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Display produces artefacts and crashes at start up, maybe corrupt OS
Hi all,
This is not the first time I am posting regarding my current problem, though this is more directly related to the graphics card.
The short version of the story is that a few weeks ago my hard drive probably sustained some light damage and the laptop wouldn't boot up in any way. After a check disk was done from another computer Windows could load again. However, it critically failed (and forced a 1min restart) during the start up. After running SFC, I manually replaced some corrupt files (though it still says they are problematic) and somewhere there normal mode stabilised again.
For the last week or so it has been working ok except from some sporadic BSODs (all with nvlddmkm.sys at fault). Some artefacts would show up on the screen and some times they would go away and other times the system would deteriorate and crash. A reboot or loading the last known working settings seemed to do the trick when the problem persisted. However, as of yesterday it has all gone to hell. No matter whether I clean installed two versions of the graphics drivers or various system fixes the problem is still there. Mind you, it doesn't seem to result to a BSOD anymore. If I try normal mode, after the Windows logo I get white and black vertical lines, then artefacts show up everywhere and the laptop restarts. On the other hand, safe mode displays no problems whatsoever.
Now, ideally I would like the whole problem to be fixed without having to reinstall Windows. Part of it is that I am wary of the hard drive and I worry a reinstall will not result to a working system (which I at least have in some form now). I have gained more confidence in the matter though seeing how I managed to once stabilise the system from an inoperable state. So maybe before attempting any solutions it'd be wise to consider whether a format would make all the problems go away in less time and effort. Or maybe even reinstall Windows on top of it as is. In the meantime, I am open to suggestions how to go about fixing this problem otherwise without resulting to such extreme measures.
Things I've tried:
Before the problem escalated
- I ran chkdsk /f /r /x last week after the system stabilised but I didn't see any reported errors.
After the problem (in safe mode)
- I uninstalled, restarted and reinstalled the graphics drivers. I tried two versions (314.07 and 301.42) but the problem did not go away.
- I uninstalled the graphics drivers, restarted and let Windows install some basic drivers. Then I tried to load normal mode but it failed again.
- From the advanced starting options, starting with a low resolution (640x480) I could actually start normal mode up, but with serious artefacts. It lasted less than a minute and it BSODed.
- The repair mode using F8 at start up reported that a driver was possibly preventing Windows from starting normally but couldn't fix the problem.
- Last known working settings don't seem to have any effect and all my system restore points are gone.
- SFC is singing the same old song (iTVdata.dll, msv1_0.dll and mstsc.exe are corrupted) though I had manually replaced the first two files straight from the installation disc.
Specs:
- Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit
- HP Pavillion dv6853ea Notebook
- Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.10 GHz
- 2GB RAM (only one of the two memory slots works, the other got damaged years ago and will result in quick and random BSODs if any RAM is present)
- nVidia GeForce 8400M GS
- WD Scorpio Black 750 GB