Video blacks out occasionally for a few seconds

Bought the xps800 in early Nov. 2009 and it immediately began system freezes and Nvidia driver blackouts.  Spent hours with Dell support checking/deinstalling/installing drivers.  Had a tech rep come and replace the video card.  I Reinstalled Windows 7 myself.  None of this worked and so I asked for a replacement.

The replacement finally arrived and it had the same exact problem!   Now I have found this forum where so many have had the same problems.  Has anyone had any satisfactory solution offered to them from Dell?

I'm going to demand a replacement video card (not GT220!).  If they don't want to go that way, then they can have their bad system back.

Scott

I'm not a computer guy at all...but what I can tell you is that after a while...the tech said to me...... "we can send out a service tech who will replace your Nvidia GT220 card, your power supply, and your motherboard.......or........you can just return it to us for a full refund".  I opted for the refund...and then purchased the XPS 9000 a few days later.

I found something very interesting on the nVidia community forum related to this.

  I also get the error "Display driver Windows kernal mode driver, vs 186.27 has stopped responding and has successfully recovered." after my monitor screen momentarily blacks out and recovers.  When I look in the Event Viewer on my computer - A Dell Studio XPS 8000 first setup on January 8, 2010 - I find this message showing it occurred at the same time as the above message:  "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered."  It certainly seems like they are different ways of stating that the same error is occuring on my computer. 

The nvlddmkm error does not cause a "blue screen of death" on my computer as one forum posting suggested.  I just get the same momentary black screen that the rest of you get.

 I went to the nVidia.com website and found a message that claims that the problem is not nVidia or ATI issue.  This person says the errors are triggered by a Windows service called "Timeout Detection and Recovery" (TDR).  You can find this message under nvidia.com by selecting Support - User forums - nzone - hardware - GeForce drivers - "The nvlddmkm error......".  According this forum posting, the error can be worked around by doing certain things - and the computer manufacturer needs to do some of them.

Also, I found at least one  Dell user who has a Studio XPS 9000 who encountered the Display driver 186.27 error message.  Some of you have solved your problem by buying the Studio XPS 9000.   Has that really fixed the problem for you?

So, it makes me wonder what machine I should buy if I decide to return this one.  Is this just a problem on machines designed for gaming?? 

There shoudl be no ancillary damage.

I have heard that if you replace the video card with another of their options, ie the gt 240 or gtx260 the problem will go away.  That is why Dell does not use the GT 220 any longer. Has anyone used another video card?

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Equipment:  Dell Studio XPS 435T/9000, 8G Ram, i7 CPU 920@2.67, Nvidia GeForce GT220/1024MB, Integrated Audio 7.1 channel, Dell S2209W Monitor with DVI connection, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit, bios A14.

Since updating the Nvidia drivers to latest version 196.21 directly from the Nvidia site, the momentary screen blackout described in this thread has not been observed on my system, even with actions that apparently caused the blackout with earlier driver versions. (edge grab to resize, dmspen's Facebook Farmville{no laughs!?})  No video problems have been reported by my Windows 7 since the update.  "Fix," temporary/permanent, or coincidence I don't know.  I'm not a gamer, so perhaps the system has not been sufficiently stressed.

I have an xps 8000 with the gt 220. It only happened once with me when we used Farmville on full screen setting.  Where do you get the new driver info and coudl you be so kind as to spell out the steps to install or update new driver.  Iam also considering getting from newegg or amazon the gt 240.  I hear there are no troubles with that card.  But perhaps according to you it is not the card but driver anyway.  Your help is appreciated.

Sorry, copy&paste from MSWord apparently brought text definition baggage to my previous post.  Not sure why that happened.

Hi Guys

Dell XPS 435MT Nvidia GT220

Did everything what people recommended in this threat . Re-installed Window 7, installed the recent drivers from the Dell site, upgrade the Bios to the latest version. Nothing solved the occasional black outs . Since I updated the computer it blacked out the monitor 26 times. Recently (last two weeks)  3 times since upgrading the bios.

I ran out of option next to sending it back. I have this problem since December 2009. They can’t blame me for not trying everything including their so-called solutions.

Anyone out there with any suggestions left?

It really surprises me that there is no decent uniform answer from Dell tech’s. Anyone seems to have his own solution??

I too am having video black out problems.  I don't understand why Dell does not have a solution to this problem.  What is the problem?  The GT220 card, the driver, the power supply, the BIOS, the monitor, etc.  We need to get the problem identified.  I have not seen this mentioned bur besides the occasional black outs, I have times where just the current window goes away and the underlyng window is still there.

Has anyone been able to get Dell to replace the GT220 with another card, and did this resolve the problem?

Dell XPS 8000, Intel I7, GT220

thanks I installed the driver last night but I did NOT uninstall all the others.  When I check the driver details it lists the same as yours.  So hopefully it will work.  I dont know.  Should I go back and redo it?

The Dell site for my 435T/9000 offers the Nvidia GeForce GT220/1024MB driver version 186.34.  The most recent version of the GT220 driver on the Nvidia driver download site is DIFFERENT, 196.21 (release date 1/19/2010).   Download the file to your desktop where it will be easy to find.  Note this is for the 64bit Windows 7 version.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_winvista_64bit_196.21_whql.html

I have had no video issues since the 196.21 installation, including full screen Farmville.  I'm not sure if my process of uninstalling old drivers before installing the latest version 196.21,  as recommended elsewhere in this thread, had anything to do with success, but it appears to have worked so far.  One path to the display driver information on your computer is to click Start, right click Computer, click Manage, click Device Manager, click Display Adapters, right click NVIDIA GeForce GT 220, click properties, click driver tab.  My current listed driver version is 8.17.11.9621, with a driver date of 1/11/2010.  (Listed date can be confusing because driver date and release date need not be the same.  Dell site lists driver date as 1/11/2010, but the version number is 8.17.11.8634.  I'd pay more attention to the driver version numbers than the driver/release dates.)  If your driver version is earlier than 8.17.11.9621, then click Uninstall.  Then reboot.  Windows will look for another driver and install what it can find, which in my case was an earlier Nvidia driver.  I went through the same process, including reboots, until I had uninstalled and deleted all the Nvidia drivers and Windows finally installed a generic driver.  Don't worry about the lower screen resolution during the process.  Then after reboot, locate the downloaded Nvidia driver file on your desktop and doubleclick to run.  Follow the program instructions and eventually reboot.  Check the Device Manager again to verify you have the 8.17.11.9621 driver.

Works for me so far, but maybe just lucky.  Have always said, rather be lucky than good.

Equipment:  Dell Studio XPS 435T/9000, 8G Ram, i7 CPU 920@2.67, Nvidia GeForce GT220/1024MB, Integrated Audio 7.1 channel, Dell S2209W Monitor with DVI connection, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit, bios A14.

""....I don't understand why Dell does not have a solution to this problem.  What is the problem?  The GT220 card, the driver, the power supply, the BIOS, the monitor, etc. ..""

I honestly don't know how much more clear I can make it.  the problem is the GT220.  Remove it or have it removed.  That's not just from me......it's from Dell (as told to me) ......and if you don't believe me........then why did they suddenly STOP offering them..in ALL models?

Folks...this isn't brain surgery here.

ps...I'll be sure to let everyone here know how my new top of the line XPS 9000 with the ATI Radeon HD 5870 card works......

Michial, I deleted the old drivers because someone else suggested it, not because I'm an expert.  If I were you, I'd try to replicate the temporary video blackout by repeating actions that caused it before.  Only if the problem happens again would I take the time (about 15 minutes or less) to delete all the drivers and run the most recent driver program again. If the problem happens after that, then I'd talk to Dell about the card, which could result in hours and hours and hours of frustration.