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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 31st Aug 2006 at 6:54 PM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons
Default Trouble with my new laptop and unable to find answers...please help
I recently bought a new laptop from Dell. it is a Latitude D820. Specs are:
Intel Centrino Duo Processor
1.67GB of RAM
31.8GB of free space
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 120M
Chip Type: GeForce GO 7400

Since I installed my sims2 games onto this laptop, I have had issues with it crashing at random intervals of time. As far as I can tell, there i s no patter. Only recently did I recieve a more specific error message. It told me there was something wrong with the driver file nv4_disp. It tells me the driver gets stuck in an infinite loop. I downloaded drivers from NVIDIA and Dell websites. After many discussions, Dell tech support concluded that it was an issue with sims2 and not the laptop itself. So my question is, how do I fix this problem? I've already installed the patches, so its not that I haven't patched the game. So i'm asking, is there anything I can do to get this freezing to stop?

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
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Moderator of Please Read the Help FAQs
retired moderator
#2 Old 31st Aug 2006 at 7:08 PM
I would keep trying different drivers, sometimes newer ones don't work as well as slightly older drivers. Please keep us updated.

Please do not PM me with Game or Site Help questions. Post them in the appropriate section after going through the FAQs.

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." ~ Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 31st Aug 2006 at 10:04 PM
I don't even know which ones to try. My old computer was so bad I never had to worry about it because I could barely play anyway. Now i'm not even sure where to look. All I really know is that it is the driver causing the trouble. At least, I believe thats the nv4_disp file is.

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#4 Old 31st Aug 2006 at 11:27 PM
I did a Google search on this and all the answers seem to say basically the same:
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread18930.html
That is, uninstall ALL display drivers, and then install the manufacturer's drivers again. This may help- there is info here about cleaning out old drivers too:
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?p=1153022
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 1st Sep 2006 at 2:48 AM
Oh boy, this will interesting. Its been so long since I was able to actually play my sims i stopped messing with graphics cards, drivers, etc. a long time ago. I feel so behind on it all now.

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#6 Old 1st Sep 2006 at 12:01 PM
Let us know how it goes- just shout if you need more help!
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#7 Old 1st Sep 2006 at 6:39 PM
Umm...ok, I feel really dumb here. I'm supposed to uninstall all my graphics drivers, and reinstall which ones? Where do I get the ones i'm supposed to install after I remove the ones I have now?

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
Moderator of Please Read the Help FAQs
retired moderator
#8 Old 1st Sep 2006 at 7:35 PM
In the FAQ that Simsample linked to in Post#4, there's instructions and links for new drivers, older archived drivers and a program to uninstall old drivers.

Please do not PM me with Game or Site Help questions. Post them in the appropriate section after going through the FAQs.

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." ~ Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#9 Old 1st Sep 2006 at 7:58 PM
Oh ok, I didn't see that. So now I just keep trying different drivers from Nvidia until I get one that causes no problems?

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#10 Old 1st Sep 2006 at 8:28 PM
I read somewhere that version 77.77 worked for somone else who has Nvidia and had the same problem, so I guess i'll start there and see if that fixes it. Unless someone knows one of the other, newer versions that will work so I don't have to go thru the list

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
Moderator of Please Read the Help FAQs
retired moderator
#11 Old 1st Sep 2006 at 8:37 PM
Starting with what people have reported to work is always good.

Please do not PM me with Game or Site Help questions. Post them in the appropriate section after going through the FAQs.

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." ~ Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#12 Old 1st Sep 2006 at 10:49 PM
I've done what you suggested...however I find I now have a bigger problem. Every single driver I try tells me it can't find any drivers compatible with my system. I even tried the one I had installed that seemed to be causing the problem. I always get that same error message. SO what do I do now? I'm stuck with worse than i had before. At least before everything else worked fine, now I don't have ANY drivers installed and it wont install them because it says it can't find any compatible.

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#13 Old 2nd Sep 2006 at 12:42 AM
Ok nevermind that. I downloaded something from dell which automatically installed an Nvidia driver. I'm going to go test it again and see if perhaps that it was just corrupted when I downloaded it from nvidia myself. I will keep you updated on if it is fixed or not.

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#14 Old 2nd Sep 2006 at 1:18 AM
Are all of your other devices working correctly? Make sure that everything is working- it sounds like you uninstalled more than just the display drivers.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#15 Old 2nd Sep 2006 at 1:43 AM
whatever the Dell thing did, i'm back to where I was. Still freezing up on me. I'm going to try it again, manually removing them instead of the driver remover device mentioned in one of the links simsample posted

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#16 Old 2nd Sep 2006 at 3:39 AM
Ok, since it seems that I can't make that stupid problem fix, I have to ask something. Would reinstalling all my sims2 games fix this issue? I never did it because, well, it just did not seem that reinstalling would fix whatever causes the driver to get stuck in an infinite loop. However, the only driver I can install is the one that installs with the dell video adapter for this laptop. All others give me an error message "The NVIDIA setup program did not detect any drivers compatible with your system. Program will now terminate." or something very similar. Basically, it tells me every single driver is not compatible with my system. I really do not understand this, but its what happens.

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#17 Old 2nd Sep 2006 at 5:49 AM
Yes- reinstalling may help as this forces the game to re-recognise the graphics chip.
http://www.modthesims2.com/article.php?t=139059
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#18 Old 6th Sep 2006 at 4:04 PM
Well, no issues since reinstallation so i'm hopeful. I'll let you know if it starts up again

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#19 Old 6th Sep 2006 at 5:36 PM
I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Please let us know if it continues okay!
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#20 Old 19th Sep 2006 at 2:02 AM
Unfortunately I return here with bad news. I have again encountered the error. It was running so well and then just froze. So reinstallation didn't work.

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
Lab Assistant
#21 Old 19th Sep 2006 at 6:20 AM
I'm running an old GeForce FX 5200 on driver version 8.1.8.4 and having no problems. What card and which version are you working with?

Think of the solution, not the problem. --Zedd
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#22 Old 19th Sep 2006 at 7:01 PM
6.14.0010.8469 is the version i believe. The card is listed in the first post with the other information.

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
Lab Assistant
#23 Old 19th Sep 2006 at 7:09 PM
Quote: Originally posted by icyblue2034
6.14.0010.8469 is the version i believe. The card is listed in the first post with the other information.


And you mentioned that you had 1.67 GB of RAM right? Is it possible for you to add more RAM to your laptop? I know on some laptop companies that this may not be possible, but it is always worth the try. Because you may be having a different version of the Blue Screen Of Death Bug, there is a full forum thread stickied on top of this post. The majority of any video card problems had been solved with an extra GB of RAM or by simply running the game with 2GB of RAM, but I'm not sure if that is your case.

-Vlad

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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#24 Old 19th Sep 2006 at 7:59 PM
I'm not sure if I posted what it tells me is wrong and I don't have time to read through and look right now. It says something close to

nv4_disp got stuck in an infinite loop

Thats what it always tells me, so I don't think it is the RAM. Even if it is, I don't know if I can get more on this laptop...if I can even afford more

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#25 Old 20th Sep 2006 at 7:43 AM
Ok, I scanned through that sticky, and now want to clarify the conclusions I get from that. In order to get this thing to always work properly, i need to either spend a lot of money on RAM or a new graphics card...if I can even do that with my laptop. I am unsure of that. I really hope I don't need to spend more money, because it is money I just don't have. I was VERY lucky to afford this laptop.

I open my eyes and look to the blue sky. One day I'll have the wings I need to fly away from here.
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