VGN-AR21S - Problems with Geforce 7600 GT & NV4_Mini.sys

[willcox]

Hi.

I hope this email reaches the forum in good health. The subject line pretty much says what the problem is. Out of no where, when i turn my laptop on I get a blue screen (after windows XP logo) saying something about NV4_mini.sys being a problem and PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA.

To describe further, as i turn on my laptop, i get pinkish/blueish dotted vertical lines running the full length of the screen. This only appears on the XP Screen. When the XP screen disappears, the lines remain, and then the blue screen comes up.

It loops and loops until i run safe mode. I can then run windows using the standard VGA graphics thingy, which is terrible (even out of safe mode).

So, the next step was to check the Device Manager. A yellow ! was by the display adaptor. I tried to re-install the driver but the screen goes black and i have to hold down the power button to switch off because nothing happens. If i download the latest drivers from the Nvidia website and run setup.exe it tells me there are no drivers compatible with the hardware that i have, despite the fact i am downloading the correct drivers.

Either way, it all ends up coming back to the same thing.

Any ideas? A mate of mine said it had to be a software problem becuase of the vertical lines on the XP screen, whilst i'm tempted to think its a hardware problem. I have tried system restore to a date when i know everything worked fine but its the same problem. I have also manually replaced NV4_mini.sys to see if that worked but again the same problem.

I have searched the net long and hard and i just cannot find a solution (or at least one i understand. Can anyone help please?

Thanks.

[willcox]

I'm not sure this forum is quite as active as it used to be, so apologies for my impatience. There used to be a guy called Glengod or something who used to answer nearly every question. Is he still around?

[willcox]

Can anyone help? Its causing me terror. Cant play any games. Even scrolling a page barely works because its too graphics intensive!!!

[Blencogo]

Hi willcox - good to hear from you again.

There are two possibilities that spring to mind. One - your nVidia driver is corrupt and you need to download and install a new one. Two - you may be suffering from a known nVidia chip failure as the AR21S is one of the susceptible models.

Try downloading another version of the nVidia driver - you cannot install a driver from the nVidia site as they only support desktop computers and rely on Sony to update the Vaio drivers. Either download the Original Drivers Package from the download site for your model here:

http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/preinstalled/index.aspx?l=en_GB&m=VGN-AR21S

or go to www.laptopvideo2go.com and read the getting started guide on how to install the drivers on a Vaio by modifying the .inf file.

For the n~Vidia problem go to the same link above and type "distorted video" in the search box and then follow the Useful Links. See if your symptoms match this known problem and if so, contact Sony support as your warranty may be extended to deal with this problem.

Good Luck