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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)
I'm working on a friends machine running an Athlon processor, Windows XP Pro
and 512 MB of Crucial memory with an NVidia Ti4600 video card. The machine
will not boot normally, only to Safe Mode. Some, not all, desktop icons are
blacked out. Same for some taskbar icons. Mouse movement or clicking an
icon can result in blocks of black stripes that do not go away unless
another window is opened or the machine is rebooted.
There was an error message regarding the video driver from NVidia, but
Device Manager shows no problems at all. When I cracked the box and checked
the RAM I found one stick in contact with the edge of the video card. Just
enough contact to see it and feel it when removing or inserting the stick in
its slot. I removed hundreds of items of spyware, adware (Ad-Aware found
174 items!) and other malware as this system was not protected in any way
and is cable modem connected to the internet.
Does anyone have any ideas about the problems? At this point, I am leaning
toward uninstalling the video card drivers and reinstalling to see if that
is the cause. When I left the machine last night it was cycling black
screen and desktop at regularly spaced intervals. Could bad RAM be suspect
here? What about both bad RAM and a bad video driver or even failing video
card? It would seem that both failing at once would be a low probability.
Any help will be appreciated. I'm returning this evening to try a couple
more things on this machine.
I'm working on a friends machine running an Athlon processor, Windows XP Pro
and 512 MB of Crucial memory with an NVidia Ti4600 video card. The machine
will not boot normally, only to Safe Mode. Some, not all, desktop icons are
blacked out. Same for some taskbar icons. Mouse movement or clicking an
icon can result in blocks of black stripes that do not go away unless
another window is opened or the machine is rebooted.
There was an error message regarding the video driver from NVidia, but
Device Manager shows no problems at all. When I cracked the box and checked
the RAM I found one stick in contact with the edge of the video card. Just
enough contact to see it and feel it when removing or inserting the stick in
its slot. I removed hundreds of items of spyware, adware (Ad-Aware found
174 items!) and other malware as this system was not protected in any way
and is cable modem connected to the internet.
Does anyone have any ideas about the problems? At this point, I am leaning
toward uninstalling the video card drivers and reinstalling to see if that
is the cause. When I left the machine last night it was cycling black
screen and desktop at regularly spaced intervals. Could bad RAM be suspect
here? What about both bad RAM and a bad video driver or even failing video
card? It would seem that both failing at once would be a low probability.
Any help will be appreciated. I'm returning this evening to try a couple
more things on this machine.