BlueScreen: nvidia nv4_mini.sys issue

After installing the graphics driver (GeForce4 MX420) for my PC, I got a blue screen every other hour or two, but I guess it depends on the workload the card has to process... the blue screen says there's a problem with nv4_mini.sys and something about "dumping to physical memory... 98%...99%...100%"...

I was thinking that I'm only running on 768MB of RAM at the moment but I'm planning to upgrade to 2GB in the next few days. Anyone know whether this will cure it or is this a driver-related issue?

Thanks
______

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 50
BCP1: FEAB1008
BCP2: 00000000
BCP3: 8EC3E7F8
BCP4: 00000002
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\112509-28265-01.dmp
C:\Users\Anky\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-76718-0.sysdata.xml

Upping the RAM will not cure anything besides making the system more responsive. 768 MB is low but works perfectly fine on 7. I have a PC with 768 MB RDRAM but I also set things up very properly too for this.

Your video card is way too old for any proper usage on Windows 7. That's what you should upgrade.

Check that your motherboard is not nForce3 or below chipset. If it is, you will continue to have problems even after video card upgrade.

torrentg said:

Check that your motherboard is not nForce3 or below chipset. If it is, you will continue to have problems even after video card upgrade.

what exactly do you mean by "below chipset"? do i check it by running a software (like Sandra) or is there an integrated feature that i can do via Win7?

Below refers to the number of nForce. 3 or less is problematic.

You can use CPU-Z to gather info.

torrentg said:

Below refers to the number of nForce. 3 or less is problematic.

You can use CPU-Z to gather info.

ok, awesome program! i ran it and i can't really find anything about nForce... an excerpt from the log on the chipset section:



Chipset
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge Intel i845PE rev. A1
Southbridge Intel 82801DB (ICH4) rev. 01
Graphic Interface AGP
AGP Revision 2.0
AGP Transfer Rate 4x
AGP SBA not supported, not enabled
Memory Type DDR
Memory Size 1536 MBytes
Memory Frequency 132.8 MHz (3:4)
CAS# latency (CL) 2.5
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 3
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 3
Cycle Time (tRAS) 6
DRAM Idle Timer 16


good, bad? neither? i doubled my memory last night and haven't had any incidences with this problem (yet)... but yeah, i was on the limit anyway...

thanks

The AGP rate is only half of the 8x for best use, but will still be usable and actually alright too.

If you don't have any exclamation points in the device manager currently, the chipset, in my best estimations and guess, will be alright for Windows 7.

I recommend any AGP card in the ATI 4xxx line but you must ensure that your psu has proper connector for it (or you can splice yourself if you're good) and also, the psu must be strong enough with regards to available current. Check the rated wattage. It can be used as a rough estimate.

torrentg said:

The AGP rate is only half of the 8x for best use, but will still be usable and actually alright too.

If you don't have any exclamation points in the device manager currently, the chipset, in my best estimations and guess, will be alright for Windows 7.

I recommend any AGP card in the ATI 4xxx line but you must ensure that your psu has proper connector for it (or you can splice yourself if you're good) and also, the psu must be strong enough with regards to available current. Check the rated wattage. It can be used as a rough estimate.

you're correct, as an outdated component, it's doing fairly well on windows 7...and i also have got no exclamation marks in the device manager related to the graphics...

i believe it's only that, as far as i can remember, i got this error whenever the card required heavy duty (youtube HD quality... i will try buying an acceptable cheap card enough to run with windows 7 then...

appreciate your help as always, Sir!