Windows Vista Video Hardware Error

About an hour ago (doing nothing out of the ordinary) my monitor went dark and showed its "power save" message as if the computer had entered sleep mode, but one that it couldn't be roused from. I shut down the computer; when I restarted, I was given a blue screen. I shut down again and put it in safe mode. Through some experimenting I've found the monitor and graphics work in safe mode, but if I start the computer in normal mode, it starts normally except for two things:

-- the startup graphics (Dell logo, F2/F12 prompts in the corner, etc.) are kind of "jagged." Like an old Nintendo game just starting to go on the fritz.

-- once booted up, the computer appears to immediately enter sleep mode, from which it won't return. It isn't really in sleep mode, at least, as best as I can tell, the monitor is simply blank as if it were.

I don't know that I can totally rule out some kind of virus, but it's unlikely. In the Device Manager I don't seem to see my graphics card under "Sound, video, and game controllers ". Only my sound card. In the control panel under "Problem Reports and Solutions," in the problem history, under "Windows ", I have 25 "Video Hardware Error" problems, the first five related to the original shutdown (based on their timestamp) and the rest relating to attempts to start up again. The first is below:

Is it simply time for a new graphics card, or is there a way to fix this from safe mode?

 

Thanks Evan. I updated and installed the driver and it seemed to fix the old problems but create a set of new ones. The minor corruption is gone and the computer will start in normal mode. However it now freezes easily, runs slowly ( "jerky" would be a better term) and also freezes whenever I try to adjust the screen resolution. Could there be a compatibility issue somewhere? I have put the computer back in safe mode to forestall the freezing. (Though I have not yet tried the low-resolution option post-install. I am about to, but wanted to post an update.)

 

Since the symptoms first manifest at the startup logo (before drivers are even considered) I'd suspect a hardware issue, can you swap out the card and try it in a different system?

FWIW Don't look under Sound, video and game controllers in Device Manager, look under Display adapters instead.

 

Tried again this morning to run in normal mode, but got the second blue screen of this episode. Basically this one, actually:

http://www.faultwire.com/solutions-...driver-and-recover-from-0x00000116-*1275.html

I don't have a way of testing this graphics card in another system, but I'm going to go out in a little bit and get another card. The fan is still working on this one, and I've cleaned it off, but I agree a hardware issue looks likely. Things just seem to be pointing at a need for a new card.

 

Just finished replacing the graphics card and things look good. Optest sat I would say. I will mark this resolved.

 

NVidia Geforce GT 620. I don't know if it's a "better" card than the old one, but I couldn't find any list of detailed specs for the old one to compare it to.... as I understand it they never sold it "off the shelf," only to OEMs. Interestingly, when I took the old one out to replace it, it was still awfully warm, much warmer than any of the other components inside, even though I'd cleaned it of dust and its fan had been running. This was with the box left open and the computer on while I was gone getting the new one. (I know, bad idea.) Probably had been slowly frying for a while. Thanks for your help, and wildfire too....my first instinct is always "replace it" so I probably would've ended up at this point sooner or later but it's nice to have a nudge in the right direction and sooner is always better than later.