[Cheese]

It started with that my screen looked all messed up. I have a dell so when I restart the dell logo have white lines all over the screen.
problem is when i try to install the driver, my computer crashes halfway thru the installation and then I get a blue screen 'PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA'

When I format my computer weird letters and symbols shows up
example:

Window XP Professional Setup
ø____øøøø____øøøø__ø__ø_ (suppose to be straight lines)

PresS enteR to contiNuE

and also there is like blue/red/green lines pops up on my screen
i have to change my color quality to 16 bit cause it gets nasty at 32bit

Pc spec
Dell Dimension E521
Window media center editon SP2 (But it says I have window xp pro for some reason)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 processor 3200+ 2.0ghz
Video card: Geforce 7300 LE
Ram: 4g

thanks.

[Dragnet]

What does the screen look like if you boot to Safe Mode?


* If the computer is running, shut down Windows, and then turn off the power.
* Wait 30 seconds, and then turn the computer on.
* Start tapping the F8 key. The Windows Advanced Options Menu appears. If you begin tapping the F8 key too soon, some computers display a "keyboard error" message. To resolve this, restart the computer and try again. If F8 doesn't work try F5.
* Ensure that the Safe Mode option is selected.
* Press Enter. The computer then begins to start in Safe mode with networking.
* Log on with an account that has administrator privileges, usually your own account (NOT the account named Administrator).

The screen will look different and some things won't work - like printing, and wireless networking so you need to be connected to your ISP with an Ethernet cable.

[Match]

Hi Cheese, and Welcome to Computer Help forums,

First there are a few things that you are saying that are slightly confusing and conflicting so if you can answer my questions and anyone else trying to help as accurately as you can, I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this for you

Quote

I have a dell so when I restart the dell logo have white lines all over the screen.

This isn't normally caused through a driver problem in my experience

Quote

'PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA'

Faulty hardware, a buggy system service, antivirus software, and a corrupted NTFS volume can all generate this type of error.

Have you used any Registry cleaners or optimizers? although with what you said about your boot up screen I favor a hardware problem.

Quote

When I format my computer

this has me completely baffled, what do you mean by format? insert your XP CD and format a drive you will wipe all the information from the HDD and have to do a clean install of your operating system

Quote

weird letters and symbols shows up

Strange, very, and would make me think you have ether a RAM,GPU or motherboard problem

Quote

and also there is like blue/red/green lines pops up on my screen
i have to change my color quality to 16 bit cause it gets nasty at 32bit

This also makes me think RAM/GPU problem

Have you tried Booting to safe mode?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222

can you Boot into windows at all at the moment.

when the computer boots, you should hear a single beep, as it power on self tests, do you still get the single beep, or are you now getting a series of beeps long and short.

On some Dells there are 3 or 4 LED's on the back panel that give fault indicator codes, does your PC have these?

I think that this problem is going to be RAM,GPU or motherboard related to confirm this it will probably be necessary to open the case and check some components, especially if the computer won't boot at all. do you feel confident in working inside a computer case and can you identify RAM and GPU?

also after doing a quick check on your machines spec's it would seem that your machine was supplied as standard with on board graphics, do you know if you have a GPU Card installed or if it is still using the onboard graphics chipset?

[Cheese]

Quote

Have you used any Registry cleaners or optimizers?

No don't use any of those.

Quote

this has me completely baffled, what do you mean by format? insert your XP CD and format a drive you will wipe all the information from the HDD and have to do a clean install of your operating system

wipe everything and install new windows

Quote

Have you tried Booting to safe mode?

yes

Quote

What does the screen look like if you boot to Safe Mode?

like all pc safemode lol

Quote

do you feel confident in working inside a computer case and can you identify RAM and GPU?

yeah.

Quote

do you know if you have a GPU Card installed or if it is still using the onboard graphics chipset?

i think so lol

This post has been edited by Cheese: 09 February 2010 - 07:04 PM

[BeeCeeBee]

Quote

i think so lol

In that case is there more than one vga (monitor) connection port on the machine?

[Match]

OK LOL a sense of humor, or was it sarcasm, who cares I laughed at some of your answers anyway

Right if you have a GPU card try plugging the monitor in to the on board graphics, if you don't well come back to that.

to test the RAM, can you Boot into safe mode with networking if so you can try downloading windows memory diagnostic and running it to see what it says.

If not, you should have two sticks of RAM in the PC if not 4, remove all but one and boot up your PC,

if all is well and works OK, remove the one in the PC placing it somewhere safe and noting its Good, and replace one of the others you removed, until we have tested all the RAM sticks

we have three possibilities

1 Good sticks and Bad sticks, problem solved

2 All Good sticks, wasn't the RAM, probably a motherboard Voltage problem

3 All Bad sticks, RAM's OK start looking else where.

any problems or questions feel free to ask, or if you are unsure of anything.

P.S. I noticed your post in another thread about Dell, Cheap components Blah etc, Yes you are right, you get what you pay for, Companies like Dell, Advent, Acer can sell PC's with operating systems and support at a profit for the price I can buy just the components for, so in my mind the best most reliable PC's are custom built by someone who knows what they are doing, mine's run for over 18 months and the only problems are self inflicted. Problem being that their are a lot of people that think they know what they are doing. always best to ask about previous machines before taking the custom built route

[Cheese]

lol, ill try that right now and see how it works.

True, and i have this computer for 4 years LOL.
you think thats the problem? maybe not.
and yeh the thread was here
http://computerhelpf...puter-shopping/

This post has been edited by Cheese: 09 February 2010 - 08:44 PM

[Dalo Harkin]

page fault in non paged area is related to RAM and as you say that the display is corrupt I would say that its the GPU RAM thats affected.
Just to be sure remove your RAM sticks one at a time (if you have 4GB) is it 4x1GB sticks or 2x2GB sticks? chances are they will be matched sticks so make sure you remember which one comes from which slot before removing.
Try them one at a time and see if you get the same distortion on the screen and then at least it rules the RAM out, if its the same on all 4 or 2 sticks then its the GPU RAM and you need a new card.... (distortion on the GPU is normally caused by overheating so before you replace, make sure that the card is cooled properly and that the fan is clear of any dust)

Nvidia 7 series GPUs are very cheap and as such made from 'budget components'

[Cheese]

i have 2x2GB sticks and 1 512mb i test all the ram stick
and tried to install my video driver still get blue screen half way on the installation

how does the memory test works? you have to burn it?

This post has been edited by Cheese: 11 February 2010 - 01:33 AM

[Dalo Harkin]

Memtest does have to be burnt to an ISO format disk yes.
run the memtest and that should then at least give you some indication if the RAM is ok.
If the Nvidia driver is causing a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) did you see the error at all? is it the 'page fault in non paged area' again?

If you run memtest and it says the RAM you have is ok, then it must be the GPU

[Cheese]

Ok this is weird, today i could install my driver i tried it. i was shocked lol
Everything was going great until I started to play a game online.
Then a thing popped up:

Windows - Display Drivers Stopped Responding
The nv4_disp display driver has stopped working normally. Save your work and reboot the system to restore full display functionality. The next time you reboot the machine a dialog will be displayed giving you a chance to upload data about this failure microsoft.

Then my colors went to 8bit nasty colors and my screen size went to 800x600

Then when i press ok it freeze, after restarting my computer windows won't load it goes to a black screen.
Im in safe mode right now.

[Cheese]

I did a ram test it all passed.

[Dalo Harkin]

ok, go to C:/ Nvidia within that file there should be one folder called 192.87 if there is more than one folder with numbers like that, that could be your problem.
Do you uninstall using the Add/Remove utility?

Start fresh by doing this:-
Go to add/remove programs in control panel then uninstall the Nvidia display driver, select DO NOT restart then go to C:/ Nvidia and then DELETE any files that are names as above 192.87.

Restart the PC/Laptop, go to Nvidia website and select the right OS, card and driver then download and install it then restart the PC - better?

If not then if you have onboard graphics, try using that and see if the issues persist.

[Cheese]

Dalo Harkin, on 15 February 2010 - 06:56 AM, said:

ok, go to C:/ Nvidia within that file there should be one folder called 192.87 if there is more than one folder with numbers like that, that could be your problem.
Do you uninstall using the Add/Remove utility?

Start fresh by doing this:-
Go to add/remove programs in control panel then uninstall the Nvidia display driver, select DO NOT restart then go to C:/ Nvidia and then DELETE any files that are names as above 192.87.

Restart the PC/Laptop, go to Nvidia website and select the right OS, card and driver then download and install it then restart the PC - better?

If not then if you have onboard graphics, try using that and see if the issues persist.

my nvidia folder is 196.21\WinXP\English no more than one number folder
I did a diagnostic test with my dell cd everything passed but:
Video corruption-
x Video memory test
x Text mode character test
x Text mode color test
x Video Graphics Mode Test
All above test failed and the rest passed
so i guess its my graphic card?

[Dalo Harkin]

from what you have just posted yes it points to the on board RAM on the GPU