Strange NMI Parity Error

Hi all,

on my E1705, I've recently started experiencing a strange error. While playing COD 4 or AOE III, the laptop will crash after (at most) half an hour of game play while I'm plugged in through the AC adapter. It doesn't crash in battery mode, but the game play is a lot more sluggish, noticeably different from the game play when I'm in the charging mode.

Before you ask, yes I've read the NMI parity error thread and have run memtest. My problem doesn't seem to be the same as anyone else's. I've also swapped out the RAM with ones from another computer and get the same thing. I initially thought this might be related to bad RAM or GPU, but why then does the crash not occur in battery mode?

I've just finished reformatting the computer with a fresh copy of Win XP SP3 and am running one of the latest Nvidia drivers (177.xx) from laptopdriver2go.

Anyone know if a bad AC adapter can cause something this strange? I mean, this error SOLELY occurs while I'm gaming. Running MATLAB or Photoshop won't even cause it. That's also why I initially thought I have a bad GPU.

Thanks in advance for your advices!

Yang

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=68739

Another thread of things you can try.

The fact that it only happens when you're gaming leads me to believe that it's your GPU causing problems. It makes sense that it wouldn't happen on battery because your GPU is severely underclocked on battery. You can try disabling powermizer (google for the registry hack) and see if it happens on battery when your GPU is running at max. If it does, it's your GPU.

 

Thanks for the suggestion Bauer418 - I didn't know about powermizer. I found it in the Nvidia control panel.

Suppose it were my GPU, then shouldn't I experience this problem regardless of which game I'm playing? For example I don't get this while playing Simcity 4 or Rainbow Six Vegas 2... Are you aware of any GPU testing softwares?

I'm recharging my computer as we speak and will download a few demos to see if it's just those games that cause it.

 

It probably has to do with the frequency in which you are accessing large amounts of data. Simcity 4 is probably not one of the most demanding games you're playing.

 

Okay, I ran the Dell diagnostics tool and my video card memory came back as having problems, so I think I have the culprit. However, just a few moments ago my laptop had its first NMI while I wasn't playing games. The only programs running are Firefox and WMP.

Can anyone tell me if a bad video card can cause an NMI even when I'm not playing games? I can't imagine that something else is wrong because the Dell diagnostics tool passed everything else except for the GPU memory.

Thanks in advance.