INVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS card crashing, some Qs b4 I update driver?


  1. Nurann
    Posts : 4
    Windows 7 home 32 bit
       New #1

    INVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS card crashing, some Qs b4 I update driver?


    Hi,

    I've been running Windows 7 after upgrading from Vista for a couple of months without any problems. The compatibility program keeps giving me the all clear, but for the past week my graphics card has been spontaneously crashing when I go to play Minecraft and Bejeweled 3. The first two times it recovered and I couldn't seem to track down an error report to find out why; tonight when I opened up Bejeweled I had to manually shut the laptop down as the screen glitched and froze (the image started to break up into bars and then locked completely). It's now crashed twice in one night on games I seemed to be able to run previously without much issue (well, minecraft is its own monster, but Bejeweled has never done this to me before! ). I've been surfing the forums and it looks like there have been very similar issues with the card and Windows 7, but all the related posts are well over a year old and don't quite seem to match up. I'm creating a backup and am prepared to try and update the driver as one old thread suggested, but I wanted to get some current feedback first.

    I am running Windows 7 32 bit home premium on a Dell Inspiron 1420 notebook; a Core2 Duo 1.80GHz processor; 2GM memory; (A10?) BIOS; INVIDIA GeForce 8400m GS driver version 8.15.11.8621.

    - If anyone has recently had this model of card crash on them, did a driver update fix the problem? (I ask because a similar old thread said the update seemed to make it worse, but that user was having some other symptoms my laptop hasn't shown... yet... )
    - What is the best place/way to do a driver update? I have the NVIDIA webpage for Verde 280.26 Driver open, still not sure if it's the right one to be going ahead with though @_@ (http://www.nvidia.com/object/noteboo...ql-driver.html)
    - any other suggestions or recommendations?

    Thanks for any feedback you can give me!!!
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  3. Corazon
    Posts : 1,781
    Windows 7 Professional SP1 32-bit
       New #2

    While a driver update might work, I don't think this is the real cause of the problem...it sounds like a hardware failure to me, most likely due to overheating. Does the card have a fan, if so, can you open up your machine and check that the fan is still running?

    Doh, just noticed it's a laptop (mobile chipset). You could use monitoring tools such as SpeedFan or one of my favorite Windows sidebar gadgets called GPU Observer to check the temperature.

    Anyway, the driver you're looking at is the correct one and it's not a bad idea to update - just be on the safe side and make a backup or restore point first. :)
    Last edited by Corazon; 06 Oct 2011 at 02:46. Reason: Need to learn to read...
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  4. Nurann
    Posts : 4
    Windows 7 home 32 bit
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Unfortunatley, you were correct. I didn't get a chance to try your suggestions though; when I went back an hour later to check on the progress of the backups, something burned out completly. I can't even get it to boot up now. The screen starts up with verticle lines burned in to it. After a few seconds the lines become a bright neon green, but that's the only change. Next stop... Laptop repair store, and then maybe future shop... X/
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  6. Corazon
    Posts : 1,781
    Windows 7 Professional SP1 32-bit
       New #4

    Sorry to hear Hope you get a replacement soon...
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

 

  Related Discussions
Hello, i own one Sony Vaio VGN-NR32Z_S , i had Windows Vista on it when i bought it from one friend , i put Windows 7 on it today and from few hours ago i try to fix the nvidia driver , i tryed to download many typed from nvidia official website and all time i get "This graphics driver could not...
I'm having some problems updating my display driver! I did the Problems Steps Recorder, though! Basically, when I try to update my software, I just get to a screen that says nothing installed. Please help if you can! I really appreciate it. If you need any more info, please let me know!
So, I have upgraded my laptop from Vista-32bits to Windows 7-32bits. I often play games and once my graphics card failed and made my laptop restart. In my attempt to fix it I think I only made it worse by messing up in the device manager, it seems I deleted my graphics card to try and reinstall it....
Hello, My notebook is Sony Vaio(Model: VGN-FZ21E) with following specs: Intel® Core™2 Duo T7250 2.0GHz 2GB/Go DDR2 SDRAM 250GB/Go, 15.4" WXGA 1280x800 X-black LCD, nVidia GeForce 8400M GT GPU Windows 7 professional
I just installed windows 7 professional last night and when trying to personalize my theme, i realized that i couldn't change window color. It only gave me the contrast themes unlike in vista where i could choose the color and it would still look like vista. I'm not sure if that last sentence...
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

 © Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 15:04.
Find Us