BSOD from nv4_disp.dll

[sniper297]

Tried a google search for this one, zillions of "free utilities" and a replacement file from 2010, nothing has worked so far.

Current specs;

Operating System: Windows XP Media Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3
Model: Dell DXP051
Power supply: 550 watts
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.40GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2GB Crucial 667mhz
Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX650 2GB driver 344.65
Sound: SB Audigy
Hard Drives:
C:Western Digital WD5000AAKX-001CA0 462.0 GB 7200rpm
F:SanDisk SDSSDH120GG25 114.5 GB solid state drive

My youngest son started getting frequent BSOD errors, traced to an aging video card, so I bought a new one and gave him my video card. His system works fine now, but now I'm getting occasional BSOD with nv4_disp.dll listed as the culprit. When I installed the newest video card I went through the whole routine, booting into safe mode and uninstalling the ATI drivers (I used an old ATI X550 in my system while waiting for the GTX650 to arrive), ran driver sweeper, then downloaded and installed the latest Nvidia driver (344.65).

Looking over the search list, I have assorted nv4_disp.dll files dating from 2004 to the most recent Nov 3 2014, in places like C:\i386, C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386, C:\Windows\System32\dllcache, and assorted C:\Windows\System32\ReinstallBackups\(number)\Driv erFiles locations. Could some of these be causing the problems? The latest is where it belongs in C:\Windows\System32, but none of the others match. Best to copy the latest in to overwrite the others, delete all the others, or leave it alone until I can afford a modern system?

[derekmorton]

Hi Jim,

The usual way to fix these issues is to change the driver version either up or down.
If you have installed the latest driver, go back one WHQL version and see what happens.

[sniper297]

Thanks. Got a bunch of old VGA games that have corrupted displays, apparently this is a common problem going back several years with Nvidia. Kludged around that using DOSbox, and the occasional BSODs I'm getting now are always related to either those or Wizards & Warriors (which is not running in DOSbox, it's just the world's buggiest game).

Current driver is 344.65, looking over the list the newest is 347.09, oldest available is 327.23. Downloading both of those now, gonna try the oldest first since Nvidia has apparently been having the corrupted VGA graphics problem for quite a while.

Main question still unanswered, where did all these old nv4_disp.dll files in assorted places come from, and should I overwrite them, delete them, or leave them alone?

[mikeebb]

That's interesting. I have Nvidia (347.09) in my Win7 computer with a 750ti, and it doesn't have *any* copies of that dll. Is it something specific to XP? Mine, by the way, works fine.

If the usual method mentioned above doesn't work, the nuclear approach would be to uninstall drivers and everything else from Nvidia (GEForce stuff, etc.), perhaps in safe mode; reboot to safe mode; clean up all traces of nv*.* outside of the Windows directory, including the nvidia folder at the C: root level where the decompressed install packages go and the nvidia folder in Program Files, because uninstall never seems to delete everything; then reboot again and install the latest driver (which of course will require yet one more reboot). Those scattered copies in the Windows directories are backups that should be ignorable - the active one should appear in System32 - but while at the Safe Mode stage you might want to check to verify that it's gone (after the uninstall and reboot) from System32.

Have you reinstalled Windows several times? That may have left those "reinstallbackups" which is something I've never seen, even in WinXP. In any case, except for checking to be sure that the driver is gone from system32 itself after uninstallation and reboot, you should leave the windows directory alone - the backups may be annoying in a file list but aren't normally referred to by the system.

After you get Nvidia reinstalled, perhaps a dose of malwarebytes and ccleaner might be in order to make sure nothing else funny is going on.

[sniper297]

Yeah, I run malwarebytes and spybot once a week, defrag the HD and run regclean once a month or so. Last weekend I booted into safe mode, uninstalled, ran driver sweeper, lather rinse repeat, found a legacy copy of 327 and installed that. So far (knock on wood) no crashes and it actually performs better than later drivers on most of the games I have, no idea what that's all about. I've been an Nvidia fan since 3Dfx went out of business, but with all the trouble I've had with their hardware and drivers over the last 10 years I think I'll be trying an ATI card next time.