something failed...

[Deleted]

hello, today as i was playing suddenly my screen turned black.. it actually just shut down while the pc was still working. i wasnt hearing any wow sounds so it must had frozen. anyway.. i forced my pc shut and then i reopened it.. and i got this screen

http://img821.imageshack.us/i/p3010487.jpg/

it just went on from this screen to the motherboard screen and back again...

any ideas?

[Deleted]

Looks pretty bad.. Never seen anything like that though

[Celare]

It appears your Motherboard may be bad. Before you run out and buy a new one test it. Pull off your video card, hard drive, network card, sound card. Pull everything other than your memory off. Reset your memory. Turn on the computer, see if you can even access BIOS. If you can, slowly add on one component at a time. DO NOT ADD MORE THAN ONE ITEM BACK ON AT A TIME. After each item is added back on, turn the computer on and see if it works. If you get this screen again, try running the computer with only the component you believe is causing the issue. Sometimes it a combination of items that cause failures like this.

[Deleted]

wow, never seen anything like it..

But do what Celare said, that sounds like a good idea.

[Nystad]

looks like a blue screen type error..

try reset the bios..
Take out the little battery on the motherboard and w8 5-10 sec then install it again.. its worth a shoot.

i have used computers my whole life never seen anything like that.

[Cynadra]

Disable the Marvell adapter in the bios first, see if that does anything. If you can boot into windows, then try doing a reset on the bios by pulling the battery. If that doesn't help, try a bios flash. And if that still doesn't help, then new mobo.

[Deleted]

It appears your Motherboard may be bad. Before you run out and buy a new one test it. Pull off your video card, hard drive, network card, sound card. Pull everything other than your memory off. Reset your memory. Turn on the computer, see if you can even access BIOS. If you can, slowly add on one component at a time. DO NOT ADD MORE THAN ONE ITEM BACK ON AT A TIME. After each item is added back on, turn the computer on and see if it works. If you get this screen again, try running the computer with only the component you believe is causing the issue. Sometimes it a combination of items that cause failures like this.

i will try that in a couple of days when i got time and post results here.

on a side note. while i was w8ing for a reply i took the graphics card out.. cleaned it with an air spray and putted it back on. now i still see the zeros on the start screen but i can log into windows7. however it is like when i first bought it. graphics card setting seem to have been reset.. the resolution, image size, colors..everything is wrong. i went on device manager and it displayed graphics card with a yellow "!". clicked on properties and got "WIndows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (code 43)"

i guess it now runs with the onboard graphics card and thats why everything is so distorted.

thanks for the advice Celare.
any1 got any more insight on the current state of the issue?

[Celare]

Disable the Marvell adapter in the bios first, see if that does anything. If you can boot into windows, then try doing a reset on the bios by pulling the battery. If that doesn't help, try a bios flash. And if that still doesn't help, then new mobo.

As much as I like to reset BIOS settings via pulling the CMOS battery, many of the newer Dell models have a backup battery built-in(no clue why) that prevent such actions. Seeing how we have no information other than the image of the screen /shrug. Disabling the Marvell adapter would be a bad thing in this case, I am fairly sure. He would not be able to access his HD's if he is using IDE or E-SATA.

---------- Post added 2011-03-01 at 02:03 PM ----------

i will try that in a couple of days when i got time and post results here.

on a side note. while i was w8ing for a reply i took the graphics card out.. cleaned it with an air spray and putted it back on. now i still see the zeros on the start screen but i can log into windows7. however it is like when i first bought it. graphics card setting seem to have been reset.. the resolution, image size, colors..everything is wrong. i went on device manager and it displayed graphics card with a yellow "!". clicked on properties and got "WIndows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (code 43)"

i guess it now runs with the onboard graphics card and thats why everything is so distorted.

thanks for the advice Celare.
any1 got any more insight on the current state of the issue?

That right there is what we are looking for!
Your video card is bad, BIOS crashed on loading it. What video card is it/model?

[Deleted]

That right there is what we are looking for!
Your video card is bad, BIOS crashed on loading it. What video card is it/model?

haha :P i could literally see you jumping of your seat when i read that !

my graphics card is
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
Driver version: 8.17.12.6099

hope it helps

[Celare]

Have you received this error before "nvdkllm has stopped working".

[Deleted]

looks like a retro 80's arcade game make the most out of your situation man

[Deleted]

Have you received this error before "nvdkllm has stopped working".

nope never.. everything has been working perfectly for as long as i've had the pc. no blue/black screens. no crashes. 1-2 freezes and thats it.

looks like a retro 80's arcade game make the most out of your situation man

that1 realy made my night :P!

[Celare]

troufas, at this point in time I would suggest buying a new video card. Good luck in your hunting, I would recommend a GTX 560, if you can afford such.

[Deleted]

i have made a few posts in 1-2 other support forums and i await their verdict. but it looks like im going video card hunting.. thanks for all your help and funny comments guys !

[Adappy]

That looks exactly like what happened when my 9800 GT died in my previous computer... looks like new video card time

Edit: reading entire thread fail. Looks like you already figured it out.

[Wries]

i guess it now runs with the onboard graphics card and thats why everything is so distorted.

If your screen is connected through your graphics card and you get a picture, though low res and weird color space, then the onboard graphics aren't being used. Your card is probably running at some kind of capacity. If you haven't tried it yet, I'd suggest just doing a full uninstallation of the Nvidia drivers and then a reinstall. If that doesn't work, go go new graphics card!