Is my video card bad?

[goldylox123]

My computer started off by freezing during various activities. It had to be rebooted to get it up and running again. Whenever I try to update any of the drivers using the device manager, it will also freeze. I can boot into safe mode and everything works fine. My next step was to uninstall the Nvidia video card driver. Running with the standard VGA driver, it works like a charm. I can use the device manager and update all my drives and it runs for hours an hours with no problems at all. When I try to go back and add the newest driver, an old driver or anthing in between, it freezes at startup or at some point shortly after and I am once again unable to use the device manager to update drivers without it freezing up.


Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[jyjjy]

First thing to do is run uninstall the drivers then run driver sweeper in safe mode to make sure everything is gone;
http://phyxion.net/Driver-Sweeper/Driver-Sweeper/Version-3-2-0/
Then reboot and do a fresh install of the latest drivers from the Nvidia site and see if you still have problems.

 

[goldylox123]

I will try that right now. Thank you.

 

[goldylox123]

I ran driver sweeper in safe mode. Rebooted and updated to the latest driver from Nvidia. Rebooted and the computer is frozen at startup.

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

What gpu are we talking about ?

 

[goldylox123]

This is a GE Force 6200SE running on a HP n7360m desktop. It is running Windows XP Media Center Edition.

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Sorry, know nothing of that gpu.
With the standard driver, the gpu works fine you say ? You have all the features of the card working on your system ? If so, don't use the newest driver. Newer ain't always better. I can't use the latest nvidea driver with my 560ti, it starts having problems then. ( driver error messages etc )
You could try update xp maybe.

 

[goldylox123]

Thanks. I've tried at least 6 different drivers. Some were older and some were newer. Everything causes the system to crash at some point. The only way it won't crash is if I don't install any Nvidia driver.

 

[goldylox123]

I just tried the original driver from HP's website and it still crashes the system.

 

[jyjjy]

This sounds like a good excuse for an upgrade as that card is ancient and was never particularly good. Are you sure that is the right model number of your computer? Google is turning up nothing for it.

 

[goldylox123]

I'm sorry. It is a HP m7360n.

 

[goldylox123]

Any help in an inexpensive upgrade would be helpful.

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

How inexpensive and where do you buy from ?

 

[goldylox123]

Pretty inexpensive. This is for someone who basically just uses it for the internet and some word processing. No gaming. It's a friend of mine's computer and they just took on some fixer upper property that is draining their bank account. They just want to get it up and running as cheap as possible. They may upgrade in a year or two, just no funds to do so now.

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Ok, they buying from the USA and how do they feel about rebates ? ( they have to pay the full amount in advance but can get some money back later )

 

[goldylox123]

Rebates would be fine and ebay works as well.

 

[jyjjy]

If it is just for internet/word processing then something like this will work fine;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127591

 

[goldylox123]

$15.00 after rebate sounds perfect. Thank you.

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150558 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121444 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150570 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500204 the last one needs a 300w power supply though and again i can't find on google what powersupply the hp has. ( allways seem to have that problem with hp )

 

[goldylox123]

Here's the power supply.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150368905983?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

[goldylox123]

Thank you so much to everyone who offered to help. You guys have given me a couple to choose from that are within their price range. You don't know how much I appreciate the help.

Thanks again.

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Ok, 300W. But like jyjjy says, a low profile card will do for internet and word processing. No need for the 430 actually.
But the 9600 requires 400W so that one isn't possible, the 5450 would be a better choice than the 210 i think. http://www.hwcompare.com/376/geforce-gt-210-vs-radeon-hd-5450/ Uses less power and is a bit faster.

 

[goldylox123]

Ok. The 5450 it is. Thank you so much. You are a life saver

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Anytime.

 

[jyjjy]

The HD5450 is better but it is also PCI-E 2.1 and those cards occasionally have issues with older 1.0 systems like the OP is talking about. Best to steer clear just in case IMO considering there will be no effective difference for the purposes mentioned.