Resolved Graphics merry-go-round

I have an Acer Aspire running Win 7 with an Acer HDMI card for display on a TV. It has worked fine but recently I have had problems with the screen intermittently blanking. I traced this to the card so replaced it with a Ge-force 210 from another computer. The Nvidia card works fine in the other PC, also an Acer. However, it won't work properly in my current computer. When Windows starts to boot it suddenly resets. I can only get it to boot in Safe mode. I tried updating the driver but it won't install in safe mode so I am left going around in a nice Windows circle. Does anyone have any bright ideas to help me with this?

 

Update: I managed to boot the computer by uninstalling the existing driver software. But even with the new driver installed the card still won't work. Apparently this has to do with the card, which is an Asustek GT 218 but it works fine on the other computer, which is an identical Acer Aspire model. I'm still trying to find a solution for this.

 

Hi Arie,

Thanks for the reply. The card is pci-e so only one slot that fits it. No BSOD, the computer just keeps rebooting immediately after Windows starts to load. In the system log there are a series of normal information messages that various Nvidia operations and other services have entered a running state. Then there is an sptd error "driver detected internal error in its data structures for . " Immediately after is a second error "previous system shutdown was unexpected ". That must be the moment the computer reboots and it is all I can find that seems related.

The same card works fine on my other machine, which is an identical model Acer Aspire (though of course the mobo could be different). I am using the latest Nvidia driver from their site for this card under Win 7 32-bit. This card is an Asustek GT 218, which is supposed to be the same as the Nvidia Geforce 210, and the driver for that is what I was directed to by the Nvidia site. The other card, which I replaced, was an Acer card and it was also working correctly in this machine, but it had developed another fault which was causing the screen to blank intermittently. That is why I decided to replace it. Then of course I ran into this new problem. I suspect it has to do with the driver, but I'm not sure how to solve it. That is my story.

 

Sorry, some additional information I forgot. With the driver software installed (I have tried two versions), I get the problem described here. I can only successfully boot in Safe mode. I can only boot normally if I disable or uninstall the driver with Device Manager, but then of course my screen resolution is incorrect. I tried uninstalling any old driver remnants using Guru DDU but it didn't make any difference.

 

This has turned into a very nasty problem and I would be grateful if anyone can help point me in the right direction. It is not what I first thought it was, and I have learned some things from troubleshooting the past couple of days, but I am still no closer to a solution.

Fortunately I have two identical computers so I can use one to diagnose the other. Both are Acer Aspires T690. The only difference between them that I can see, is that one has an Acer HDMI graphics card, while the other has an Asustek GT 218, which is apparently the same as the Nvidia Geforce 210.

On one computer both graphics cards work fine. On the other the Acer card works normally, but the Asus one causes the computer to crash and reboot while starting. The computer can only be started in Safe mode, or by disabling the graphics card.

After a lot of diagnosing and trying different software solutions, I had the bright idea of simply swapping the hard drives. Because both systems are identical, I figured this one act would eliminate any possible software variations. When I put the drive from the good computer into the one with the problem, I got exactly the same result with the Asus card. The computer starts to boot, then resets itself just as Windows begins to load and goes into a permanent cycle of boot, reset, boot, reset. This result tells me that the problem is purely some kind of hardware conflict between the motherboard and the card, and has nothing to do with Windows or the driver software.

Both computers have identical BIOS's and I checked all settings in case of resource conflicts. As far as I can determine, these are also identical.

So why does the card work with one computer, and not the other? I guess this has to be some kind of motherboard issue, but it is very perplexing. Can anyone help at all with this?

 

It looks like you have found your problem. If your problem comp won't run in a bare bones state and still blank screens, I would replace it.

 

I'm moving in that direction but it really bothers me that it works perfectly with one card, but not the one I want to use. I would just like to understand why that is. I hate these kinds of mysteries.

 

Try this.
Download an older version of the software from nvidia.
NVIDIA Driver Downloads - Advanced Search
I’d start with version 341.44.

Uninstall the current software.
Reboot and install the downloaded one.

There’s been some cases of later nvidia drivers not playing nicely with older computers.
Reverting to an older driver was the only solution.
Least it worked for me.

 

Thank you for the suggestion. I did try this but it didn't make any difference. Then I discovered that the problem was not software-related. There seems to be some kind of conflict with the motherboard and that particular card. I have had driver issues in the past and I assumed it was something like that when the problem first emerged, but in this case it goes a lot deeper. I have given up and am marking this thread solved.