. When you get to the point where the Vista orb should flash on the screen just before login it hangs and then I get a BSOD with the error
"nvlddmkm.sys attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed"
It dumps the memory and then reboots. This is an endless cycle.
I can boot into safe mode. While in safe mode, there are no problems with the display.
What's interesting is that the startup screen while its still going through the bios is all messed up. When the initial Dell logo comes up, there is an evenly spaced set of 3 vertical lines all across the screen. When it moves to the DOS-like screen, it's just a bunch of gibberish characters. I've been unable to start the Dell Diagnostics CD because I can't read the startup options at that point and I suppose I just keep guessing wrong. Safe mode works with no problems at all.
The laptop had been running rather hot, so I took it apart, cleaned the fan and heatsink and replaced the stock thermal paste with AS5. This made the laptop significantly cooler, but the display problem remains.
Any suggestions as to what I should do? The warranty expired on this machine 2 months ago, so I'm on my own here.
Thanks.
