Random freezing/crashing with Nvidia GeForce GT 220

[QUOTE=distribute;592424]Thanks for all the replies.

@Dtrantham: Dell doesn't agree with me in that the graphics card is the problem. They want me to do a full wipe and reinstall the operating system. I'd have to buy a new graphics card, and I don't really want to spend ~$400 on a new card unless I really have to...which I will as a last resort if I can't find a solution within a reasonable amount of time.

It isnt really a problem with the graphics card, or at least mine wasnt. It was that none of the nvidia drivers i tried were fully compatable with win 7 64 bit. I have read this on multiple nvidia and other tech forums. They wont admit to it but there have been people fighting this same problem for months. I dont know how much dell will really do about this for you. But if it comes down to it you should be able to pickup a comparable radeon card at best buy for under $100 as a last resort. I tried both a stock radeon from an old computer and the new one i bought both ran fine but with the gt 240 in it kept freezing with 3 diffarent drivers for it. Hopefully dell will be able to do something for you and get this fixed.

@Distribute: Of course Dell is going to blame user error (and many times they'd be right!) I am assuming here that you have not made any changes to the system other than the usual OS tweaking: desktop settings, folder options, etc. If Dell is not willing to fix it if it is a hardware problem, that's BS. You are probably going to have to do the "RMA Dance" for them (do this, do that, stand on your head, cluck like a chicken) before you will finally get your RMA. This is typical of questionable retailers. Be insistent.
There is another post here where a guy is having a similar problem and HP offered to replace the entire rig without question. That's a change for HP and good for them.
You could do all the diagnostics that won't cost you anything and won't void your warranty, just to have some tangible evidence to present during the dance.
Also: When you re-installed your video drivers did you completely uninstall all of the video software and drivers first?

I am having the exact same problem with both my machines. We bought 2 of the same model from pc world and they are both doing the same thing. Ive tried a system restore but it hasnt solved the problem. We bought them both a month ago and havent made any changes to the machine whatsoever.
As im typing this now my screen is going black and the error comes up 'display driver stopped responding and successfully recovered'.
The prob im getting aswel with the sound and glitches, almost as if something is running in the background and causing whaever im doing to stagger. This goes away with a simple restart but eventually happens again after an hour or so, as if its running out of memory.

Im thinking of taking them both back to PC world and getting my money back, alot of people seem to be having the same problem but i cant find any fixes.

Thanks

Mark

For everyone having a "freezing" problem, here is the solution:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_ [...] 97.13.html

Brand new drivers from Nvidia - there was a "fan problem" causing mother boards burn, and everything freeze.
Hope this helps!

That new driver might work for the GT240, which Dell is still using in its systems, but it doesn't work for my GT220 in 64-bit Windows 7. A Dell technician has admitted to me that they have all but given up on the GT220 ever truly being Windows 7 compatible.

Although this thread is a bit old, as a user of a brand new Dell Vostro 430 with the GT220 card I am finding all this out afresh. The symptom described in this thread has been happening to me from the first hour that I turned it on, and before installing any software at all.

My observation is that it generally (but not only) happens when I try to resize a window. Initially it appeared random. I note that other writers have not tried to analyse what is going on when the problem occurs, but it would be interesting to see if there is a common event.

As I have Dell support, I'll be interested to see if they are willing to acknowledge that there is an issue here.

I also note that there appears to be a later driver than the 197.13 release mentioned above. it is 257.21 at NVIDIA DRIVERS 257.21 WHQL but I'm not sure if there are significant differences.

I can assure you that Dell knows this to be an unresolvable issue, but you will need to press them into this admission. They will then swap it for a GTS-240 or something similar, which works fine in W7x64.

It has something to do with the limited heat handling capacity of the GT220 apparently.

Just for the record, and for the benefit of anyone else reading this thread, I can report that since I installed the version 257.21 driver from the Nvidia web site, I have not experiences a single occurrence of the problem reported in the thread. That is a remarkable difference from the events which were occurring about every 15 minutes previously. Of course YMMYV!

I had the exact same issues for a few months. Dell could never find the problem. I hunted forums like this and found it to be a big problem for a lot of people. I phoned Dell again and set up sharing so i could show them pictures i took of BSOD and also this forum. They sent an engineer out the next day with a replacement Graphics Card (the same one - Nvidia gt220) and the problem has been solved! Thankfully!