# Blue Screen of Death (nv4_disp error)



## ACE007 (Oct 26, 2001)

I have an Alienware built pc thats about 2 years old.

ASUS P4C800-E DELUXE MOTHERBOARD
INTEL PENTIUM 4 EXTREME EDITION 3.4GHZ 800MHZ FSB
CORSAIR 512MB DDR PC3200LL VS 
SEAGATE BARRACUDA 80GB 8MB CACHE SATA HD 
BFG GEFORCE FX 5950 ULTRA 256MB 
420 WATT POWER SUPPLY
2 GB of RAM

When I'm playing World of Warcraft occasionally (a few times per session usually), the game freezes up for 10-15 seconds. Sometimes it'll release and I'm able to play just fine with no problem. Other times it'll create some weird graphic bug in-game and I have to restart the game itself to clear it up. Once a day or so lately I've also had a new problem arise when playing. Sometimes the game will freeze and boot me out to the blue screen of death. This is what it tells me there....

problem file nv4_disp
device driver stuck in an infinite loop.
0x000000EA 
(0x8879F8B8, 0x8A3CIEC0, 0xF78C6CBC, 0x00000001)

I figured it must be a driver issue because I hadnt updated it in a few months. I dont know alot about this stuff but that was my guess. I went to the NVIDIA site and downloaded the latest version for my vid card. I uninstalled my old driver, rebooted, did not allow the windows wizard to install anything, and then installed the new driver (version 7.8.0.1).

This hasnt stopped the problem from happening at all. I have my pc in a well ventilated area and it has sufficient cooling. Also I havent toyed with any overclocking (seen that asked in a different freezing thread).

Any help or feedback would be GREATLY appreciated. I've always been able to get good advice and help with my pc issues here. Thanks in advance !!


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

If it's any consolation ...

http://members.home.nl/marf/Infinite Loop.html


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## ACE007 (Oct 26, 2001)

So basically I'm screwed and to deal with it ?


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Have you tried the BIOS edits or the Nvidia driver version that seems to help some?

And how much ram do you have installed? You seem to have two different references in you signature. Changing the amt of ram being used may alter the way this issue is handled by the BIOS and the Display driver.


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## ACE007 (Oct 26, 2001)

I am not sure what BIOD edits are and am a little tenative to get into something like that. I do have 2GB RAM (came with that much, I didnt add to it) for memory. I do have the latest driver installed for my vid card as well.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Actually there are only three settings mentioned in that list that I would consider editing:

Video Bios Shadow - disable 
Video Bios Cacheable - disable
AGP Aperture Set to 256MB

Again it's your choice; you can always reload "setup defaults" at any time in the BIOS. You may notice some reduction in performance at these settings.

Explanations of these settings can be found in ...

http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz/BIOS_Guide/BIOS_Guide_Index.htm


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## ACE007 (Oct 26, 2001)

Thank you for your responses. How would I go about changing these BIOS settings, and will changing them have any effect on my pc in the sense that I'd lose information ? I have a recent backup of my important files but just want to be sure before I change anything.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Watch the first data screen you see on startup to see what key to press to enter "setup". This is the BIOS. The settings you will be looking for should be in the chipset setup page. Arrow keys are used to navigate within screens. Once an item is highlighted, pressing pgup/dn or +/- toggles the options available for it. The esc key returns you to the original screen where you can select "exit with saving" (or something similar), or if you have become confused or think you did something you don't want to keep "exit without saving".

Should you encounter any performance problems with changed settings (they will not likely affect any Windows or personal settings or data), you can return to the BIOS setup configuration and either choose the option to reload the "setup defaults", or change the individual settings back to where they were. 

Similarly, if the changes offer no improvement, I would return to the original settings.


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## digital1986 (Sep 17, 2005)

Alienware = WAYYYYY to much $$$$$


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## ACE007 (Oct 26, 2001)

Thanks for the advice you've offered. I'll be trying the changes this afternoon and will post the results.


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## ACE007 (Oct 26, 2001)

Following your directions I got into the BIOS without issue. Once there I located the Chipset submenu and made the change in AGP Aperature from 64mb to 256mb. I was unable to locate Video BIOS Shadow or Video BIOS Cacheable in the chipset menu or any other menu at all. This is what is listed on my chipset menu...

Configure DRAM Timing by SPD [enabled]
Performance Acceleration Mode [auto]
DRAM Idle Timer [auto]
DRAM Refresh Rate [auto]
Graphic Adapter Priority [AGP/PCI]
Graphic Aperature Size [256mb] (now since change)
Spread Spectrum [enabled]
ICH Delayed Transaction [enabled]
MPS Revision [1.4]

So I'm kinda lost how to change those other 2 settings. Any ideas ?


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

If you didn't see them, they are probably not there. Do you have a motherboard manual? What's the motherboard model number? I'd like to have a look myself -- you can usually get these things online.

Never mind, I see you listed it in your first post -- I'll see if I can find one for it.

By the way, I see there are some BIOS flash updates available for that model. You should really check with Alienware to see whether they would recommend and support any of them, or whether they have their own for you:

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us


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## ohheck (Jan 5, 2003)

my experience with nv4disp error: 
a program / games doesnt like the particular version of nvidia display drivers you are using-
fwiw this version has never caused a BSOD for me-
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_66.93


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## ACE007 (Oct 26, 2001)

I rolled back my driver to 66.93 and will see how that works. I checked with Alienware and they didnt suggest updating those BIOS updates. Thanks for your help and suggestions. I'll see how this goes.


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