Blue Screen of Death (display stopped working) on Compaq Presario 6608AU laptop

Question

I have a Compaq Presario 6608AU laptop with NVIDIA GeForce 7150 / nForce 630M and AMD Turion 64 X2 1.9 GHz processor. After what is usually 3 to 4 hours of usage, the screen sometimes goes blank - after a couple of minutes there is a BSOD saying that the display stopped working.

What could be the problem?

I get the same problem on Windows 7 as well.

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ADDED after Analysing BSOD mini dump on BlueScreenView:

BlueScreenView says that the crash always happens because of:

FileName: NVIDIA Compatible Windows Vista Kernel Mode Driver, Version 177.13,

FullPath: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys

The crash happens in C:\Windows\system32\drivers\dxgkrnl.sys, the DirectX Graphics Kernel and usually occurs when I use Google Chrome and VMWare.

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Temperature Update (I used SpeedFan software for this)

CPU(AMD Turion): 60C (AVG)
GPU(NVIDIA Geforce): 80C (AVG).

I am using a laptop cooler; before this it used to be +5C.

Should I try Vista 64-bit?

Answer 1

It sounds like your graphics card is broken.

As it's a laptop you can't do the following (which is standard procedure for a desktop):

Do you have another graphics card to try in the machine or has the motherboard got on-board graphics? If so then swap out the graphics card and see if the problem repeats.

If not then that would indicate that it is the graphics card, if it does then it's something else (possibly memory, but unlikely).

The card might be overheating - can you check if the fans are working correctly? Also reduce the screen resolution and perhaps even hardware acceleration (right click Properties -> Settings -> Advanced -> Troubleshoot). This might keep the GPU cool enough.

Answer 2

The details on that BSoD might be helpful. Fortunately, you don't need to write it down: just go into Control Panel » Administrative Tools » Event Viewer. What does it say?

And, if there happens to be a link to "For more information, see Help and Support Center at [..]" then click that. It will send the details to Microsoft and then might take you to a very detailed Microsoft support page, specific to the problems you have. (See also How To Solve Any Windows Problem with Event ID.)

Answer 3

Have you tried updating the driver? Have you made sure that the exhaust vents are free from dust? These are usually the two biggest culprits.