Vista - Nvidia 8400 Gs problems

Ok, ive been trying to sort this problem for 2 weeks now. I know there are hundreds upon hundreds of posts like this, trust me, i know, as ive probably read nearly all of them looking for an answer.

A few weeks ago i started getting that little error message saying,
"Display Driver nvlddmkm Stopped Responding and Has Recovered"

first few times this happened i assumed i was over heating, so i removed the side of my case to see how hot the computer was. I also downloaded some software to see if it was overheating, i found out it wasent. Left it for a day and booted up the system from cold overnight, and about 2 minutes after windows had finished logging in i get that same message. So i set about seeing what has been changed on my system lately, the only thing i can think of was a windows update that had downloaded the previous day. So not to worry i used windows recovery to go back a few days to when the computer was running normally.

So i boot up my system after recovering to be met by the same message.

For the next week i ran the computer in safe mode trawling the internet for answers.
I went to the Nvidia site, ZILCH about it, there were lots of people complaining about the same problem. No answers.

So i went to microsoft, again lots of complaining, No answers.

I went to the Intel website thinking maybe it was my motherboard conflicting,
again, No answers.

So i decided to format my computer and just reinstall windows, because frankly id had enough of the computer crashing, and the blue screen of death coming up.

So after wiping my hard drive, and reinstalling windows from the disk, i then couldent find any drivers for my hardware and spent the next week running the computer off the standard VGA adapter, because i couldent find the chipset driver for my motherboard, and everytime i tried to install my graphics card the computer would not reboot.

This morning while i was on the internet windows update had told me it had been able to install the driver for my graphics card, randomnly, as it had not been able to find it before. SO i restarted my system to see if it had worked, which it had.
I then checked system device manager and noticed the SM bus controller still had a little warning sign next to it, ( the apostrophe in the yellow triangle). I then managed to find after about an hours looking the right driver for my motherboard.

Restarted computer, and joyous of days it booted up fine.
Thinking id fixed it i tried to run, (dont ask me why) the windows rater program to see if everything had installed correctly. About a minute in, the system crashes. No bluescreen, it just froze. The process it was running in the rater was the windows aero function as well. So i had to restart my pc with the power button on the front, restarted the pc and windows loaded up.

And what do you know, i get that same error message

"Display Driver nvlddmkm Stopped Responding and Has Recovered"

I nearly threw my computer out the window if im honest.

So ive included everything ive done until now because no one else in there posts seems too, and people want information as to what they have done.

Im really struggling to understand whats happened to the sodding thing, whether something is conflicting or what?
I really dont know.

Operating System System ModelWindows Vista Ultimate Service Pack 1 (build 6001) Compaq-Presario GG639AA-ABU SR5139UK
System Serial Number: CZX733XPNM
Enclosure Type: DesktopProcessor a Main Circuit Board b2.33 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
4096 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. Berkeley 1.xx
Serial Number: MS1C77S30300689
Bus Clock: 333 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 5.13 10/24/2007Drives Memory Modules c,d320.07 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
285.78 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

ATAPI DVD A DH16A1L ATA Device [CD-ROM drive]

Generic- Compact Flash USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 1
Generic- MS/MS-Pro USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 4
Generic- SD/MMC USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 3
Generic- SM/xD-Picture USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 2
ST3320820AS [Hard drive] (320.07 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 9QF5VCJS, rev 3.CHL, SMART Status: Healthy 2048 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM0' has 1024 MB
Slot 'DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM2' has 1024 MB
Slot 'DIMM3' is Empty Local Drive Volumes c: (NTFS on drive 0)311.60 GB277.37 GB freed: (NTFS on drive 0)8.47 GB8.40 GB free Network Drives None detectedUsers (mouse over user name for details) Printerslocal user accountslast logon[IMG]file:///C:/Program%20Files/Belarc/Advisor/System/local/images/trans.gif[/IMG] Nick21/11/2008 14:31:26(admin)local system accounts[IMG]file:///C:/Program%20Files/Belarc/Advisor/System/local/images/no.gif[/IMG] Administrator21/01/2008 02:45:56(admin)[IMG]file:///C:/Program%20Files/Belarc/Advisor/System/local/images/no.gif[/IMG] Guestnever
[IMG]file:///C:/Program%20Files/Belarc/Advisor/System/local/images/no.gif[/IMG] Marks a disabled account; [IMG]file:///C:/Program%20Files/Belarc/Advisor/System/local/images/lock.gif[/IMG] Marks a locked account None detected Controllers DisplayATA Channel 0 [Controller] (2x)
ATA Channel 1 [Controller] (2x)
Intel(R) ICH9 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2 - 2926
Intel(R) ICH9 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1 - 2920 NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS [Display adapter]Bus Adapters MultimediaMicrosoft iSCSI Initiator
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2934
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2935
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2936
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2937
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2938
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2939
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293A
Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293C Realtek High Definition AudioCommunications Other DevicesIntel(R) 82566DC Gigabit Network Connection primary Auto IP Address: 192.168.1.3 / 24Gateway: 192.168.1.1Dhcp Server: 192.168.1.1Physical Address: 00:1B:FC:F8:3C:F0isatap.{562F139D-5AE9-4BA2-AD7E-CB3C5580873F}Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-InterfaceNetworking Dns Server: 192.168.1.1 AGERE OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub (8x)
Generic volume shadow copyTheres all my computer specs off belarc advisor.

I really need some help with this, if theres any more information im needed to show somone just say, cause if somone can help me fix this flippin thing ill be eternally grateful. Im really at a loss.
(and im a student too so i cant afford to pay for it to be repaired)
I mean if worst comes to worst ill have to but if im doing something wrong somone let me know. Cheers for reading

I have the same problem. I have a Windows Vista Ultimate x64 PC that has been running just fine since I bought it in June.

About a month ago I bought an Nvidia 8400GS card. Ever since then, the machine randomly freeze. Not a blue screen, just all of a sudden everything stops working and I have to manually power it off with the power button on the front of the case.

I've turned off Aero and the problem largely goes away, although it does still hang from time to time.

I've scoured the Internet and have seen several references to x64 Vista bit hanging with this graphics card, so this is quite clearly a problem with this graphics card.

Does anyone have a resolution?

Check your Bios is up to date

Pooch

I have same on a 32 bit Compaq presario bought at PC worldin UK. Did same as MaoriNick.

if you not already did
get the newest drivers for the card uninstall the old stuff. check manually for residues.
install the new nv file.
i am sure someone told u that before. anyway it worked for me.

take care

All your time is wasted!

This problem goes back to the scorce NVIDIA. They have not properly tested some late 7000 series to the early 9000 series, worst affected is the 8000 series.

The problem is due to over heating the chips do not have the proper leway to expand so the solderings crack, so you get the blue screen of death or in most cases wavey line going down the screen but when your pc cools down it will boot but as soon as it heats up same problem it crashes.

Nvidia are in the process of going to court with packardbell in california, but none of the big pc companys are admitting anything, pc world,song and dell... the only thing being done is packardbell are extending the warrenty too 2 years.

All you can do if its a laptop and still in warrenty get it fix but when you do the problem will just happen again. or throw you graphic cards out the window.