Video Memory Problem , Pls Help!

Hi Everyone, I recently encountered a problem with my XPS Gen 2. Since this morning, when i start up a game, shortly after the opening screens, the screen freezes, and then moves for a split second, and then freezes again for like 10 seconds.
Then a blue screen comes up that says:
"Windows had to be shut down in order to prevent damage to your computer..." etc.
"Technical Information:

Stop: 0x0000008E
nv4_disp.dll : address A0084, expected to read 0h, but read 1010101h instead"

then I ran Dell Diagnostics Utility to see what the problem is, and when i tested the video, az error message came up:

"error code 5300:0119

Msg: failure while writing and reading video memory

and it displayed this error message for all resolutions possible.

Now my question is, is it a hardware problem or software? What can I do to fix it, and do i have to send it back to dell to get it fixed? I really dont have the time to wair for my comp to get shipped back to me after its fixed..Any suggestions are accepted!
I am desperate, please help..

Thanks a lot,

Endre

p.s.: Oh and i tried reinstalling new drivers too, but the problem persisted.

 

This was a known issue with the nVIDIA drivers your obviously using. There's since been an updated driver version released that fixes this problem. Did you reinstall the same old drivers from your install CD that came with your computer or did you actually go out and find the new version of the drivers and install those?

According to the Dell documentation on this error experienced on other models but with the same graphics card in them they are suggesting you flash your BIOS with a new updated BIOS version, then install the new drivers.

They did not specify if they are refering to a system bios or a graphics adapter bios. Take a look and see if any updates for your specific model are available on the Dell website downloads section.

nv4_disp.dll is part of your nVIDIA drivers package by the way, so your defineatly it sounds like heading in the right direction on getting this fixed.

 

yea, i installed a third party driver for the card, but only after I experienced the problem.

 

Go to the Dell web site and find your BIOS update there, and Dells new drivers in their downloads section.

Then hope they have a floppyless bios flash available for your system, they should.

You can just use their search to find this stuff, no need to aimlessly click and look trying to find it.

There are a lot of BIOS updates they have for various models there that all list...

as the number one fix in the BIOS update. Everyone one I've seen there says the same thing, update the BIOS, then install the new drivers they provide.

 

hey, thanks for the info, you are the only one who cold give me valuable information...

however, i cant find the bios update on dell's website, the search gives me all sorts of other results..

 

They make it pretty easy for you actually, if you just go here...

http://support.dell.com/

and then enter in your service tag number found on the bottom of your laptop it should pull up everything specificly for your model and options.

Its so easy to do that way that you'd over look it thinking it's got to be harder than this.

 

the thing that confused me was that you quoted the line for the first issue fixed, but i never found that line in my bios flash update ,for xps gen 2, a05..i updated it to that however, ill go and see if that works.

 

well, i updated the bios, and the problem still presists..well, i didnt reinstall the drivers after i flashed the bios..does it relly matter though?

 

I don't know I'm not having that problem myself, but all the people who are are doing that to fix it. It says to flash your BIOS with the new update, then install the new provided drivers.

Just following half of a direction probably isn't going to work. Be sure to use the new drivers Dell is providing, not someone elses when doing this, we have no idea if someone elses drivers contain any fixes for this or not.

Also remember your not installing AOL instant messenger here, you will want to reboot each time prompted to do so or not. Follow all directions, step by step, exactly as they instruct you. One false move flashing your BIOS and you could have a mess on your hands.

BIOS first, reboot, then Graphics Driver, reboot

and I'll bet it does say something about this in the .txt file with the BIOS information if you open that and read it. You defineatley want to read it to make sure the file name for your BIOS flash matches the model it's saying it's for and someone didn't accidently screw up and point you at the wrong BIOS flash for your machine.

 

I've got an Inspiron 9300

i9300|1.86|LG WUXGA|1GB DDR2|6800|60GB 7200RPM|8x DVD+/-RW|

It's been running great for the year I've had it, until today. After a short period of use, wavy lines rape and pillage my screen! (I took two pictures -- I'll find some space to upload to tomorrow).

I've also run the Dell Diagnostics Utility. I get the same error:

error code 5300:0119

Msg: failure while writing and reading video memory

I went from A01 to A05, but after the flash and running the machine for a few minutes, it proved to be of no consequence. The suggestion of updating the Windows driver doesn't seem logical considering I've seen the display error before Windows begins to load, and while navigating the BIOS. Although, while in safe mode, before the problem struck, I was able to update the Windows video driver. No avail.

Now, if I let the machine sit for a while, it will take longer to display the symptom. That leads me to believe it's a heat issue with the card. Perhaps its taken a years worth of use and it is now begining to wear out. Just a guess. I've read about the 7800 upgrade, and if I can reasonably determine that the video card is unrepairable, I may make a run at it.

Anyone? Bueller?

 

I have a hunch, as to why it could have happened to my computer. I remember that i used the laptop on a really soft carpet, and the furry and dusty carpet must have overheated the graphics card, and it got toasted.
therefore i need a replacement card..Should i get them to fix it for me, or should i get them to send the card and I replace it myself?
And advice much appreciated:
Endre

 

erexkiss

IT all depends on how comfortable you are with taking about a laptop. In order to replace the video card, you REALLY hae to dismantel the entire laptop. The Battery, CD ROM, Harddrive, etc comes out. The LCD is removed (if you have a WIFI card there are 2 cables which also need to be removed which are attached to the LCD as the antenna is in the LCD panel itself). The bottom plate is removed and then the top plate is removed. All this just to get to the video card. It took me about 30 minutes (and i do it on a regular basis. Dell does have a step-by-step manual to do this if your up for the taste.

 

thanks fo the info, i think ill just send my comp. in, and wait for them to fix it..

 

I, too, have just stumbled across this problem with my 15 month old Dell XPS Gen 2 laptop with the nvidia 6800 Ultra card.
I've done everything from updating the bios, then the driver on Dell's site using my service tag number, to reformatting and reinstalling to no avail.
Has anyone heard of a fix or do I have to try and track down a new card and attempt a VERY complicated install?

 

I had the same problem with my one year old Dell XPS m170. Same problems (heat, freezing at the beggining of games, bluescreens and finally lines and dots from the startup to the end... from bios to windows). After talking to the Dell Support, analysing and making a diagnosis to the laptop, the conclusion was that my notebook had a hardware problem, specifically my geforce 7800 go... now, a replacement is on the go.

 

I've had to replace quite a few Video Cards in notebooks over the past few days down to the 5300:0119 error code appearing after running diagnostics.

One guy had an M1710 which had a 7950 replacement, a mobo replacement, and then another 7950 replacement. The issue was still there after the H/W replacements and a format reinstall. The error code came accompanied with nim parity errors. After a lot of research I came across something called dnsapi.dll.

Check this out on the following link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827535

This seems to be causing the error. After a little experimentation with one of the 1710 lab machines I discovered a temporary fix that 'may' help you guys out too.

http://www.driverskit.com/dll/dnsapi.dll/619.html

If you read the first link, Microsoft say they have a fix for this problem, I don't know if they will charge their standard call charges or not, but the above link takes you to a site where you can download a dnsapi.dll file. Doing this effectively replaces the original .dll and resets what we have come to call the 'memory theft'.

This might resolve the issue some of you guys are having. Hope it helps.

 

I am having this exact same problem.

I want to try the dnsapi.dll fix...how do I get it? Its not available for download on the microsoft page and I cant seem to figure out how to replace that file in the system32 folder...its used byb process that can not be terminated in the task manager and inuse.exe wont let me change the file b/c its protected by WFP!!!!!!

 

i just tested my system with burnin test http://www.passmark.com/index.html
and i got 603 video memory corruption errors after 1624 operations.... in not exactly sure what this means...but i think my video memory might be f**** up

 

Yeah it is a hardware problem, does sound to be a bad memory chip. Have you overclocked your video card at all in the past? I've overclocked lots of laptops GPUs in the past without incident, but did encounter a bad GPU out of the box.

 

Can anyone else confirm if the temporary fix works. If it is a case of replacing dnsapi.dll then why wouldn't the problem be solved by reinstalling the OS. It seems in the post that reinstalling did not solve the issue.

Furthermore, DNSAPI.dll does not itself change in size and is identical to the replacement file in the link (if you have SP2) so I'm a little unclear about the logic of this.

Does this DNSAPI.dll fix work?

 

Sorry, this isn't a notebook, but the same problem:
I have a 4 year old Dell XPS (w/ Radeon 9800 XT; WinXP) that started having this problem a few weeks ago. I knew the video card was starting to go (I could hear the fan grinding) so I backed up my important stuff, did a nice dusting/vacuuming of the system, and restarted. I was literally on the Dell support site when it locked up! Cold starts last a few minutes (Windows still boots okay before eventually freezing) but after it's frozen, a restart just hangs at the Dell/BIOS screen.

I was able to get into diagnostics long enough to find the 5300:0119 error on the video card memory. Dell has swapped out nearly everything so far (CPU, motherboard, power supply, and the video card - twice) and it hasn't helped. I installed the latest Radeon drivers after the first replacement video card, which ran for hours (although with loads of artifacts) and they didn't change anything. The second replacement card actually took me back to the freeze/shutdown problem and the first replacement card now has the same issue.

Is there any software reason the original card would have suddenly gone out with no software changes? Are all the Dell 9800 XT refurb cards toast at this point? I'll try the BIOS stuff after the next wave of hardware they throw at me (new fans & RAM are on the way, their last ditch attempt) but I'm skeptical it will matter after three cards (the original which worked for 2 years, the first replacement which kind of worked, and the latest replacement that doesn't work at all).

Should I just buy the cheapest card I can and slap it in there to see if it fixes things?

 

Hi everyone,

I have had the same problem with my video card, a NVidia GS 7900 GO... while the notebook was rebooting, a lot of colored dotted lines were visible on the screen and it turned in a black screen when the boot was finished and login screen displayed.

So I ran the Dell Diagnostic Tool (which is accessible by pressing F12 key while the bios is loaded) and I received lots of error while testing the video card... all having the following message:

Error code: 5300:0119
Msg: Detected a failure while writing and reading video memory. Video mode: Dh (320x200x16). Address A0040h, expected to read 0h, but read 2020202h instead.

The conclusion: it has nothing to do with Windows drivers nor the BIOS... the video card memory is broken and the whole card, or just only the memory (who has the necessary equipment to do this) should be changed.

Unfortunately for me the GS 7900 GO card is not anymore manufactured and I have to buy refurbished cards every time the old one has such issues... I'm thinking on selling my Dell part by part and buy a Lenovo... any idea for Lenovo owners if these are much better than DELL laptops?

 

I've just had the same issue. I have a M1710 with a Nvidia Go Geforce 7900 GTX. My screen just went black 4 days ago and hasn't displayed anything since then. I have run the diagnostics and I got the error code 5300:0119. I contacted a Dell representative and they are currently setting me up with a replace video card.

I found that I could hook up an external monitor to the laptop, press F8 during bootup and switch to VGA mode. Once windows loaded I disabled the Nvidia driver. This has allowed me to use the external monitor for my laptop. Otherwise the external monitor will only display during bootup and then would go black at the login (the laptop display never shows anything.. although it is backlit).

Today learned that the blasted video card got back ordered to June 23. So I won't be able to give an update till then about whether or not it has fixed my problem.

 

So here is my update so far. It has been a month and a half and Dell has still not fixed my Laptop. They put in an order to replace the motherboard and the video card but everything keeps getting pushed back (backordered). This is the poorest service I have every experienced for the amount I have paid for a product. Not only have I not had my $4k piece of equipment I bought from them fixed they have managed to not update me with any information. I have to keep calling them or contacting technical service. They tried to say that there have been automated phone calls to my cell phone every week but I have never received them. It is only stupid cause I keep asking them to send me emails or at least update the information in my Dell online account ... but nada. So now I am left writing an as-of-date poor service message about Dell customer service... which is sad cause I really like Dell.

I will update if anything ever changes.

 

This is a Hardware Issue, the Video Card needs to be replaced, whenever you get an error code in diagnostics it always be a hardware issue, if you still have warranty contact Dell they will replace it for you, or if you want to have it repaired with Dell it will cost you about 500 dlls.

 

So finally!!!!!! I got my laptop fixed. Friday July 18th. It only took Dell 7 weeks!!! They kept back ordering the part. Had to contact tech. support again as they messed up the delivery.. apparently my video card was delivered and then returned. But the tech reissued the order Thursday at 5:30pm and by Friday 1pm my laptop was up and running again. That was fast.. to bad it just took so long to get to that point.

So as it turns out (and what I suspected) just needed to get the GFX card replaced. Once the new one was popped in.. presto. Now I am a happy camper again. Even happier that my warranty was still on my laptop as Dell footed the bill.

 

I had the same problem, but unfortunately my PC was out of warranty so I had to get a X1400 Ati card from reconditioned Dell parts. It seems that my original 7900gs card is nowhere to be found (dell is probably stockpiling them for warranty replacements).

I highly recommend using I8kfangui to get the fans to spin up earlier to cool the card down when the temps rise. Hopefully that'll keep you from having to go thru that ordeal again. If not, you'll more than likely have another burnt out vid memory and have to replace the gfx card again...

 

Thats a pretty huge step down from 7900GS to X1400.

 

Yes it was a huge step down. Lucky for me, it still plays counterstrike with decent framerates. No Crysis for me

I have tried to look for a replacement on Ebay and even found a FX2500 quadro with dual heat pipes. Unfortunately I bought it as-is and it turned out to have the same problem. Apparently there are quite a few dud cards floating around that people are trying to get rid of.

Now I'm looking for another laptop, probably one with a 9800 gtx and a better cooling solution.

 

i have the same problem with xps 1210,, and nvidia go7400,, there are vertical blue lines when i turn on the laptop... in bios diagnostics i have the same above issue. error while reading and writing video memory,, i use vista, win 7 and ubuntu, but in those 3, graphics go down. i`ve rEAD this problem so many times in other sites,, i hate nvidia. the problem is that i cannot boot from hard drive because the screen is a mess,.

 

I too am experiencing this issue on my latitude with a quadro nvs 110m. I have a strong feeling that this is somewhat related to the recet Nvidia issue with their manufacturing. I've googled around and most people with this problem have Nvidia cards.

I wish theres a way that in case a dedicated card falters, the igp can just take over but I guess that's asking too much.

 

I am having the same problem... What did you do?